29 minutes ago
Saturday, March 20, 2010
F-35B: The Future is Wow
The first successful hover test was piloted at the Patuxent River naval base by British pilot Graham Tomlinson.
Hat tip Gizmodo.
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13 comments:
They are always doing cool things at PAX. I loved being stationed there, and watching everything.
Wonder why they didn't land from a hover? Didn't want to see that burning concrete?
The STO part of the STOVL is relatively old news. The initial VL piece also happened last week.
Apparently the initial VL piece did cause spalling on the concrete.
I'm a little surprised that these events pass for news around the "porch."
V/R,
They did the landing from a hover on Thursday. Pretty impressive how controlled the aircraft was as it came down through ground effect -- no noticable pitch, roll, or yaw.
Brit pilot? guess it was homage to the Harriers birthplace? Or do the Brits actually do some of the design work on F-35 too?
Because it is cool .... and my USMC readers prefer pictures. :-P
Pretty much all "first flights" or other dramatic test points are going to be performed by the contractor. Graham Tomlinson is an old retired RAF Harrier pilot and works for BAE and not a direct representative of the UK govt or RAF. BAE is one of the prime contractors for part of the airframe as well as many of the subsystems.
A landing from hover is far riskier than taking off to a hover. Therefore in the classic "build-up/build-down" approach to testing aircraft it only makes sense to close out one test point at a time, go look at the data and the attempt the next riskier test point.
Joint Strike Fighter
Just another deck warper! Bet they'll have to expend all bombs and ammo before landing that way. I wonder if a tail hook is too heavy for this model.
hmmm... can our aero industry join? At Mielec factory we have complete Blackhawk assembly line operating already...
Yes, our aero industry has joined, and in fact is in the lead.
Since it is regarding the -B STOVL version...just curious how exactly the Marines are planning on declaring IOC in 2012 when developmental flight test won't be done by then; also, they're declaring full operational capability 12 YEARS LATER in 2024. Looks like the Marines will be yet again at the forefront of unnecessarily killing people by fielding aeronautical systems before their envelope is fully explored and verified (shades of the V-22).
The JSF makes the Navy's shipbuilding performance look like a shithot program by comparison...expected a little more skepticism out of you on this one, CDR.
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