A variety of reports over the past week have noted the flights of one-off unique aircraft. For example, Virgin Galactic flew its private spaceship for its first crewed flight, and a 120 pound unmanned solar powered aircraft flew continuously for a week (with a week more planned).
Unique and adventurous aircraft continue to demonstrate that the “envelope” of flight has room to grow in many areas.
News reports indicate a US Marine Harrier jet crashed in northern Florida on Sunday. The pilot, identified as Capt. Jarrod L. Klement in some reports, was reportedly transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure.
Canada has reportedly announced its intention to purchase the F-35 Lightning II to replace its CF-18 fighters.
Canada has been a funding partner in the F-35 program from its inception, though this marks the first time it announced a plan to purchase the aircraft.
The announcement has already been met with political opposition from within the Canadian government.
The Air Force has announced that the 50 year old fleet of T-38 Talons, the AF’s primary jet trainer, is being upgraded with a new ejection seat. The Martin Baker seat will reportedly be a vast improvement over the prior version, integrating the parachute with the seat (so it no longer has to be carried to the jet by the pilot) as well as giving the T-38 a zero-zero ejection capability.
The modification includes sequenced ejection; in the original version of the T-38, each cockpit ejected independently of the other. Now, either cockpit can command ejection, both seats will go, and the rear seat will always go first.
This is not an insignificant change. In 2009, a rear seat crew member ejected while the front seat pilot did not. Since the seats were independent, the front seater remained in the aircraft to impact.
In an unusual incident, the Progress 38 resupply capsule from Russia, flew by the Space Station instead of docking with it. The huge capsule was supposed to deliver 2.5 tons of materials to the station. A second attempt a few days later was successful.
UAVs do occasionally have issues with communication or control, though most of the time failsafe devices enable the safe return of the vessel (or at least its safe destruction).
UAVs are becoming more ubiquitous, however, as more people are persuaded of their generally safe record. If there are still concerns, however, with the “mishap” involving the huge “space UAV,” perhaps nano-UAVs the size of a hummingbird or smaller would be more comforting.
An Air Force Times article highlights the progress in standing up the multi-service training units for the F-35 Lightning II at Eglin AFB, which is scheduled to begin this fall with the arrival of the first F-35 in November.
For the record, the F-35 variants have taken their first flights in only the past few months. The 200 “instructors” cited in the article (which may include maintainers) haven’t logged a single hour in an actual aircraft.
No worries, though; according to the wing vice commander, Marine Col Arthur Tomassetti, the training shouldn’t be too difficult: Read more
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly said the Russian T-50, sometimes dubbed the “F-22ski”
will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range.
One would certainly hope an aircraft first flown in 2010 — with a planned employment date of 2015 — would at least claim to be superior to one developed more than 20 years ago; the YF-22 first flew in 1990. Also, the news report, seeking to highlight something significant, quoted this from the Russian releases: Read more
The Military Times recently pronounced that the F-35 became “first US STOVL aircraft” to go supersonic.
They were, of course, wrong.
In 2001, Lockheed Martin’s ineptly designated X-35B — the prototype of the STOVL F-35 — not only achieved supersonic flight, but it did so on the same sortie that it achieved a short field take off and vertical landing. This was a first not only for a US aircraft, but a first in history.
An article by Marine Major Arthur Tomassetti, the test pilot on one of the sorties, describes the event. (Interestingly, he notes that the sortie had to work around a memorial service at Edwards Air Force Base. Test pilot Major Aaron “C-Dot” George and civilian flight photographer Judson Brohmer were killed just 3 days prior during a test sortie.)