Can one.....very easy to differentiate.
F-5 has long protruding nose and tail-pipes
F-16 has shorter nose and it looks quite squat, and the tail-pipe
is blended into the tail, and the noise! If cannot see then easier,
the F-16 has the distinctable low-pitch whistle while the F-5 tends
to whistle at a higher pitch. And if the aircrafts decide to bank,
even easier, the F-16's fin is how to say......er.... oh yah,
concave towards the fuselage, while the F-5's is convex. Aiyah,
just say that the back-portion slopes at obtuse while the other is
acute can already.
Besides all these, over the years from visiting foreign aircrafts,
can differentiate others. The F-15 is of course an easy one, and if
cannot see, then you will be able to hear and differentiate, since
it uses the same engines as the F-16s, but have 2 instead, sounds
the same, but is much louder and whistle is of much lower pitch.
Same goes for F-18s, only way to distinguish from F-15 is the twin
outward canting fins, and the highly swept tail-planes, the
tail-plane is a giveaway.
Have fun spotting!
