Forum: F-35 Design & Construction

What kind of surfaces can the F-35B be used on in the vertical and STOL profiles? I ask because it seems that on less than sanitized surfaces, wouldn't there be a risk of the lift fan kicking up a lot of debris than could be sucked in by the intakes? Just wondering how they are overcoming this risk?

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redbird87 wrote:

What kind of surfaces can the F-35B be used on in the vertical and STOL profiles? I ask because it seems that on less than sanitized surfaces, wouldn't there be a risk of the lift fan kicking up a lot of debris than could be sucked in by the intakes? Just wondering how they are overcoming this risk?

Hasn't this been dealt with in other threads? The Brits and USMC worked all of this out for the Harriers already. My recollection is that they do landings with some forward motion. I don't think take-offs are an issue, as the lift fan is vectored back, away from the intakes.

One recent thread to start to find already answered questions about 'how the F-35B will land' may be this one with more to follow (rather than regurgitate a lot of info already posted on this forum). There is a 100 Mb PDF about the F-35 in general here:

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=cbcd63d6 ... 07E6%21223

I guess later this morning my time I can excerpt what I have about various methods to land an F-35B and post it in the same '_F-35 PDFs with Embedded Videos' named folder - most of any info I have is already posted in many places on this forum. Usually these threads cross reference other threads so perservere.

The Military's Defense of the F-35B About FOD walkdowns - keeping landing areas clear of Foreign Objects / Debris.
http://www.f-16.net/index.php?name=PNph ... p;p=207867

Many F-35B landings won’t be vertical Probably all info here for landings ashore.
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-15671.html

If this F-35 forum is searched for 'NATOPS' (without quote marks) then from page 3 onwards of what threads are found there is a bunch of info to follow up on - too much to post here.

A short answer would be that AM-2 matting is used to provide a VL (vertical landing) pad and /or STO (short take off) runway which could be used for a 'running landing' with slow forward speed as mentioned already. There is a replacement in future being investigated for the now old stle AM-2 matting but it does the job it seems for the F-35B in the same way it has been used for the AV-8B & Harrier family for decades now.

These pads/runways will be inspected for FOD. Otherwise in an emergency a slow running landing could be conducted on a suitable surface but we are not talking 'soft ploughed farmers fields' here unless we want to 'buy that farm'. Very Happy

An 'up to date' 100Mb PDF "How Deck Land" the F-35B/C variants (with 'rolling vertical landing' info thrown in) has been uploaded to SkyDrive:

File Name: "_NewHowDeckLandF-3505july2012.pdf" in FOLDER: "_F-35 PDFs with Embedded Videos":

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=CBCD63D6 ... 07E6%21223

A smaller PDF about specifics could be made but then someone will want something else so best to have it all in one PDF. Very Happy

If 100Mbs is a 'hardship' to download then let me know about specifics for a smaller PDF variation. Cool? And I'll presume that any info about what a doddle it is to conventional land an F-35A is not required.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J79o8iUu20o

redbird87 wrote:

What kind of surfaces can the F-35B be used on in the vertical and STOL profiles? I ask because it seems that on less than sanitized surfaces, wouldn't there be a risk of the lift fan kicking up a lot of debris than could be sucked in by the intakes? Just wondering how they are overcoming this risk?

Yeah, FOD would potentially be a problem off ship

That is why any AM-2 pad will be cleared of FOD before being used. FOD clearing would be part of standard op procedures.

Forum: F-35 Design & Construction

F-35B lift fan question?