F-35 News. USMC jets can make the trip, British owned can't????

Hat Tip to ELP Blog...

via UK Reuters...

It has stalled the departure of the planes that were to participate in the UK shows, but the U.S. Marine Corps said it was still planning to send four jets across the Atlantic.
"We are on track to participate in the air shows," said Marine Corps Captain Richard Ulsh.
The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) kicks off on July 11 followed by the Farnborough International Air Show starting on July 14.
Four Marine Corps F-35 B-model jets remain in southern Maryland waiting to leave for Britain. A fifth jet, owned by Britain, is still in Florida.
Strict UK liability laws mean British authorities need additional information before granting flight clearances. If something went wrong, the individual officer who approved the flight could be sued personally, the sources said.

Navy jets are grounded because the EXACT cause of the mishap has not been determined.

Same for USAF jets.

UK jets can't make the trip because of "liability" laws...which is short hand by the Royal Navy to the USMC that you guys are out of your fucking minds if you think that we're flying those jets till we know what happened.

Unfortunately for the Brit pilots assigned to the program, they're on exchange duty and operate under USMC rules.  That means you can still have British pilots flying the airplanes.

This whole thing has the whiff of MV-22 right before the mishap in the desert.

• The program was under intense scrutiny.

• Rumors of cancellation were swirling.

• The Marine Corps was desperate to get it into service.

People died, pilots were smeared (they still haven't been cleared to this day) and money was wasted because they attempted to run when they should still have been walking.

Lets hope that the massive effort to get the F-35 to Europe doesn't lead to a repeat of the MV-22 mishap in April 2000.