User Guide

25-8
As you increase AOA on the horizontal axis of the graph, the coefficient of lift on the vertical axis
goes up. (For our discussion, think of the coefficient of lift as just lift.) As AOA increases past the
stall point, lift decreases. The word “stall” brings up images of the nose of the aircraft going
straight down and the jet falling out of the sky. Fortunately, F-16s do not stall that way. When an
F-16 flies past the stall AOA, the jet will stay in the same attitude (nose position relative to the
earth) and start to slowly lose altitude. It will not fall rapidly toward the earth and the nose of the
jet will not drop. To get out of a stall, all you have to do is increase power. Because of the high
thrust–to–weight ratio, the jet will normally accelerate at this point and the AOA will decrease. For
more on stalls, see Training Mission 7 in Chapter 2: Learning to Turn.