Posted on 03/30/2025 11:14:09 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
A dark mass of clouds hung low over North Charleston as Marine Col. Charles "Tre" Del Pizzo began his descent. It was a Sunday afternoon, late September 2023. Del Pizzo's hands were on the control stick and throttle of an F-35B Lightning II, the U.S. military’s most advanced stealth fighter, a $136 million supercomputer with wings. The F-35B can hover like a helicopter, and Del Pizzo planned to use that technology to land.
Del Pizzo had just finished a training sortie over the Atlantic with a second F-35B pilot, practicing tactics at upwards of 500 mph at seven times the force of gravity. He needed to experience this jet’s strengths and weaknesses. At 48, he was a full bird colonel getting ready to command a squadron in Yuma, Ariz., a high-visibility assignment to fine-tune the Marines’ aviation strategies and procedures, including those for the F-35B.
As he closed in on Charleston Air Force Base, he knew he’d hit some bumps. Forecasters earlier had said the weather would improve, but the opposite happened. Heavy clouds moved in like a big gray curtain. He shot through some turbulence, streaks of precipitation on the canopy, zero visibility. He’d use his instruments to get through it all. No big deal. Pilots do instrument landings all the time in crud like this.
And the F-35 was packed with instruments, cameras and sensors — all feeding a torrent of data into computers linked to his $400,000 helmet display. The helmet itself was an engineering wonder, custom built for each pilot. It had a dark visor that displayed the jet’s speed, altitude and targeting information, all of which moved with his head. The jet had cameras mounted on the bottom of the plane that streamed videos to the visor.
(Excerpt) Read more at postandcourier.com ...
Interesting.
The Marine Corps accident report:
What’s the upshot here. I’m glad the colonel is safe. My grandfather retired as a LTC in the Air Force (army air corps in WW2). He served in WW2, lived for years in occupied Japan with my grandma and mother, fought in Korea and Vietnam. He died young, on his couch, with a cigarette in the ashtray and a vodka gimlet on the table. Forced retirement at 55 and dead at 57. My grandma said when they retired him he lost interest in life. But he never crashed a plane. Shet happens I understand. But I’m proud of grandpa. I barely knew him. Things seem to have changed. A lot for the better. What happened here?
Big overall takeaway: its easier to blame the driver rather than the designer.
“compounded with aircraft electrical and display malfunctions.”
In other words, he had no way to know that the aircraft was flyable still but they’re crucifying him anyway much like WWII BuOrd insisting that our torpedoes were perfectly fine and the sub skippers were wrong.
Thank you!
Yeah, the Military/Navy/Marines do some strange things sometimes i.e. the Gettysburg F-18 shoot down Captain promoted on to his next command vs. the Truman trading paint with a freighter captain demoted:
https://youtu.be/3OVxFOu_qDA?si=YEP0_0lr_-iYqDkg
Maybe the F-35 needs an “alternate law”/”Direct Mode” button like an Airbus that puts it into “manual fly”/”stick & rudder mode”.
“Pilot in Command”/Captain of the Ship sometimes get blamed for other personnel’s issues/mistakes (Lockheed Martin). It is the way of the military. (The F-35 did fly on straight & level for miles after the ejection until it ran out of fuel...just noting not blaming!).
http://www.airbusdriver.net/airbus_fltlaws.htm
Pilot ejected - good decision. Good man.
Very detailed story.
Marine Corps brass chose poorly, by deciding to try and protect their own image(s).
Was today the first day this was published?
There is no date I can find at the source link.
I know an F-35B pilot, I’ll be forwarding this to him.
Were the Investigators Biden Officers?
And where are they now?
Years ago, Harrier jump jets were falling out of the skies of Yuma...1 a week it seemed.
VSTOL F-35B is equivalently as assinine as the V-22 Osprey !
Yeah, especially since generals and politicians (but I repeat myself) have a vested interest in promoting the next great thing. God forbid questions are raised about somebody's pet project (and budget). How many $ and lives were lost before the Air Force admitted that the terrain following radar (TFR) of the F-111 had a nasty habit of flying into the ground?
Some resemblance to Gen. Flynn.
The pilot followed the rules, low and out of control, with zero visibility and no instruments, he ejected.
When you invest into an airframe billions upon billions, and you’re selling it worldwide, you blame the pilot. F-16A had issues with wire chafing. Maybe the F-35 has an unknown random electrical issue. We can learn more from failures than success, and the F-35 might be trying to teach us something.
The Big Takeaway for me is that our military aviators risk, and lose their lives, so that we all can enjoy the intoxicating luxury of Peace. To be that kind of a warrior has its own rewards; it is enough to know who you are, in spite of the fact that your fellow countrymen cannot adequately understand or appreciate what you do.
Agree... He did the right thing. I’ve never been a fan of the F-35 having worked with it off and on over 15 years while in T&E. It failed more than succeded.
I read most of it. Sounds like a nightmare, all that electronic/computerized crap going haywire. I bet that makes the simpleness of a Cessna 172 a joy to fly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.