Missing F-35

[Gasworker]

$100,000,000 to $400,000,000 each

I know this is a comedy thread but thankfully the pilot is ok

[tinnitus]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

um, what does an "F-35" look like ?
I've got this funny looking thing on my onion patch - just sayin'

Give it another couple days and they'll have pics on milk cartons.

[dnf777]

Thankfully, pilot ok.

And anyone who uses computers at work shouldnt be the least bit surprised it “malfunctioned.” Last thing pilot probably did before ejecting was click “upgrade software now”….

[Yamaha335]

I have a feeling the AF knew where it was long before they announced they found it. They just wanted to make sure their team made it to the crash site first.

Can't have locals hunting for, and making off with souvenirs.

[Dirk Hofman]

Very odd that the plane went down 60 miles from the ejection point. I mean, don’t ya generally eject because the plane is about to go down? Wonder what happened there…

[Inyo]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

Very odd that the plane went down 60 miles from the ejection point. I mean, don’t ya generally eject because the plane is about to go down? Wonder what happened there…

The plane was on autopilot.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Inyo

The plane was on autopilot.

Oh, my God! The automatic pilot! It's deflating!

Still don’t get why he ejected if it could be on autopilot for that long. Not insinuating anything, it just doesn’t make sense yet.

[Bob Womack]

I think industries have gotten used to the lazy, "Publish 'em v1 and we'll sort out the bugs in v1.3" mindset But we are looking at a bunch of bugs being discussed here. A known oxygen delivery problem, rumors that the driver was unhorsed without giving the command, and then an expensive modern vehicle that lets the cat out of the bag and doesn't call home to momma or fire off a beacon? Hmmm...

The latest rumor is of the aircraft avionics possibly being hacked by a foreign government. That was addressed in 1984 when Scotty said, "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."
But if the pilot was anoxic, all bets are off.

Oops. Better get some info in hand and call a press conference to kill some of these rumors if you want this program to continue.

Bob

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

Very odd that the plane went down 60 miles from the ejection point. I mean, don’t ya generally eject because the plane is about to go down? Wonder what happened there…

In my case there's a lot of extra curiosity because some young people I know are all committed to F-35 program in USAF. One is already intercepting threats far east of most of us, one young woman in queue for training and planes, and another young woman just left for her deployment.

Something pretty neat in this to me is we have a young woman who's truly achieved being one of our best and dedicated a hunk of her life to protecting when for a lot of our history her gender and race would not let that be possible.

Parts of an accident at the base near me are still redacted when that accident occurred in 1994. It was F-15 and now same base is F-35. The reports have always taken a long time to be released. There were 3 accidents in the time F-16s were at the base and none yet with the F-35s. Human error was a factor in all of them which kind of makes F-35 as such a big overall system interesting and supports a lot of why our species pursues automation that can fail too.

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by imwjl

In my case there's a lot of extra curiosity because some young people I know are all committed to F-35 program in USAF. One is already intercepting threats far east of most of us, one young woman in queue for training and planes, and another young woman just left for her deployment.

Something pretty neat in this to me is we have a young woman who's truly achieved being one of our best and dedicated a hunk of her life to protecting when for a lot of our history her gender and race would not let that be possible.

Parts of an accident at the base near me are still redacted when that accident occurred in 1994. It was F-15 and now same base is F-35. The reports have always taken a long time to be released. There were 3 accidents in the time F-16s were at the base and none yet with the F-35s. Human error was a factor in all of them which kind of makes F-35 as such a big overall system interesting and supports a lot of why our species pursues automation that can fail too.

I think it's great you are such a supporter of young women serving and protecting our nation in the military.I think personally more women should get the chance Fun fact: 153 young women have been killed in war zones since 9/11. And unfortunately thousands of young men.Id like to see these numbers even out.Because for to long women couldn't get into the action.thankfully the next war will have more women in combat roles.

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by ozzman

I think it's great you are such a supporter of young women serving and protecting our nation in the military.I think personally more women should get the chance Fun fact: 153 young women have been killed in war zones since 9/11. And unfortunately thousands of young men.Id like to see these numbers even out.Because for to long women couldn't get into the action.thankfully the next war will have more women in combat roles.

And, unfortunately, along with that, more females dead.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

Very odd that the plane went down 60 miles from the ejection point. I mean, don’t ya generally eject because the plane is about to go down? Wonder what happened there…

It will just be added to the list of hilarious military unmanned flight statistics. Examples:

On October 6 1955, a test pilot ejected from his an F3H-2N fighter near St. Louis after being given indications of a near-total system failure, including the engine. His plane motored merrily on its way in circles for two hours and ended up nearly intact after a belly landing in a corn field 250 miles from the ejection point.

A Navy test pilot in the '50s ejected from his F7U Cutlass jet fighter off the coast near San Diego. His plane proceeded to circle the city for a couple of hours minus pilot and canopy, scaring the life out of the Navy. They sent up another fighter to nudge it but that only succeeded in damaging the second plane. The plane eventually ran out of mojo and landed in the surf, very publicly.

Not quite as dramatic is the "cornfield bomber." On february 2nd, 1970, an F106 Delta Dagger went into a flat spin during maneuvers. The pilot tried everything to recover, including firing the drag chute, to no avail. He ejected at 15,000ft and drifted off into the Montana mountains, where he was recovered by ranchers on snowmobiles. Absent the weight of the pilot and with the counter-force from the ejection, the plane recovered itself and circled, lazily descending, until it performed a perfect belly landing in a cornfield with its engine still generating thrust. The local sheriff arrived and called the Air Force, who told him to stand clear and let it run out of fuel. As a result, over the next hour it slowly made its way across the field on its belly. An officer on the recovery team said that had the damage been any less, he would have simply flown it out. it was repaired and returned to service and now lives in the Air Force Museum.

Hilarious.

Bob

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by ozzman

I think it's great you are such a supporter of young women serving and protecting our nation in the military.I think personally more women should get the chance Fun fact: 153 young women have been killed in war zones since 9/11. And unfortunately thousands of young men.Id like to see these numbers even out.Because for to long women couldn't get into the action.thankfully the next war will have more women in combat roles.

There is plenty of chance for most young women to serve but I don't expect the chances or opportunities will change for where these young people are. It is really tough stuff to accomplish what they did academically and after that achieve the Air Force's standards for where they are.

There would be no opposition from me to have something like what I observed working in Israel, and what my nephew's wife has been through from being born there.

At a high level this is serious and solemn stuff. When I worked there war broke out and we were stuck in it. I was forever changed after being stuck under attacks and witnessing what these machines do live and up close. People I worked with lost family, and more recently our Ukrainian relatives lost family.

I very much like the spirit and commitment these young people I know have made. It's comforting to know how overall excellent they are in many ways because it likely says something about others doing it.

[endpin]

Current internet speculation seems to be centered on whether transponder on crashed jet was intentionally off due to formation flying with second jet with active transponder.

Also whether radar reflecting lenses were deployed during such training flights in US airspace to make the jet visible on ATC radar.

The downed pilot reportedly told rescuers the he "lost it in the weather", but it is not clear whether he meant he lost sight of the pilotless jet on his parachute ride down, or weather may have somehow caused him to eject.

[frankmcr]

I'm fine with them taking all the time they need to conduct a thorough investigation.

However, although I don't watch the news if I can help it, I've seen enough over the past few years to know there will immediately be all kinds of "demands" for "transparency".