F-35 accident KABQ

[///AMG]

Makes sense. Does mark the end of an era.

Yeah, it sure does. I want to be cautiously optimistic and trust that the technology is what they say it is (the claim is that there is no failure mode affecting PLM that wouldn't already require a field divert), but I do have a nagging feeling that never giving the students a swing at the bat flying fully manual might have unintended consequences down the road.

 

[MikeD]

Yeah, it sure does. I want to be cautiously optimistic and trust that the technology is what they say it is (the claim is that there is no failure mode affecting PLM that wouldn't already require a field divert), but I do have a nagging feeling that never giving the students a swing at the bat flying fully manual might have unintended consequences down the road.

It’s akin to manual bombing being a one time fam event now for many pilots, if done at all. Everything is all GPS now, don’t you know? May even have to back it up with old ass technology like laser guidance!

 

[knot4u]

I'm confused, so USN carrier fighter pilots aren't trained to manually land on a carrier anymore? That seems impossible considering the number of F-18s still operational. Do the new guys do their CQ in an F-18 when they get to their squadron? I'm an old fart and still don't trust the tech completely. What do the F-35 guys do when the automation gets away from them when landing on a carrier? They punch out...

Pilot error caused F-35 carrier crash and plunge into South China Sea

A Navy probe found the pilot did not act "in a reckless manner." The officer remains in the service, but is no longer flying.

www.navytimes.com

 

[///AMG]

I'm confused, so USN carrier fighter pilots aren't trained to manually land on a carrier anymore? That seems impossible considering the number of F-18s still operational. Do the new guys do their CQ in an F-18 when they get to their squadron? I'm an old fart and still don't trust the tech completely. What do the F-35 guys do when the automation gets away from them when landing on a carrier? They punch out...

Pilot error caused F-35 carrier crash and plunge into South China Sea

A Navy probe found the pilot did not act "in a reckless manner." The officer remains in the service, but is no longer flying.

www.navytimes.com

So I misspoke a little, kind of. A "PLM" (aka magic carpet) landing on the boat is considered to be a "manual" landing, and it is to be fair, it is just highly highly aided. Going from a guy who flew every pass fully manual, into the PLM world late in my active duty career was night and day in terms of workload at night/bad weather. It is truly amazing technology. The question becomes, when it doesn't work, where does that leave us? The engineering consensus currently is that "that won't happen". We shall see.

And yes, F/A-18 pilots now never see the boat until they are flying themselves in a real life F/A-18 there. No flight school CQ anymore.

 

[Pilot Fighter]

The question becomes, when it doesn't work, where does that leave us? The engineering consensus currently is that "that won't happen". We shall see.

Well, you already have a pretty good list of things that will keep you from getting aboard, I guess this is just one more thing.

During evaluation, pilots felt a need to remain current with non-PLM traps. It’s said they added redundancy and issues that made headlines appear to have been resolved.

I can see the issue of adding another (old) qual with a limited number of hours is probably counterproductive.

Are folks allowed to make non-PLM approaches to the boat?

 

[///AMG]

Honestly, at this point I'm not sure. The policy on PA CAS "currency" varied by CAG, but on my PLM deployment, we were supposed to do on PA CAS pass every 30 days. There was nothing at the time to say that you couldn't do them all in PA CAS mode, though your grades would definitely suffer (for the folks who cared about that kinda thing). At this point, I'd imagine it is a rarity, if allowed. But that's a good question

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Another one at Miramar. Looks like pilot ejected safely.

 

[Minuteman]

At 25 years into the project the US had 40,634 miles of interstate highway built.

The US has ~720 F-35s at this point.

So losing one jet is kinda like 56 miles of interstate disappearing. Kinda.

 

[Skåning]

Would have been a nice elementary school, college scholarships, or some healthcare.

 

[CFIT99]

Would have been a nice elementary school, college scholarships, or some healthcare.

get outta here with that commie s***, I need uneducated drones to build data centers and cut my lawn and then die at 35...also no brown people

-Stephen Miller (probably)

 

[Richman]

Would have been a nice elementary school, college scholarships, or some healthcare.

My home town, which is pretty far from rural, is consolidating schools at all levels across the county for lack of enrollment and big population drop of school age kids. In fact, some isolated areas aside, the US of A is experiencing a significant net population drop of school age children overall, not to mention the exodus to private/parochial schools. I've got friends who aren't even remotely Catholic sending their kids to Catholic school, and that is the only reason their long term decline has stabilized.

My new town has brand new elementary schools and a new high school that are pretty far below capacity. The only reason they got built was the money to do so was "free". I got to tour one during their pre-opening open house. It has exactly zero-point-zero of that "it'll fall down if you pee against the side of it" construction I came to know where I went to school, and has the look and feel of a solid government works building from the 1950s, including full impact glass in an area not know for windstorms.

I don't think that category is lacking for money.

 

[Skåning]

has the look and feel of a solid government works building from the 1950s, including full impact glass in an area not know for windstorms

Bulletproof glass. It’s the American way

 

[Kingairer]

My home town, which is pretty far from rural, is consolidating schools at all levels across the county for lack of enrollment and big population drop of school age kids. In fact, some isolated areas aside, the US of A is experiencing a significant net population drop of school age children overall, not to mention the exodus to private/parochial schools. I've got friends who aren't even remotely Catholic sending their kids to Catholic school, and that is the only reason their long term decline has stabilized.

My new town has brand new elementary schools and a new high school that are pretty far below capacity. The only reason they got built was the money to do so was "free". I got to tour one during their pre-opening open house. It has exactly zero-point-zero of that "it'll fall down if you pee against the side of it" construction I came to know where I went to school, and has the look and feel of a solid government works building from the 1950s, including full impact glass in an area not know for windstorms.

I don't think that category is lacking for money.

You must live up north. Our schools are over capacity.

 

[Minuteman]

The wreckage seems relatively intact (compared to a higer-speed impact with terrain). That looks like the lift fan door is open to me.