Truly a great man and incredible pilot. My dad had the utmost respect for your grandfather. We lived in Eastern Hills so I only got to see him a couple of times but he made a lasting impression on me.
Hi Dad, I watch this video when I think of you. It’s been almost 8 years since you passed away. How lucky we are to be able to watch this video and hear your voice and see you even though you are not on this earth anymore. You’re probably soaring somewhere in the universe.Lauri❤❤❤
RIP to your father. My father-in-law Ralph Graf was an engineer on the flight control systems for the F-16 as well as F-111, and has told me many stories about Phil and what an honor it was working with him. He has said many times that test pilots were a different breed of pilot, and that Phil was special even among those special men. He said nobody was as smooth or precise flying a plane, and his calmness and professionalism was a step above. I'm blessed I still get to hear these stories from him at age 90... I just showed him this video, and he was surprised and said he didn't remember it being this bad 😜. He said they immediately took the feedback from Phil and made adjustments to the control system before their next flight. He's been singing the praises of your father all night with his stories. God bless.
I read all about your dad's career, and that takes a while. From full scale to models. You and your family must be very proud of him and all of his accomplishments. Not only that he seemed like a very down to earth nice man. RIP
wow, just now seeing this, FEB 2024, my dad was one of the two software guys, systems analyst for General Dynamics, who wrote the initial flight ops programming
A B-52 pilot who had been in Vietnam told me about the "Sabre dance" and said an F-16 had done one. Well it took forever to find it because of the YF designation. That was about 10 years ago. So glad to hear the story from the man. Thank you for this, and thanks to those here who supported him or the program.
RIP Phil. Thank you for everything you accomplished as a full scale pilot and a modeler. You were very generous with your time no matter how many times we asked you to, "tell us the story about the first flight in the F-16."
There I was, a 16yr old kid working at Nasa Dryden after school and summers. We were on the lakebed and drove by to see the YF16 up close and decided to watch the “taxi test’ Epic! I would end up flying the Viper for 24 years, 188 Combat patrols and lots of adventures. Crazier yet is my F16 RTU class asked me to find a grad night speaker. I called Phil and he graciously traveled to Luke AFB and told the tale and many other great stories. Awesome! Great memories! :)
My dad Joe Mayes was an engineer with Phil at GD during the 50s. Phil wasn't real crazy about office work and kept bugging the folks at test to let him in. He flew F8s in the Marine Corps so he had plenty of experience but I think they preferred AF guys. He absolutely loved airplanes. If he wasn't flying them, he was talking about them. A wonderful man. I went on the Texas A&M on an AF scholarship majoring in Aero Engineering, hoping to be just like Phil. My dad worked at LTV and worked on the A7 which I later flew in the Navy. I thought Phil had told my dad he had to use the manual disconnect for the fly by wire to save the airplane so I have to admit the story is a little different from what I had heard. RIP Phil. Thanks for making such a great impression in my life.
Thank you Phil for paving the way for a generation of Viper pilots like myself. Everything you did made us much safer and confident in such an AMAZING machine! RIP!
My dad and Phil flew Control Line Airplanes together as Teens, and he came to our house a couple of times in Florida, and I remember showing him Falcon 2.0 and Falcon 3.0 and asking him how close it was to the real deal. And he just laughed and said the cockpit kinda looks like that, but it's just a blast to fly, and this is a poor simile. :D RIP Phil.
A great nation thanks you for your service and a job well done 👍 you raised a wonderful family who filled your shoes and carried your torch to light the way!!! God's speed to your family
Robo-Cat like reflexes! In it’s first iteration the Viper’s stick did not move. It sat to your right and was extremely sensitive to the force of inputs, but it did not move forward, aft, left, or right. This is at least part of why it was called, “The Electric Jet,” because that kind of pilot interface is about as fly-by-wire as it gets. They later added some mechanical deflection so the pilots could have a more natural feel for the stick, one that is more like a stick that is connected to cables or hydraulic actuators. Hell of first flight!
My father-in-law Ralph Graf worked on the flight control system for the F-16... he's still alive living in the Fort Worth area. He told me the original design was all electric and the stick didn't actually move at all, and the test pilots hated it 😜. He said Phil was the best test pilot he ever worked with and his flying was super-smooth... he has told me the story of the "first flight" many times. They took all that data from the unplanned flight and made adjustments to the flight control system before the next flight. He is still very, very proud of what they accomplished with the F-16.
It wasn't Phil, it was Niel Anderson, the Chief YF-16 test pilot for GD who was designated to fly Flight 1, which by calling Phil's flight Flight 0, he "sorta" did.
' wow that cooool F-16XL plane... keep up american company make more new F-16XL planes this year to next year... add more missiles, machine gun, better long range mile, more speeding up
Bizim Kaan ilk uçuşunu böyle gerçekleştirseydi, vay halimize vay. Heykelciler sevinçten yerinde duramazlardı ve uçağımızı, onu yapan tüm ekibi ve tabiki RTE yi topa tutarlardı. Keşke bu vidyoyu izleselerde o çok beğendikleri 'amerikan malı' uçağının nasıl uçtuğunu anlasalar. 21.02.2024 Arkadaşlar. Ne önemli bir gün.
Rest In Peace, Grandpa. Miss you everyday. Love, Elizabeth.
Truly a great man and incredible pilot. My dad had the utmost respect for your grandfather. We lived in Eastern Hills so I only got to see him a couple of times but he made a lasting impression on me.
Your grandpa was a badass!
Res in beace Phil Ostricher 🤲. 🪦
He’s the real top gun Maverick!
It is sad to learn that you grandpa passed away. My respect and condolonces.
Hi Dad, I watch this video when I think of you. It’s been almost 8 years since you passed away. How lucky we are to be able to watch this video and hear your voice and see you even though you are not on this earth anymore. You’re probably soaring somewhere in the universe.Lauri❤❤❤
RIP to your father. My father-in-law Ralph Graf was an engineer on the flight control systems for the F-16 as well as F-111, and has told me many stories about Phil and what an honor it was working with him. He has said many times that test pilots were a different breed of pilot, and that Phil was special even among those special men. He said nobody was as smooth or precise flying a plane, and his calmness and professionalism was a step above.
I'm blessed I still get to hear these stories from him at age 90... I just showed him this video, and he was surprised and said he didn't remember it being this bad 😜. He said they immediately took the feedback from Phil and made adjustments to the control system before their next flight. He's been singing the praises of your father all night with his stories. God bless.
I read all about your dad's career, and that takes a while. From full scale to models. You and your family must be very proud of him and all of his accomplishments. Not only that he seemed like a very down to earth nice man. RIP
wow, just now seeing this, FEB 2024, my dad was one of the two software guys, systems analyst for General Dynamics, who wrote the initial flight ops programming
And now the demo team
Is flying his original test flight livery for the 50th anniversary
A B-52 pilot who had been in Vietnam told me about the "Sabre dance" and said an F-16 had done one.
Well it took forever to find it because of the YF designation.
That was about 10 years ago.
So glad to hear the story from the man.
Thank you for this, and thanks to those here who supported him or the program.
It has to be one of the greatest saves of all time. Nicely done Mr Oestricher, nicely done! RIP
Not only saved the plane, but really the entire F-16 program
Done so with lots of wisdom & good judgment.
RIP Phil. Thank you for everything you accomplished as a full scale pilot and a modeler. You were very generous with your time no matter how many times we asked you to, "tell us the story about the first flight in the F-16."
0:58 Nobody would have faulted him for ejecting here. What a great save.
My uncle Larry was one of the head engineers for this plane and he is in the white car you see drive by
There I was, a 16yr old kid working at Nasa Dryden after school and summers. We were on the lakebed and drove by to see the YF16 up close and decided to watch the “taxi test’ Epic! I would end up flying the Viper for 24 years, 188 Combat patrols and lots of adventures. Crazier yet is my F16 RTU class asked me to find a grad night speaker. I called Phil and he graciously traveled to Luke AFB and told the tale and many other great stories. Awesome! Great memories! :)
My dad Joe Mayes was an engineer with Phil at GD during the 50s. Phil wasn't real crazy about office work and kept bugging the folks at test to let him in. He flew F8s in the Marine Corps so he had plenty of experience but I think they preferred AF guys. He absolutely loved airplanes. If he wasn't flying them, he was talking about them. A wonderful man. I went on the Texas A&M on an AF scholarship majoring in Aero Engineering, hoping to be just like Phil. My dad worked at LTV and worked on the A7 which I later flew in the Navy. I thought Phil had told my dad he had to use the manual disconnect for the fly by wire to save the airplane so I have to admit the story is a little different from what I had heard. RIP Phil. Thanks for making such a great impression in my life.
"Phil, you weren't supposed to actually take off!"
"I know!"
Thank you Phil for paving the way for a generation of Viper pilots like myself. Everything you did made us much safer and confident in such an AMAZING machine! RIP!
I wish i could share this with my uncle. It was his favorite airframe. Us airforce aircraft mechanic john lowrie. May they both rest in peace.
Respect. Amazing work done Mr. RIP.
I really love the f-16 but now I have just found out that it’s first flight was a mistake is incredible and makes me love it even more
Wikipedia lists first flight as "20 January 1974; 48 years ago (unplanned)"
Had to see what "unplanned" meant, now I know
Incredible grip of your own emotions to not bail when the aircraft went all wonky.
My dad and Phil flew Control Line Airplanes together as Teens, and he came to our house a couple of times in Florida, and I remember showing him Falcon 2.0 and Falcon 3.0 and asking him how close it was to the real deal. And he just laughed and said the cockpit kinda looks like that, but it's just a blast to fly, and this is a poor simile. :D RIP Phil.
Man, you should have shown him Falcon 4 couple of years later, Major step forward 😁😉
Holy shit! I had no idea. What an incredible story and what incredible skills!
Gotta love the F-16. It didn't want to taxi, it wanted to fly... and so it did.
For me this is the most beautiful colour scheme on any jet fighter ever. My favourite plane of all-time.
A great nation thanks you for your service and a job well done 👍 you raised a wonderful family who filled your shoes and carried your torch to light the way!!! God's speed to your family
Robo-Cat like reflexes!
In it’s first iteration the Viper’s stick did not move. It sat to your right and was extremely sensitive to the force of inputs, but it did not move forward, aft, left, or right. This is at least part of why it was called, “The Electric Jet,” because that kind of pilot interface is about as fly-by-wire as it gets.
They later added some mechanical deflection so the pilots could have a more natural feel for the stick, one that is more like a stick that is connected to cables or hydraulic actuators.
Hell of first flight!
My father-in-law Ralph Graf worked on the flight control system for the F-16... he's still alive living in the Fort Worth area. He told me the original design was all electric and the stick didn't actually move at all, and the test pilots hated it 😜. He said Phil was the best test pilot he ever worked with and his flying was super-smooth... he has told me the story of the "first flight" many times. They took all that data from the unplanned flight and made adjustments to the flight control system before the next flight. He is still very, very proud of what they accomplished with the F-16.
That YF-16 color was featured in Ace Combat 7.
🕯In memory of the test pilot flying aircraft really fantastic flying & landing. Seen shared notice on LinkedIn 24 Sep 2023. RIP💐
And thanks to the devoted Falcon BMS team, everybody can try their hands on this beautiful bird.
Great story from an outstanding pilot.
Thank you Mr. Oestricher. RIP.
He made the F-16 legendary, the F-16 in turn made him a legend.
o7
Saw this plane in 1976 as a Bicentenial version at Ramstein Air
Base Germany.
Great American Fighter jet.
Amazing Phil! Thank you for your part in such an unbelievably awesome airplane B-)
Look how successful the F-16 is.
Yeahhhh they want to do a Runway Test (Acceleration on Ground), Instead it wants to fly straight away
Why didn't they include the gear up landing? One of the smoothest I've even seen
It wasn't Phil, it was Niel Anderson, the Chief YF-16 test pilot for GD who was designated to fly Flight 1, which by calling Phil's flight Flight 0, he "sorta" did.
Now its a monster in every corner of world
Hats off to you Phil! The greatest looking jet ever made, IMHO!
deam very good pilot
BIG RESPECT TO Phil
Brave pilot with osm skills
The balls these test pilots have to remain calm is enviable
That a very interesting story
But where is the landing part
luv that airplane rip Phil
Kalkışı çok iyi Kaanın 50 yıl önceki f16 ya göre
"... let it fly away..."
THIS 👆
Rest in the peace legend! God gives you heaven
Love the color. Reminds me of Gundam or some sort.
Rip uncle, i'll always keep that little plane model you gifted me in my birthday
Incredible. The F-16 is the GOAT
Salute brave.
All the people I order u you to pay ...... Salute.
well that certainly sped up the development
Seriously? So you must be Philip Oestricher.
She just wanted to fly.
Dear God, please do not let me grow old.
My Grandpa see the first flight of this Jet. I'm one of them who make this air craft sketch in my school book. stay away negative commenter
Legend says that plane couldnt pull up well, bcs of pilot's too heavy pair of ballz of steel.
F-2 CCVと離陸後の不安定さが似てる
Siz birde bizim KAAN ı gorun
Yikes .. Looks like a 'Saber Dance'
'
wow that cooool F-16XL plane...
keep up american company make more new F-16XL planes this year to next year...
add more missiles, machine gun, better long range mile, more speeding up
Bizim Kaan ilk uçuşunu böyle gerçekleştirseydi, vay halimize vay. Heykelciler sevinçten yerinde duramazlardı ve uçağımızı, onu yapan tüm ekibi ve tabiki RTE yi topa tutarlardı. Keşke bu vidyoyu izleselerde o çok beğendikleri 'amerikan malı' uçağının nasıl uçtuğunu anlasalar. 21.02.2024 Arkadaşlar. Ne önemli bir gün.