F-35B Pilot experiences

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Some comments and thoughts on the F-35B from 4 USMC pilots who have been flying the jet a while:

 

https://theaviationist.com/2016/12/08/four-of-the-most-experienced-usmc-f-35b-pilots-speak-about-their-aircraft-and-they-say-its-exceptional/

 

I think with any sort of development project involving new technology, long gestation periods and a few setbacks are inevitable. Furthermore, politicians just love to make political footballs out of things. Worse still, there's always some attention seeking self-proclaimed expert desperate to appear to be 'in the know' willing to talk new equipment down for a cheap 10 minutes of fame. Lastly there are those who (perhaps rightly) disagree with the capability gap we Brits always get when a government scraps an existing asset or fleet before the replacement is ready, but the anger at this is mis-directed at the replacement for not being ready.

 

Putting all that in the bin where it belongs, it seems like the pilots like the aircraft and are impressed with its capability and user friendliness. I'm convinced it will be worth the wait. 

[Meatbox8]

A very interesting article.   I have read a lot of comments regarding this aircraft, mainly from You Tube Jockeys, with the usual comments that the F-35 "is a turkey/junk/crap/not as good as an F-16/can't operate in rain etc etc' and I can only assume that these people have absolutely no understanding of what this system is about. That's not to say that I really understand it either, and I am happy to be corrected if I am way off the mark, but I think the comment made by the pilot about the situational awareness being beamed to him from another F-35 while he was still awaiting take off clearance sort of gets to the point.  As I understand it it is the whole integration of the system with other battlefield assets, the ability to 'see' the bigger picture and react accordingly that is what the F-35 is really all about, not, as some people still think,  'turn and burn' and taking on the Su-27 in a dogfight. 

 

Mind you, it is extremely lucky that the Meteor AAM is going to fit in the weapons bay!  I believe this was a happy coincidence rather than through planning.

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Exactly this I think. It seems to be all about offloading the pilots to give them time to think things through. They should never find themselves in a WW1 style turning dogfight since the pilots should have a good idea what's going on around them all the time, by a mixture of information management and being easy to fly.

[mhaselden]

That said, even if they get into a close-in knife fight, there are indications from other F-35 pilots that the platform has superior "pointability" that allows the F-35 to engage adversaries from positions that would be unsupportable from a 4th gen platform like F-16.

[Procopius]

1 hour ago, Meatbox8 said:

Mind you, it is extremely lucky that the Meteor AAM is going to fit in the weapons bay!  I believe this was a happy coincidence rather than through planning.

 

My understanding is that being able to cram British bang-bangs into the thing was why the UK invested as a Level 1 partner or whatever it's called, to have the necessary pull during the design stage. 

 

 

[Meatbox8]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

 

My understanding is that being able to cram British bang-bangs into the thing was why the UK invested as a Level 1 partner or whatever it's called, to have the necessary pull during the design stage. 

 

 

 

Wow.  That's unusually far-sighted for the UK procurement people.  If only it was always like that.