F-35 Down in Ft. Worth // Pilot Ejected

[mp5g]

Looks like the Marines are down an F-35. 
 

 

[Tonka]

Glad he got out of there! 0/0 test point good...

LM says or "understands" he is ok:https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2022/12/15/pilot-ejects-from-f-35-military-jet-makes-crash-landing-in-fort-worth/

“We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully,” Lockheed Martin said

[Biff_T]

It was covid.   Lol

Glad he's OK.  

[VMFA187]

Looks like the lift fan failed upon touchdown as indicated by the significant movement upwards of the 3BSM. My understanding is that auto-eject functionality is supposed to be enabled with a lift fan failure but maybe that is over-ridden with weight on wheels. 

[uhhello]

1.5 swings.  great seat.  dude rode that thing for a while.  I guess punching out at 45 degrees is probably not optimum.  

[Pooter]

Glad the dude is okay.

On a totally separate note, vtol fighters are completely asinine and shouldn't exist.  A UPT sim instructor of mine was a former harrier driver and they regarded ejection as almost an inevitability. You either have ejected or you will. 
 

Not to mention making an aircraft vtol capable robs it of so much tactical capability, and in the specific case of the F-35 it needlessly complicated the worldwide acquisition process for a tiny tiny fraction of the jets going to our marines.  Glad we made the entire fleet less capable to accommodate your stupid lift fan. 
 

/endrant

[Best-22]

Can you refurbish an F-35 after an ejection or is it automatically a complete write off? 

[HuggyU2]

1 hour ago, uhhello said:

1.5 swings.  great seat.  dude rode that thing for a while.  I guess punching out at 45 degrees is probably not optimum.  

I'm really curious to know if the pilot waited for the jet to settle in relatively flat before he punched, so that he wouldn't go out at a steep angle.

If that was actually his conscious thought, the dude's got big balls.

[TreeA10]

Hey, this is Fort Worth, also known as Cow Town and known for cattle round ups and rodeos. I think he got his 8 seconds in the saddle and bailed. We'll have to see how the judges score his ride for style points. 

[Bigred]

1 hour ago, Pooter said:

Glad the dude is okay.

On a totally separate note, vtol fighters are completely asinine and shouldn't exist.  A UPT sim instructor of mine was a former harrier driver and they regarded ejection as almost an inevitability. You either have ejected or you will. 
 

Not to mention making an aircraft vtol capable robs it of so much tactical capability, and in the specific case of the F-35 it needlessly complicated the worldwide acquisition process for a tiny tiny fraction of the jets going to our marines.  Glad we made the entire fleet less capable to accommodate your stupid lift fan. 
 

/endrant

You obviously don’t understand the point and objective of amphibious warfare.

[pbar]

41 minutes ago, Bigred said:

You obviously don’t understand the point and objective of amphibious warfare.

And IIRC it was Congress that forced the VTOL version to be part of the whole program (since they are tactical airpower experts and all <sarcasm>).

[Lord Ratner]

What a stupid capability the Marines are obsessed with.

 

Anyone who thinks we are landing those things on contested beaches is smoking the good shit. Good thing we didn't have to make humongous financial and engineering sacrifices to keep that party trick...

[nunya]

3 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

Anyone who thinks we are landing those things on contested beaches

Yeah, that's not how that works.

https://news.usni.org/2022/04/05/marines-load-record-16-f-35bs-aboard-uss-tripoli-test-of-lightning-carrier-concept

[Bigred]

31 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

What a stupid capability the Marines are obsessed with.

 

Anyone who thinks we are landing those things on contested beaches is smoking the good shit. Good thing we didn't have to make humongous financial and engineering sacrifices to keep that party trick...

😐

[brabus]

The B model is fucking retarded and is the RC for nearly everything not liked about the F-35. Even marine bros will back that up. Stupid acquisition decision that forced a lot to be left on the table. But here we are…

Glad he got out safely. 

[Sua Sponte]

2 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

What a stupid capability the Marines are obsessed with.

 

Anyone who thinks we are landing those things on contested beaches is smoking the good shit. Good thing we didn't have to make humongous financial and engineering sacrifices to keep that party trick...

 

[brabus]

3 hours ago, Bigred said:

You obviously don’t understand the point and objective of amphibious warfare.

To be fair, you don’t seem to grasp how the MEU concept and objective is not in the same ballpark as the fights an F-35 is designed for. The mission and the asset are completely at odds in several ways.  

[Swizzle]

11 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

Hey, this is Fort Worth, also known as Cow Town and known for cattle round ups and rodeos. I think he got his 8 seconds in the saddle and bailed. We'll have to see how the judges score his ride for style points. 

That mechanical 'bull' looked pissed. Next up, drunk girl in cutoff jorts

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Swizzle
Also, Glad 0/0 worked well...

[ClearedHot]

10 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

What a stupid capability the Marines are obsessed with.

 

Anyone who thinks we are landing those things on contested beaches is smoking the good shit. Good thing we didn't have to make humongous financial and engineering sacrifices to keep that party trick...

Good thing the Brits didn't share your logic.

12 hours ago, Best-22 said:

Can you refurbish an F-35 after an ejection or is it automatically a complete write off? 

Likely given the picture below. 

I remember hearing the story of the Navy exchange dude in one of my Dad's squadrons, he had the odd distinction of having flown the same tail number AFTER he had ejected from it.  I believe it was an incident on a carrier with bad hydraulics causing him to punch out during landing but the plane stayed on the deck and was saved.  Years later at a follow on assignment he flew that same tail after it had been repaired, he was one of FIVE navy pilots to do the same thing.

 

[Pooter]

10 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

 

Now show me on the map with a near peer threat where you're going to park that sweet sweet boat out of anti ship missile range but also where the F-35s are in striking distance. 
 

I'll wait

[O Face]

13 hours ago, nunya said:

Yeah, that's not how that works.

https://news.usni.org/2022/04/05/marines-load-record-16-f-35bs-aboard-uss-tripoli-test-of-lightning-carrier-concept

Serious question here, not trying to be a dick, but what advantage, other than cost I suppose, does the lightning carrier offer over other carriers?

[Danger41]

A couple questions for the F-35 crowd.

1. Someone mentioned auto-eject earlier. Is that a thing in certain flight regimes? What triggers it?

2. Is that a normal descent rate prior to touchdown? @VMFA187mentioned lift fan failure but I don’t have a frame of reference for what a normal VTOL looks like.

[nunya]

18 minutes ago, O Face said:

Serious question here, not trying to be a dick, but what advantage, other than cost I suppose, does the lightning carrier offer over other carriers?

Disclaimer: I don't vouch for the tactical prowess of the concept, WEZ, range, etc.

They talk about a more distributed force vs single center of gravity mega-carrier and better maneuver (33% less draft).

[Lord Ratner]

15 hours ago, nunya said:

Yeah, that's not how that works.

https://news.usni.org/2022/04/05/marines-load-record-16-f-35bs-aboard-uss-tripoli-test-of-lightning-carrier-concept

And that's great, what a proud moment for USMC public affairs. But there's what's possible and what's plausible. The military is caught in the same "unlimited resources" model that has gotten us into a pretty big mess nationally and globally. If you want a jump jet, then justify it and build it. They couldn't, so it got shoe horned into the F35 and it's a much, much weaker MWS for it.

 

13 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

 

Neat. China must be shitting themselves.

5 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Good thing the Brits didn't share your logic.

Yes, the incredibly neutered European militaries are a great example of image over effectiveness, thank you.

 

[VMFA187]

1 hour ago, Danger41 said:

A couple questions for the F-35 crowd.

1. Someone mentioned auto-eject earlier. Is that a thing in certain flight regimes? What triggers it?

2. Is that a normal descent rate prior to touchdown? @VMFA187mentioned lift fan failure but I don’t have a frame of reference for what a normal VTOL looks like.

1. Yes, if the lift fan fails in STOVL it is assessed that the pilot would not have the reaction time to eject safely before he is out of the envelope so it will auto-eject. 

2. 420fpm rate of descent is standard. That looks about right.