"First, it looks cool." Mover laying down a fighter pilot's #1 reason to do anything.

F-22 unrestricted climb: According to former F-22 Demo pilot "Dozer", in the early days, he wanted to see what the F-22 could do for climb on take off. In a fully combat loaded jet (70,000lbs) he held the F-22 on the deck after wheels up and pulled pure vertical at 570 knots - an easy pull. When he did this in a clean F-15, he experienced "buffet" around 30,000ft and this buffet was the jet running out of airspeed/stalling. So when he experienced a similar buffet in the F-22 at 30,000ft pure vertical, he thought he was having and "F-15 experience". But when he looked at the gauges, he was M0.99. Monster engines.

Mover, like a child who’s been told he can’t have sweets (candy):- “is there any way we can get the quick climb?” 😂

On the ATC side, after you request that climb with the tower, the tower then coordinates with the TRACON, then TRACON with the center. Essentially, we all have to block from surface to whatever you requested, which can be a decent chunk of airspace to prevent any traffic conflicts. It’s fun to watch on a scope too. FedEx will climb out at like 3,000 FPM. Southwest 2.5-3. CRJ2s at 500 FPM. Fighters can climb so fast the datablock sometimes shows XXX indicating that it’s climbing so fast the computer can’t accurately compute the mode C.

Back in the 80s I worked with a guy who had been a military cargo pilot. (C-119 maybe?) When he was in Florida he occasionally had a very heavy load to fly from a smaller airport into Miami Intl. Over a certain load they would give him a JATO bottle. Being a "sneaky fun seeker" he came up with the idea of firewalling the engines and seeing if he could get off without lighting the JATO. On the "happy" flights where he had avoided lighting the bottle he would request an unrestricted climb when leaving Miami. Then he would light the bottle with an empty plane. He said it was the most fun you can have in a cargo plane. After a few times they got wise and started refusing the requests for unrestricted climbs...

As a former Viper & Eagle Crew Chief, i remember my first unrestricted climb during a incentive ride at Luke back in 1988. 311th TFTS. My 2nd was in incirlik Turkey, while TDY from Torrejon AB 613th Amu. My final "incentive" ride was at Spangdahlem AB 23d FS in 1995. After that 2 other back seat rides were maintenance support rides during cross country flights to Aviano Italy & RAF Mildenhal. Regret not having a Eagle ride though.. But I had a great 25yr AF Career

Long time listener, I like these kinds of How to, Why to videos, Sir! Unrestricted climbs are indeed morale boosting. As a 20 year Flightline guy, we would see them from time to time, but as my time was predominantly spent on Thunderchiefs and Aardvarks, they weren't that often. Never got a real kick out of Vipers or Eagles though, after the first few back in the 70's and 80's. The most impressive for me was the F-111F on an FCF (Functional Certification Flight) unrestricted climb and mission profile flight. The Aircraft would be loaded with no stores, and wings empty of fuel, for a take off weight of ~55,000 pounds. With 26,500 pounds of thrust each motor, we were near 1 to 1 thrust, and they'd take-off, semi Russian style, lift enough to pick the gear up, then ground effect to the end of the runway, where they would do the 60% climb. As they went up, they'd start pulling the wings back from 16 to 27 degrees or more, and then as a speck, do your positive roll over. They would them come back after a 1.5 hour flight sometimes with peeling paint on the leading edges after hitting Mach 2.5 plus out over the North Sea corridor. The Vark was big and LOOKED heavy, but the F model was a mean and powerful Lady.

It's always fun to watch an unrestricted climb.

Thanks for that Mover! that made my Monday!! I think the Air Force/Navy, might want you as a recruiter, lol! I believe you might inspire a lot of young people to take to the skies.

That climbout at the end was just too cool!❤

24 years since my F16 fini. I did get the unrestricted climb. What a blast it was.

They're a lot of fun to watch. Probably even more fun to be in the backseat for! I'm sorry you couldn't have one for your fini; that was harsh.

During the early days of OIF we did a lot of zoom climbs in the 130 departing hot zones like Bagdad. We didn't have the thrust to climb out of the manpad envelope, but it kept us away from small arms. As the war dragged on, the powers that be got more restrictive and we had to perform standard climb outs.

You take me back! Best one I ever did was in a clean Eagle at Tyndall (sea level), in the winter. That was a rocket ride straight up.

When I was working at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis in the 80's, I would sometimes see F-15s do an unrestricted climb for test flights. I always suspected it was to avoid the heavy commercial traffic around the airport (Lambert Field), but it's good to have this hypothesis confirmed. I'd served 4 years in the Corps around Phantoms and Skyhawks, so knew what a typical military take-off looked like. It was great to have a civilian job where you still got to see F-15s flying around now and then. 😀

*I saw this documentary where an F-14 Tomcat did a -4G pushover inverted against a Mig. They took a beautiful picture. They were keeping up international relations.*

I lived off of the flight line at Al Assad for 5 months. Although the rumble of F-18s taking off every few minutes shakes your universe, the unrestricted climbs never got old.

Always my favourite thing to see. Hold the nose down all the way down the runway, then pull. My F-111 flight commander during RTU said he was able to do a vertical climb in an F-111 F model (lafter he'd got down to a low fuel state) during an air show. Said he really shocked the F-15 pilot who was doing his display at the same time.

I was running security at an air show in Bahrain around 2011. The Air Force and the Marines sent several aircraft including an F-15 and a Marine F-18. First departure was the F-15. When he took off, he did an unrestricted climb from 100’ AGL at about a 40 degree angle. It was cool. Then came the Marine F-18. He went wheels up, zipped along at 20’ and flew at full afterburner until he was abeam all of us watching. He then instantly pulled it nearly vertical. His nozzles were so close to the ground that the fire from afterburner hit the pavement and kicked up a bunch of dust. He climbed almost straight up into the clouds with all of us cheering and going crazy. Needless to say, we were proud to be Marines that day.

Gotta love a quick climb. Get to see them frequently on Fridays at Lakenheath in UK with F15s and F35s. Not sure if it's okay to mention other youtubers, but there's a certain teddy bear in the UK that streams quick climbs on Fridays. We're blessed here in the UK as it's okay to go watch, take pics and videos, provided done safely and respectfully of course.

Fighter Jet Friday at Luke AFB can be quite fun to watch. I work next door to the base, outdoors. Gonna miss the Vipers; 2 squadrons left, one (309th) is transitioning to F-35s after the current class graduates. QQMF!

I love this episode, it’s my favorite type of takeoff to watch. Thanks Mover!

Always good to see one of your vids, Patch.

What a great, understandable explanation. Great footage too. Excellent!

This is a really good explanation. Thank you, Mover!

Great video and explanation of a cool aspect of flight. I appreciate how you represent our Air Force Reserve Command very well. AFRC ♦1

It’s so cool watching you take off from a base that I’ve lived close to, and now work at (Belle Chasse NAS)

From rolling on the runway to 13k feet: "That only took 1 minute..." is what she said. Props Mover!

1979, sitting on a pickup truck outside Bergstrom AFB, multiband radio tuned to 126.2, heard tower clear Demon 11 (RF-4C) quick climb to 10,000 ft.... never forgot that.

I watched a C5-B due a quick climb out of Zaragoza AB Spain once. The plane only got to about 5,000 before he leveled off. It was a great sight.

I always loved watching the raptors at JBER do unrestricted climbs. there was a hangar-turned-gym there and some days i'd walk out and watch them go at it.

The “level off” process was interesting - never knew that. Thanks Mover!

Nice episode - Really enjoyed that!

Every fighter base I’ve been at (Spang, Kunsan, Kadena) I’ve loved watching the quick climbs. Kunsan’s run path to the bowling pin was down the runway and had the best front row seat to the whole show.

As a Crew Chief, I got to do this in an Eagle and Viper. What a ride. That Viper made me sick. It just turns so much quicker with fly by wire.

Nice video and great explanation!

Nice, good info on the roll and positiv G.

I love unrestricted climbs! ❤

That was informative, thanks Mover!

I reported to my first boat at Pearl Harbor in 1985. We were pierside during my first Pearl Harbor Day commemoration on December 7th of that year. A moving ceremony of the national anthem, followed by "Taps" culminated in the Hawaii Air National Guard, flying F-4E Phantoms, blasted over Pearl Harbor in full military power (Evidenced by the smoke trails behind them). At the end of taps, the "three" position went to full afterburner and climbed out of the formation, went inverted and executed a slow-roll to port and pulled away from the formation. We were all impressed. Next year...... We were blessed to be pierside again and the Hawaii ANG had been upgraded to the F-15A Eagle. Same scenario: National anthem, followed by Taps....... Then came the flyover. Only this time, as the four-ship formation crossed the harbor, the number 3 lit its afterburners, went pure vertical............... and disappeared in the distance..... Straight up!

When I was a little kid I got to sit in the original YF-16 cockpit, never forgot that memory. I wonder where that plane is now? USAF museum maybe?

Mover, here’s a quick no-shitter from 1993: I’m a LTjg on a good deal cross-country in an F-14A out of NTU. Pcola, then NAS Dallas for a Daily/Turn, then on to Chicago, NAS Glenview, then RTB. At Dallas base ops, they ask if I’d like the “Tomcat-ONE” departure. Upon learning it’s an unrestricted climb to FL200 within 3nm of the field, I️ said “Why sure!”. I️ gathered a bag of knots in a low Trani, swept the wings back and started the 4g pull at 400knots. Sadly by 18000, I️ was out of knots and had to level off at FL190, and milk it up to 200 slowly. After a great RON in Chi-Town, we roll through base ops and innocently ask if we can get an unrestricted climb out of there, expecting a quick “Nope”. Surprisingly, They replied you can request it on Tower freq. Sooo, we taxi out with an initial clearance to 4K & ask Tower for an unrestricted climb. But Tower only gives us 7000 feet. Soooo, we ask for higher and get a “Standby”. After a minute or so delay, the controller clears us unrestricted to level 220. I think to myself “self, first, COOL, 2nd I’m gonna need a lot more knots on deck to get to FL 220 and 3rd I’m amazed that Chicago Center Is on board with this… but it’s a Sunday morning so I guess they don’t have much traffic?!” After takeoff, I’m 250 knots at 50ft at the upwind numbers accelerating in full grunt, wings coming aft to 68deg. About 2 miles later I’m north of the field, zipping over the top of row houses. I’m still in full blower, 420knots and maybe 150ft. Then I️ am shocked to see (and overfly) a church & parking lot full of cars (it’s Sunday morning at 1015L (typical last day of a Xcnty hangover launchtime 🥴). Sh!t! , so start my pull to the vertical. Laying on my back I️ start processing that church service was in session that must have been HORRIBLY loud and I️m regretting this mistake, all while my RIO Checks in with Departure: “Victory 1, passing 7.3 for FL220”. Controller’s response was “Victory 1, say again altitude?!?”. I look inside watching the altimeter spinning and chuckle as my RIO tries to time his reply, “Victory 1 passing…. Passing …..One-FourThousand! ” he says with obvious glee in his voice for nailing his Altitude call! The Controller (in panic voice) “VICTORY 1! Level off FL200, HEADING 220! Traffic several quadrants and over top at FL220!!” Oh shit! I️ successfully guess correctly which way to roll in the vertical and pull out inverted. I️ roll upright at exactly 200 heading 220 @ 230knots. Silence on the ICS. Silence on the UHF. 30seconds later, we are switched to Center and the flight proceeds on to Oceana as if nothing happened. No phone number to call, no noise complaints. It’s all good, apparently. Well, still scared, after landing I️ called Glenview Base Ops and asked what happened (and also hoping to intercept and resolve any noise complaints at my O-2 level. But luckily they took the blame: seems that the tower and departure controllers knew we asking for a Max Performance Unrestricted climb, but when they coordinated with Center, Center assumed it was a heavy-laden C-9 asking for an unrestricted leisurely climb due to fuel constraints. So my lessons learnt that day: ask for a MAX PERFORMANCE CLIMB not just an unrestricted climb, and two, have SA -it’s not nice to buzz a church service on Sunday morning!

Back when I had my incentive ride in 1982 in a F-4E it was referred to as a "Max Climb". It was awesome! The only part of the ride that was better was the low-level Mach run.

In the backseat of 34th FS Rude Ram F-16 at PSAB in Saudi Arabia during Southern Watch. The "official" reason was because there was a possible insurgent/terrorist threat from MANPADs. A fired/defective missile was found in the desert near the base. The feeling a view looking back as the ground disappeared from the seat reclined 30 degrees was unreal. Then the roll from inverted to upright. Thanks for that ride Navy exchange Pilot "X-Man" Cross.

I watched a great KZfaq video on the zoom climbs back in the fifties through the seventies. It was a real competition between the USA and USSR.

I was at an airshow where a Marine Corp two seater snsnapped two the vertical just 50-100ft. above the runway and go full afterburner, climbing to 30,000ft. rapidly ! What an absolute thrill . Just under 60,000 lbs.of thrust I believe. Awesome power! Thought I would edit and add that the pilot ,after takeoff, came around and 50ft. OVER THE tarmac/runway snapped vertical and full burner ! Thrilled like a child!

Interesting topic, perfect break from work... and now I want to play DCS

That is absolutely sick. You’re airborne 1/3 down the runway, 20 seconds later over the threshold, 20 seconds later the whole runway looks smaller than your head. I think those old fighter pilots were right. Didn’t look like a steep angle but you got gone quick.

What I noticed on pretty much all fighter pilots, it's the stare in your eyes, and the automated constant looking around. That's amazing. And almost every pilot has that look. Thanks for your service Mover.

In the UK the typhoons unrestricted climb is as soon as it rotates, nose goes up and it climbs up straight away. It would be interesting to compare the time to height. One staying low and gaining speed before pulling up. Vs the typhoon going up straight away.

That was awesome! 🔥

That’s what impressed me most when I got my flight, the power. We had a centerline tank. Almost 5 g. Felt like the ass end fell out. Guess it does really. Most fun ever. Plus I got to do several 9g turns myself. Didn’t have the slightest of greying. Got 8.7 on my first try at it.

FCF profile was 90, Immelmann rollout to level and start the checklist -JFS check , mach run etc. 90* gets fastest butt to ground separation in case of F/O.

Back in the early 80s when I was stationed at Osan, if I wasn't sitting a mission I'd head outside to the fence (top of Hill 170) and watch the U-2 take off. Was always amazed by that aircraft. If I was sitting a mission, I had a "different relationship" with the U-2 (the R model back then) and I was sitting at my rack waiting for it to get to orbit altitude of something over 60,000 feet. Always loved to watch them take off and land, we had some amazing pilots and I never saw any of them dip a wing on landing.

I got an incentive ride when we were down at Tyndall AFB for a live fire exercise. in 1992, F16D out of Shaw AFB. unrestricted climb, If I remember correctly 17,500' when he rolled out on top. did 7.5G a bit later, the gray out was coming when he unloaded it. hit the 100% o2 switch for a couple hits. E ticket ride for sure.

I’d like to see a video explaining cross country flights. What are the requirements, how are they planned, do you as the pilot have any say on where you go? How many days are you/can you be gone?

9:35 I love jet noise! It's what I listen to for white noise when I'm studying or trying to filter out social anxiety triggers. GE engines make me happy.

A few years ago, I lived in Kentucky and would go back home to visit my family in Missouri. One day, while sitting in traffic, I got to watch an F-15 do an unrestricted climb out of St Louis' airport. That made being stuck in traffic at least a little better.

Good Morning Mover from Sydney Australia. I can really see and feel a change in the season- Autumn leaves. Winter clothes, hot food and aeroplanes... O' yes and helicopters. 🌏🇦🇺

If you want to see a proper performance take off look no further then a eurofighter typhoon. There's no leveling out to gain speed for momentum. Straight up, it's lush. More power to weight ratio so just goes up like a rocket.

did not realize that MSY was that close to the river. thanks for the view.

He's going vertical, and so am I. We're going ballistic, go get him Mav.

I trained for my private at a Class C arpt. Field handled lots of mil traffic, from cc to local army to NASA. On one of my first early am lessons, I saw an f-15 go vert (my first from that close). When I asked about it, I was told it was requested by ATC for noise abatement.

Unfortunately, pilots have lost their lives doing unrestricted climb. One F-14A Tomcat pilot Lt Cmd. Stacy Bates in the 90s proudly showing off to his parents, plugged in full zone 5 afterburner and did an unrestricted climb at the end of a 5000 feet runway. He went into the clouds at 3000 feet and was expecting to come out of the clouds at 5000 feet. In the clouds, he experienced vertigo while failing to rely on his instrument and pitched the nose down listening to his inner ear thinking he was climbing while he was descending. Came out of the clouds at 400+ knots. He pulled on the stick hard pulling almost 9G inducing G-LOC to his RIO. He got the nose up, but still could not reduce the descent rate. He slammed into a house at very high AoA killing 4 people including himself, his RIO and two people in the house.

when my girlfriend (now engaged) said what makes me happy to watch 'in real life time' this is it. unrestricted climbs because my dad was apart of NAV Canada for 29 years Still brings a smile to my face at 34

Thx Mover...exhilarating ...

Whoo hoo! Exhilarating just to watch and hear ! Let's talk about them!

Mover going upstairs for fun and games, totally love unrestricted TOs! Thanks for the vid, I bet the comparison from the Viper vs hornet in a unrestricted is no comparison for you I'm sure, especially the big mouth/GE 30s the Makos flew.

I have that same shirt, a guy I work with use to work on the F-16 up to the block 50 when he retired

The F-15Es at Edward's would do one every time they went up. They would be 30 feet off the deck all the way down the 15k foot runway, then straight up!

I was a reservist at Homestead working in the bomb dump and we had a great view of the runway. Hate to say it but the best unrestricted takeoff I ever saw there was by a F-18.

Nice rip at the end there Mover ! 🇺🇸💪🏼

Hi there. Great video. I enjoy a lot your content. Thank you for that. I'm no pilot, just a military planes enthusiast. I have a question, about the negative and positive Gs. I thought that pilots would go for positive Gs also for an health question. When you pull to climb and you get positive Gs, your blood is pulled down, and your suit and some techniques help counteract the positive Gs, you may blackout due to lack of blood in the brain. But with negative Gs the blood is pushed up towards the head, you may increase the blood pressures in the head, get a redout and other problems because there's no way to counteract a redout, and it may lead to health issues. Is an the issue? Did I got it wrong? 🙂 Thank you!

"Viking Departures"

hi mover, quick question. what do fighters do with the air pressure in there ears? if i fly in a commercial i already feel it when climbing slowly. keep up the good work thx.

I live near Hickam and every day (almost) I see the Raptors go near 90. So cool, sounds awesome

Loved the F16 FCF......Climb followed later by a boom.

Thank for the how to and story behind it. Just out of curiosity, why is the dashboard so beat up? I would think the military would take care of or at least repair things like that.

I always wondered why they didn't just push over without inverting first. makes sense with the limits of the aircraft on the negative Gs. The raptor does it a couple times during their demo so must have a higher negative G limit.

When I was at different bases in Southeast Asia our F4's used to scatter in different directions in quick climbs. Three at a time would take off. We were told there were snipers just past the end of the runway who would shoot at the aircraft.

They were the easy way of getting an F/A-18 out of the St Louis plant without screwing up the commercial traffic.

+100 cool points for Mover!

When I was an Air Traffic Controller at NAF El Centro, we could not give an unrestricted climb past the airspace of the Class D. We would tell the pilot that past the Class D, they were VFR. Had many F18 and others do it.

I've never flown, or flown in an F-16, but when you're in that Chaise Lounge seat, I figure that, when you're vertical, that puts you at a 30 degree or so head down posture while accelerating like a Greased Eel. All the fun of Negative G without the push-over.

Got to see an F-15 go 90° at a local airshow years ago. He was out of sight in about 15 - 20 seconds. Mind blown!

Hello. I am wondering what engine you were using for the unrestricted climbs. I work with a developer for a flight simulator and we are trying to match the performance you had in the video. Knowing the engine and thrust would be a huge help in matching it as closely as possible. Thank you.

Theres a video on here of a clean Oregon ANG F-15 doing the business. Its absolutely rockin! Pretty sure he hit vertical no problem.

🤙 good stuff

@7:44 The data on the Mig is inaccurate. Love the Top Gun reference.

Born and raised on Oahu grew up watching 15s, some 18s and now the 22s doing them. Hickam is an AFB but it's technically included with Peal Harbor. (Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam) I always assumed because they use the same airspace as HNL they were getting out of the way ASAP of all the GA and tubeliners. Also as for the -G pushover. Maybe you don't have the clearance for that info. My uncle was in one with a MiG-28. Has a Polaroid to prove it. Had since he's not with us anymore.

Of course there’s one in the Blue Angels IMAX trailer. That was an insane angle following #6. Not sure exactly how that was done.

I know this might be a little bit of a dumb question but is there a combat reason to do a unrestricted climb like to gain altitude to get radar on possible enemy positions in the air or to quickly get air superiority or get in the fight quicker

That was great for us non pilot civilians.

250kt below 10 can be waived for airliners only if you ask(usually due to weight)

Badass

We used to request them as much as possible when I was a controller at NAS North Island

as you're accelerating before the climb, do you stay in ground effect, or is that too low for safety? working on the line, i always love seeing a fighter scream over the runway..."ok here it comes...and it's gone"!

The coolest climbe I have ever seen are the F-15's when the Air Force was in Yuma and took off at night, just watching the afterburner glow till it was so small it was hard to see, then the pilot coule go out of afterburner.

I did it on my incentive flight in a F15 w/ centerline bag. Had no idea there was so much to it.

I have seen some pilots roll on the longitudinal axis on the way up. Is there a benefit to flight performance doing this?