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'First Vertical Landing'

Nice pic! Are they still going forward with the development of this airplane? I know there were some cutbacks on aircraft, like the F-22...I think
 
Not really much choice except to go forward with F-35 development.. With the legacy F-18 airframes wearing out, and the Superbug airframes being used more than anticipated. Their useful life expectancies are quickly wearing out. The Navy has purchased some more Superbug's to help bridge the gap till the F-35 comes, but if that doesn't happen then the current F-18's are going to need to be replaced regardless. Is one of those rock and a hard place situations.
 
I go into Eglin AFB a fair amount, and there is a ton of construction on the south side of rwy 12. It's all for the F-35. Also, along the edge of taxiway hotel (it parallels rwy12/30) are a number of freshly poured VTOL pads.
 
This was on TV when it happened, a documentary showing the competition between this one and another corporations plane.

Very cool...

It was a very scary moment, hovering that huge, heavy beast over the ground at that height. One mistake, and its over, upside down, ramming into the ground like a pancake. Totally new plane, prototype, and landing vertically. Thats quite a lot there...



Bill
 
Don't you know that the pilot selected to perform that first vertical landing had a serious "pucker factor" going on......:icon_lol:
 
They have made vertical landings with the B prototypes prior to now but this version is the production model with the incorporated changes/improvements. Word is they are getting the B model debugged very well now.

As far as the VTOL characteristics, it is far more stable than the Harrier with many autostabilization systems built it. Harriers in VTOL mode are like balancing the plane on a needlepoint during over along with the fact cooling and exhaust ingestion being a major issue. The F-35B doesn't suffer from any of those problems although there are some inherent risk factors to the lift fan/gearbox systems and rear nozzle gimbal & rotation systems. There's really no way to make this mode of flight 100% fool proof or safe. Still, we've come a long way.
:salute:
 
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