Failure on a Massive Scale

Townhall.com ^ | April 3, 2021 | Peter Mihalick

[FtrPilot]

Thank you for your service!

IMHO, the 2 biggest fighter aircraft design considerations are lethality and survivability. Maintainability is certainly a factor, but not at the expense of lethality or survivability.

I have the utmost respect for maintainers. My life depended on them doing their job so I could do mine.

Your original comment implied that maintainers do not like the aircraft or that the F-35 is hard to maintain.

[blueunicorn6]

I read a lengthy article yesterday that said the way to go is to have an invisible drone at 70,000 feet.

[Alas Babylon!]

Your original comment implied that maintainers do not like the aircraft or that the F-35 is hard to maintain.

Nope.

That wasn't me.

I still talk to my maintainers friends, they're all gung-ho about the F-35.

[Psalm 73]

"Just the ones that make service calls"

If it can't be fixed or slung under a CH-47 it'll have to be blowed up.

[al baby]

I approve of that

[FtrPilot]

I still talk to my maintainers friends, they're all gung-ho about the F-35.

Thanks for the clarification.

So, the F-35 is an aircraft that is loved by Pilots and Maintainers. What could be better?

[jpsb]

DoD should have learned their lesson with F111. Another airplane that would “do it all”.

[ClearCase_guy]

What always amazes me is that this aircraft is not exactly “new”. And at this point, we still have about 50% of the experts saying it is the best aircraft ever, and about 50% of the experts saying it is the worst aircraft ever.

It’s the disagreement that kills me. It is or it isn’t.

[whitney69]

“With lifetime costs OVER 50 YEARS of $1.7 Trillion, the F-35 costs less than just the latest Harris/Pelosi/Schumer COVID Stimulus bill by itself.”

Since the covid gift is something that is animated within the public, the public can’t see what an aircraft can do at altitude. And besides making the covid gift look so good by what the say destroying another Trump program, it take money away from further covid gifts out of their slush fund horde. It’s politics, not reality. And the rigged election is not even on the horizon now.

wy69

[Cen-Tejas]

I think that about 97 comments out of 100 that are related to the F 35 are coming from people who don’t have any fn idea what they are talking about except for yours which seems to make some sense to me. So, your a 3 percenter!

[rwa265]

Look at it this way - You agree with a Democrat who agreed with President Trump.

[corkoman]

You can lay in the sand and Sun on Panama City Beach and watch them do touch and goes!

OK I want to do that - can anyone tell me exactly where on PC beach to go? Same with NAS Pensicola - where exactly is best place to go to watch aircraft come and go?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Alas Babylon!]

Thanks, and thank you for YOUR service, Sir!

You can’t fly without us, but we can’t fight without you!

[Alas Babylon!]

Here we go:

The Yellow highlights are the general flight path used by aircraft doing touch and goes at Tyndall.

The red areas are the best beaches to see them from. St Andrew park by the breakwater on the PCB, and along the channel inlet. Also, if you can get across to Shell Island--there is no road access, as far as I know--the further East you go the better.

The blue arrow is the Tyndall base beach, and it is wonderful! Never crowded. But you have to have a military ID to get there, as it is on base. It's a long walk from the parking lot/showers over the boardwalk. But it is so beautiful, almost lonely.

Caveat all this with the fact that haven't gone down there since Hurricane Michael in 2018. Tyndall was almost wiped out then, and practically closed in 2019. By the time it reopened last year, Covid struck.

I hope to get down there this Spring, maybe next month.

[Alas Babylon!]

I just noticed my highlighter went over Panama City. The Air Force tries not to fly over the populated areas, but keep over the water as much as possible.

Then again, sometimes St Andrews Bay has so many boats on it, you could walk across it!

Someday when I can’t physically keep up on my gentle’s farm in Alabama, I’m going to buy a cottage or condo down there!

[Organic Panic]

Corporate welfare at its finest.

[Kevmo]

Fascinating.

The SuperSonic Harrier proposal P.1154 which was cancelled in the 1960s could have fulfilled that requirement in spades.

What we need is an auxiliary version of the F35, a P.1154 that can operate the same way as the Harrier has, but with updated avionics, missiles, powerplant, and add some stealth (as cheaply as possible). It would be designed as a FIGHTER not as a bomb carrier.

[Kevmo]

Well said. As a country, we have crossed a Rubicon of sorts, and from now on the struggle will be partisan military infighting. Similar things are happening across the board in guvmint and even in civilian life.

Just as in NAZI Germany, which coalesced upon anti-semitism, this political development will soon focus on anti-christian bigotry.

[Kevmo]

I read that article. What is unclear is how much of the mission creep of the F35 can be offloaded onto those drones. I imagine such questions are being ironed out right now.

[blueunicorn6]

This drone can sit up invisible at 70,000 feet and find every enemy and direct other drones and provide information to pilots and ships and tanks and even make one heck of a good tuna fish sammich.