Fighter vs Fighter – The big day is getting close
The time for this epic event is getting closer. In only 20 days – less than 3 weeks from now – Team Alpha-1 Athlete will be in Bodø, Norway, to pull an F-16 Fighting Falcon.
With the great support of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Karen Skålvoll – aka Alpha-1 Athlete – will attempt to pull a fully operational fighter jet over a distance of 20 meters, approximately 60 ft.
To support her in this historic event will be:
- Torbjørn Skålvoll, husband and team lead
- Arnar Mar Jonsson, coach and founder of the sport Disabled Strongman, assistant referee for WSM
- Magnus Ver Magnusson, coach, 4 x Worlds Strongest Man, current Head referee for WSM
To perform the pull, Karen will put on a harness attached to the F-16. Using only her own strength, she will pull forward to get the aircraft rolling, and then carry on to pull the full distance.
This will – as far as we have been able to establish – be the first time in history that an operational fighter jet has been pulled in this way, and most certainly by a disabled person. To be able to take on a strength feature that this is, Karen will as always require supply of extra oxygen, which will be supplied by her Simply GoMini from Philips.
F-16 factsheet
(minor changes may apply to model used by Norway)
Primary function: multirole fighter
Contractor: Lockheed Martin Corp.
Power plant: F-16C/D: one Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-200/220/229 or General Electric F110-GE-100/129
Thrust: F-16C/D, 27,000 pounds
Wingspan: 32 feet, 8 inches (9.8 meters)
Length: 49 feet, 5 inches (14.8 meters)
Height: 16 feet (4.8 meters)
Weight: 19,700 pounds without fuel (8,936 kilograms)
Maximum takeoff weight: 37,500 pounds (16,875 kilograms)
Fuel capacity: 7,000 pounds internal (3,175 kilograms); typical capacity, 12,000 pounds with two external tanks (5443 kilograms)
Payload: two 2,000-pound bombs, two AIM-9, two AIM-120 and two 2400-pound external fuel tanks
Speed: 1,500 mph (Mach 2 at altitude)
Range: more than 2,002 miles ferry range (1,740 nautical miles)
Ceiling: above 50,000 feet (15 kilometers)
Armament: one M-61A1 20mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds; external stations can carry up to six air-to-air missiles, conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods
Crew: F-16C, one; F-16D, one or two
Unit cost: F-16A/B , $14.6 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars); F-16C/D,$18.8 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
