via AOL
A limited flight clearance? How do you do a limited flight clearance on a trip that takes you from the US to Europe???
This whole program needs to be shot, mutilated and then hung at the gates of the Pentagon as a warning to the next bullshit artists that want to defraud the American people of their taxes.
Prediction. Someone will die before this program is all said and done because they have reached the point of desperation. Desperation leads to short cuts, short cuts lead to mistakes, mistakes lead to death.
A Pentagon official told Defense News that the F-35 fighter fleet has been cleared by air worthiness authorities. A decision on attending the show has not been made but the official said DoD is “hopeful” it can make the trip.What a load of shit!
A statement released by Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary, confirmed the news.
“Yesterday the air worthiness authorities for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force approved the F-35 fleet to return to flight,” Kirby said in the statement. “This is a limited flight clearance that includes an engine inspection regimen and a restricted flight envelope which will remain in effect until the root cause of the June 23 engine mishap is identified and corrected.”
“We remain hopeful that the F-35 can make an appearance at the Farnborough airshow. This information is an encouraging step, but no final decision has been made at this time.”
A limited flight clearance? How do you do a limited flight clearance on a trip that takes you from the US to Europe???
This whole program needs to be shot, mutilated and then hung at the gates of the Pentagon as a warning to the next bullshit artists that want to defraud the American people of their taxes.
Prediction. Someone will die before this program is all said and done because they have reached the point of desperation. Desperation leads to short cuts, short cuts lead to mistakes, mistakes lead to death.
Well if it crashes flying across the ocean I guess we will see what happens.
ReplyDeleteCurious how you limit an already limited envelop? 2A software doesn't allow you to do much.
ReplyDeleteThere will be no long-distance flights endangering pilots until the root cause of the June 23 engine mishap is identified and corrected. This is despite Colin Clark's report that "a very well informed source told me a few minutes ago that the flights are “likely.”"
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, another development is that Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will replace Foreign Minister William Hague, who is quitting and will leave the Commons at next year's election. The main reason for this air-show hoorah was to get Hammnond to "order" 14 more jets. Apparently there's some scandal involved.
My speculation on the root cause investigation:
ReplyDeleteThe event was reportedly initiated by severe rubbing between the blade(s) in the final low-pressure compressor turbine and the cowl (casing). The one-piece rotor disks are machined to tolerance and so it's likely the casing distorted. This can happen, according to some research I did, under high thrust loads, like on takeoff, when this event occurred. "The large bending loads resulting therefrom [the high takeoff thrust load] cause deflection of the engine components resulting in interference between the rotor blades and their associated casings."
So this may be the sort of thing the investigators are looking at. There is also the containment failure. At Eglin, a flying blade from the low-pressure turbine broke through the casing and severed a fuel line which started the catastrophic fire. Something like a a reinforced Kevlar band in the fan casing can contain a shed blade and keep this sort of catastrophe from happening.
So I believe we can surmise, from the length of this investigation, that the investigation will probably result in a root cause determination that might include engine design considerations. Or not -- this is my speculation.
(Speculating myself...) Sounds like maybe the cowling is too-thin for the stresses it's put under. Any fix for that distortion (reinforcement ribs, thicker cowling) is going to add some weight. Which is bad news for an aircraft that already has weight issues (and 100+ prototypes to propagate modifications into).
DeleteAmy Butler tweet:
ReplyDeleteNo F35 flights have taken place yet, limit in place on G stress, program source says.
Anthony Capaccio tweet:
SAC-D FY15 draft funds 34 F-35s: DoD's request- vs 38 in HAC-D mark
So the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee has knocked the House number back to the original Pentagon request.
from the BBC:
ReplyDeleteTwo US fighter jets were due to make their international debuts this week at the year's most important aerospace event, the Farnborough Airshow. At the moment, only one of them is here.
The F-35 may be the world's most expensive, most advanced military jet programme, but it was a cheap and cheerful budget aircraft that managed the trans-Atlantic crossing to Farnborough.
The Scorpion costs about $20m (£12m) a throw, is built from off-the-shelf components, and went from drawing board to first flight in 23 months.
The F-35, costing three times as much and conceived in the early 1990s, is still in the US while engineers figure out what caused a fire that has grounded the entire fleet.
OK, making comparisons is unfair; the Scorpion and F-35 are lightyears apart in specification and functionality. But it is still slightly ironic.
Is the Scorpion ski-jump capable? ;)
DeletePierre Sprey's speculation:
ReplyDeleteFormer Pentagon official Pierre Sprey, and frequent F-35 critic, said that micro-cracks developed in the blades before the rubbing led to a catastrophic failure.
“If the micro-cracks came first and very slightly elongated the fan blades, the rubbing plus heating that led to the ultimate disintegration would have been a consequence of far-to-early fatigue micro-cracks–and that means a redesign and requalification of the third stage,” he told USNI News.
Pierre Sprey wouldn't have a clue of what he is talking about! If you a digging up that old phoney than you must really be desperate Don.
DeleteIn an interview Colin Clark did with Frank Kendall the latter said that there is a restriction on restriction on duration of flight which Kendall hopes to see lifted to permit the flight to England, 3,500 miles with as many as twenty in-flight refuels. Hope is a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteProbably at this point the all the Navy and the Marines carriers are aligned from Boston to Ireland.
ReplyDeleteNice.
DeleteWe needed some humor.
And if there's too much space between carriers, hopefully the US has the latest tech bulletin on the Martin-Baker ejection seat.
Jan 20, 2014
Ejection seat firm failed to warn MOD of Red Arrows safety flaw -- Martin Baker told foreign air forces about danger of over-tightening nut in ejection seat that killed Red Arrows pilot, but did not tell Ministry of Defence.
But then--
There’s a problem with the Air Force’s ejection seats, and with those used by the other services. They were designed and installed before pilots started using sophisticated headgear like night-vision goggles and helmet-mounted displays. Wearing such devices when ejecting at high speed increases the likelihood of severe injury or death.
Don't worry, in between the carriers they put Frigates, Subs, Hovercrafts, even the Havocs... at this desperate stage, everything counts to save the Zomby
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jeffhead.com/dragonsfury/USN-SSCVN.jpg
Severe weather forecast on east coast for the next couple of days.
ReplyDeleteAmy Butler (AvWeek) tweet
ReplyDeleteHearing from sources close to fire investigation that F35 will NOT show at Farnborough. Pentagon announcement coming.
Aaron Mehta concurs --
DeleteSo while I was on the train back from Farnborough it appears the pentagon cancelled any hope of getting the F35 here. story ASAP.
Confirmed by Farnborough Airshow
DeleteDisappointing news but we have to confirm that the F35 will not be joining us at the weekend.
We did it, Sol -- with help from our friends.
ReplyDeleteSNAFU! was 'way out in front on this, in social media, thanks to you.
Congrats.
You did nothing…but hey if you want to go around congratulating yourselves over nothing than by all means do so. It is amusing to watch.
DeleteThanks to you too, S.L..
DeleteYou helped also by illustrating how clueless the F-35 fan-boys and sock-puppets are, with never a fact issuing.
Well Scar, it beats insulting people over nothing.
DeleteThanks Don! YES WE DID DO IT! next step. kill this turkey before it destroys the US military. i believe we're well on our way to doing just that.
DeleteHagel stood up to Lockheed, JPO, the USAF, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. i bet he likes the feeling and i bet he instinctively knows that the F-35 is a waste of taxpayer money.
Oh stop it Sol'! I don't think I can handle laughing this hard at your delusional beliefs that you actually have some sort of influence here...
DeleteMichael Fallon has been appointed as the United Kingdom's new secretary of state for defence, it was announced on 15 July. Fallon replaces Philip Hammond, who had led the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) since October 2011 and was instead appointed as UK Foreign Secretary.
ReplyDeleteUK Prime Minister David Cameron made the announcement on twitter on 15 July during the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow 2014 - the same day which Philip Hammond had been expected to attend.
Fallon comes to the defence brief from his previous role as minister of state in the Department of Energy, and is not known to have any previous experience in defence affairs.
from BD
ReplyDeleteRear Adm. John Kirby issued this statement at 7 p.m BST during a Pentagon press conference, less than 12 hours after news broke about the fleet’s grounding being lifted:
“This is a limited flight clearance that includes an engine inspection regimen and a restricted flight envelope which will remain in effect until the root cause of the June 23 engine mishap is identified and corrected.
“That said, I can confirm that the Department of Defense — in concert with our partners in the U.K. — has decided not to send Marine Corps and UK F-35B aircraft across the Atlantic to participate in the Farnborough air show.
“This decision was reached after consultation with operational commanders and air worthiness authorities, despite the decision by air worthiness authorities to clear the aircraft to return to flight.
“When we consider deploying aircraft operationally we look at many factors, to include operational risk, weather and ground time. All these factors were weighted appropriately in making this difficult decision.
“While we are disappointed, we remain fully committed to the program and look forward to future opportunities to showcase its capabilities to allies and partners.
“As Secretary Hagel made clear, safety – as always — remains our top priority.”
They will do an stealth presentation.
ReplyDelete"The F-35 is right here in front of you... But thanks to our super-stealth, you can't see or hear it! Now for the VTOL demonstration... PERFECT!!!"
DeleteIt's the Soul of the party... totally ivisible
Deletevia Aaron Mehta:
ReplyDeleteFrank Kendall, the Pentagon’s acquisitions chief, told Defense News that the engine restrictions include a requirement to check for new damage after three hours of flight time.
And that's how they will finally determine if the failure is systemic or not. At least from a testing standpoint, there is some advantage to having 100+ prototypes. They'll get a more accurate statistical analysis that way.
DeleteAt least there's some benefit to having spent all that money. :)