F-16 Jet Engine Test At Full Afterburner In The Hush House

Even though we spend many of our weekends standing just feet away from the most intense drag cars on the planet, there is something intensely guttural about jet engines that really cannot be explained.

From the seemingly endless climbing pitch of the whine the engines make as the RPM’s climb and ramp up the thrust to the massive flame that exits the rear when the fuel is poured into the massive engine and the afterburner fires, these engines are a large part of the reason the F-16 is one of the most badass fighter jets on the planet. In what amounts to a jet engine dyno session, we see this F-16 engine strapped to a test stand and fired off to see how much thrust it is capable of producing. When he test concludes, the results are jaw-dropping; just under 29,000 pounds of thrust. That kind of power is the reason two of these engines are able to push the F-16 to nearly Mach 2, almost double the speed of sound at wide open throttle.

The test takes place at a facility called the Hush House, so named because of the massive exhaust silencing mechanisms that keep noise to a tolerable level and helps test engine designs for engines that have not yet been installed as well as those that are already installed.