[A.A. Cunningham]

(I have been in charge of two aircraft maintenance units in the fighter world,)

Well, good for you. How much time in type is in your log?

I can tell you they don't normally do heavy banking with a weapons load

Oh, really. What's the angle of bank in each of these photos?

[JRios1968]

If you consider any of those pictures an F-16 carrying a "heavy" weapons load, you have a lot to learn, my FRiend...

This picture is a little hard to see, but I can discern the standard AIM-9 on the wingtips, AIM-7 (more likely AIM-9) on the station just inboard from the wingtips, something I can't really ID (travel pod? 370-gallon fuel tank?) on the next station over, 600-gallon tank on the inboard station, and an ECM pod on the centerline. Very small load.

This one, has an AIM-120 on each wingtip, AIM-9s inboard of wingtips, empty pilons on the next inboard, 600-gallon tanks inboard of that and an ECM pod on centerline. That's very light for an F-16...

You're kidding me, right? These Misawa Air Base Wild Weasel wannabes (everyone knows the REAL Wild Weasels are F-105s and F-4Gs) are carrying AIM-120s on the wingtips, AIM-9s inboard of that, AGM-88 HARMs inboard of that, 600-gallon tanks, and ECM on centerline. Again, very light for an F-16.

Now, you want to talk about a heavy load, try this guy a few seconds before the pic was taken.

Do you really mean to tell me he would be doing all that banking with all those Mk-82s onboard? How about this guy?

Or this one?

[TXnMA]

Actualy, I am more curious to hear your identification/explanation of the object in the lower right corner of this photo you posted: