Posted on 09/20/2023 7:52:32 PM PDT by algore
A F-35 jet could have crashed on Sunday due to poor weather in South Carolina, new audio suggests - as questions mount as to why the disastrous training exercise was allowed to proceed.
The F-35B Lightning II which the unnamed Marine pilot was flying is believed to be at risk of malfunctions if it flies in thunderstorms, according to a Forbes investigation in November.
Its sister jet, the F-35A, is more severely affected and cannot fly within 25 miles of lightning
he issue lies within the F-35's OBIGGS (Onboard Inert Gas Generation) system, which pumps nitrogen-enriched air into its fuel tanks to inert them, preventing the aircraft from exploding if it is struck by lightning.
'F-35B and C variants have some of the same OBIGGS issues as the F-35A, but have been able to alleviate operational impacts,' said Chief Petty Officer Matthew Olay, spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office, in an email to Forbes last year.
Audio from Sunday's crash shows the pilot telling emergency responders, after ejecting, that he 'lost it in the weather'.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is CRAZY!
The TBM-960 and TBM-910 are small, single engine turboprop passenger aircraft, and they have what’s called the HomeSafe™ emergency autoland function that — with the press of a conspicuously-placed, bright red button — automatically brings the airplane to a runway touchdown if the pilot is incapacitated. The freakin’ plane has the entire library of airports in a database onboard, and will find the nearest one, route to it, MAKE ALL THE APPROPRIATE RADIO CALLS AUTOMATICALLY, and get the craft onto the ground safely.
How the H - E - double hockey sticks does it come to be that our MOST ADVANCED military-side aircraft CANNOT execute this same function under control of some, separate, “hardened” core of internal hardware that takes over if the “main system” gets fritzed??
Da Hell do we PAY — THROUGH THE NOSE, mind you — this Military Industrial Complex FOR, if not to STAY on the very leading edge of all these critical technologies, and INCORPORATE them into our battle-ready systems so we have THE VERY BEST hardware on the sky, on the land, on the sea, and beneath it at any given point in time??
I guess the version that could fly in storms was $100M a pop, and we decided to save some money.
Yeah, the NWS issues convective SIGMETS just for the fun of it. Nothing to worry about, just fly right through those thunderstorms. There are a number of meteorological phenomena that can threaten the structural integrity of an aircraft, or cause loss of control, or both (often the second followed by the first). Aside from thunderstorms, the rotor under a strong mountain wave is capable of swatting any aircraft type from the sky if it’s strong enough, as just one additional example.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as hurricane hunter C-130s, but they don’t just plow straight into a hurricane. If they did, they would most likely also experience a rapid unplanned disassembly. These aircraft fly carefully planned entry and exit paths designed to gradually spiral into the bands of the storm by flying with the direction of rotation to reduce the effect of the high winds and avoiding the most intense embedded thunderstorms. As for normal civilian and even military aircraft, they avoid flying through thunderstorms when at all possible. If you think otherwise, you’re going to have to cite the normal everyday military aircraft (not uniquely designed and operated research flights) that just ignores thunderstorms and plows right through them on a routine basis. Hint: There is no such aircraft. As the original poster said, EVERY aircraft type in existence is highly vulnerable to destruction or loss of control if it ventures directly into a strong enough thunderstorm.
We're getting close to eliminating the need for a pilot in fighter/bomber aircraft. Pilots will become obsolete.
Boy, these claims are getting looser and looser. First, I’m not sure what “5 mile zone” you’re referring to. Sounds like you’re more familiar with the airspace around a smaller GA airport, but a large commercial airport like Detroit Metro has Class B airspace surrounding it, which extends far more than five miles. OK, that nit picked let’s move on to weather. You’re not seriously claiming that you see airliners flying through tornados, are you? Same with strong thunderstorms (I’m not talking about some rain and a few rumbles). I think you’re mistaking continuing to fly when these phenomena are in the area with flying THROUGH them. Big difference, and I guarantee FAA ATC does not direct aircraft into thunderstorms, nor would the pilots accept such a vector if they did. They do exactly the opposite, even vectoring flights off published procedures to avoid severe weather.
just more lies.....more coverup....we will probably never know what really happened.
Well, MARINE is an acronym for My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment. It was a bad idea giving jar heads their own jets.
Thanks, it only took 63 posts for thunderstorm reality to finally come out.
Pilots with half a brain do not intentionally fly into or even near, thunderstorms. It isn’t healthy and we have known for many years. I’d go so far as to say it’s in military regulations how far away you are to remain from a thunderstorm.
There is a side issue here as yet unmentioned and that is the F-22 vs F35. We pay a great deal for stealth and the ability to integrate the battlefield. I regarded the F-22 as the better aircraft of the two, and we could have had many more of them for the price, but stealth and that battlefield integration thing won out. Won out to the point we bought fewer F-22’s than we originally were going to.
C-130s. Original versions of which came out in the mid-1950s.
Remember the Airborne troops surrounded in the Bascone (spelling) forest in November....asked to surrender by the Germans....replied NUTS....We are Airborne...being surrounded is what we do.
I’m beginning to thing we’re moving in the wrong direction.
I just hope they have a good electric grid for us to plug into.
There are other lightning related issues with the “Lightning II” (F-35)...outer “stealth” skin damage, “brain box”(ALIS) damage as well as the nitrogen inerting (OBIGGS) issue...
“...the F-35’s outer skin is coated in a composite metal structure that “does not provide inherent passive lightning protection,” according to a Marine Corps request for portable lightning rods. This lack of inherent protection means that F-35s must be accompanied by lightning rods when they’re parked outside at bases that lack the necessary infrastructure to protect them. It’s unknown if the new OBIGGS fix will remove the need for lightning rods.”
“Air Force Times reports that a previously undisclosed lightning strike occurred in August 2021 when an F-35A was struck in midair. The jet’s canopy and body panels suffered damage requiring between $600,000 and $2.5 million to repair.”
That, and the fact that we won't have the Russians this time.
When I first saw the complexity of an F35 on the ground doing pre-flight control checks for the cameras, it was VERY PRETTY. But something in the back of my mind was screaming, ”BUT CAN THEY FIGHT?” , like Donald Sutherland asked in the Dirty Dozen movie where he was pretending to be a general.
Apparently only in good weather.
The rumors I had been told was that it was shot down by some redneck militia out in the woods with a fifty caliber rifle. Not sure what would be worse for sales.
Did You get the Redacted Report from RAAF (Roswell Army Air Field) yet ?
The one I received has the information that it was a Project MOGUL Balloon.
They scrapped the wiper upgrade due to someone adding a few extra 0’s when making the Stock Order for and we’ve ended up with 20+ Warehouses full of RainX.
Now they have to write up the Training Manual for the Application of RainX to Aircraft Windows. First Printing is expected by June of 2027.
🤣
The BAE lightning would probably still be a better option.
Ancient times.
Check
Don’t know why
There’s no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain’t together
Keeps rainin’ all the time
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