Forum: F-35 Lightning II

BF4 500th was a LONG DAY / Flight Very Happy

4+hours start up to shut down! Brief to Debrief made for a VERY LONG day, But it's great !!!!

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f35phixer wrote:

BF4 500th was a LONG DAY / Flight Very Happy

4+hours start up to shut down! Brief to Debrief made for a VERY LONG day, But it's great !!!!

4+hours in 1 flight.
with air refuel or not?

From previous page:
"Lockheed Martin F-35 team logs 500th flight

PATUXENT RIVER, Md., November 18th, 2010 -- On Thursday, Nov. 18, the F-35 Lightning II program notched its 500th flight when BF-4, an F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant, took off from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on a three-hour test mission to evaluate avionics software."

http://multivu.prnewswire.com/player/42 ... rtin-f-35/
OR
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/f35/

That would be with a maximum of 13,326 lb internal fuel?

"4+hours start up to shut down" From IPP on to SHUTDOWN... We did a HOT PIT,

f35phixer, thanks for clarification. Other online sources mention 2.7 hours or 2 hours and 50 minutes for (other than already mentioned) long flights only.

Just FYI..AF-3 flew with a tanker today.

Ztex wrote:

Just FYI..AF-3 flew with a tanker today.

1,000 nm to Edwards from Carswell with a 1,200 nm range. Is it to join 1&2 before Christmas Question

AF-3 is going to Edwards initially for RCS testing. Once that is done they are going to update it to Blk1 before it joins AF-1 & AF-2.

SpudmanWP wrote:

AF-3 is going to Edwards initially for RCS testing. Once that is done they are going to update it to Blk1 before it joins AF-1 & AF-2.

update to block 1 at EDW or back in FW?

That was not mentioned, but it sounds like it can be done at EDW.

Quote:

the block update requires some panels to be opened

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/de ... 45b453a678

F-35 partly recovers flight test record in 2010, but fresh obstacles await By Stephen Trimble 09/12/10 Flight International

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... acles.html

"The Lockheed Martin F-35 will pass the fourth anniversary of its first flight on 15 December with a test programme surging forward but facing new challenges in 2011, says chief test pilot Jon Beesley.

Set for retirement on 1 February, Beesley has overseen a dramatic expansion of sorties flown in 2010. After completing about 130 sorties in the first three years of flight testing combined, Lockheed expects that seven aircraft representing all three F-35 variants should surpass an unofficial goal of 394 tests this year alone.

As the test fleet finally swells to 14 aircraft by July - a roughly six-month delay - programme officials are preparing to meet fresh problems.

In particular, three aircraft flying with Block 1 software will strain the F-35's thermal management system as never before, Beesley says. The aircraft's electrical and power system radiates heat that must be cooled or dumped into "heat sinks", such as fuel. The challenge is most acute when the F-35 taxis on hot days.

"So far the (F-35's thermal management) concept seems to have worked well," Beesley says, but adds: "When it gets to be 105°F (40.6°C), that's when you want to look at it. It's a great question to ask by the end of next summer and see how did it go."

Another key challenge will be overcoming the "struggling" short take-off and vertical landing F-35B variant. BAE Systems test pilot Graham Tomlinson memorably completed the first vertical landing on 18 March, but such tests have been halted since September after Lockheed found unexpected wear on auxiliary inlet door hinges.

That restriction could be lifted during the week of 13 December, Beesley says, although Lockheed must first "go through a few more wickets" to receive approval from the F-35 joint programme office.

The F-35B is now scheduled to begin vertical landing tests aboard an amphibious carrier in "the fall" of 2011, Beesley says. That means the schedule has slipped by six months since July, when programme officials disclosed the milestone was due in March 2011.

But perhaps the biggest challenge of all will be to sustain the momentum of test sorties per aircraft. The two conventional take-off and landing aircraft currently flying have averaged about 10 sorties per month, Beesley says.

Last June, a senior Lockheed official projected that the total number of test flights would grow from nearly 400 in 2010 to about 1,000 next year. Beesley, however, is non-committal about a goal for flight-test numbers.

"I don't know what the goal is next year," Beesley says. "I very seldom think about number of flights. That might be the most meaningless metric there is."

And Then There Were Three
Posted by Graham Warwick at 12/14/2010 11:05 AM CST

A third F-35A, the first to be equipped with the mission system, arrived at Edwards AFB in California on Dec. 11 to begin flight testing. Aircraft AF-3, fresh out of final finishes, is earmarked initially for radar cross-section testing.

Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, says it passed its 394-flight test target for 2010 on Dec. 6, taking the program total to 531 flights since the F-35 first flew on Dec. 15, 2006. Two F-35As, four F-35Bs and one F-35C logged 60 flights in November against a plan of 51.

That sounds like progress, and it is, but it's worth remembering that, in September last year, the JSF program office leadership was pojecting that 12 aircraft would be flying by now, each logging 12 test sorties a month. That goal is unlikely to be achieved until well in 2011. Guiness

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/de ... d=blogDest

Lockheed Martin F-35 Program Achieves Overall 2010 Flight Test Target

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/pres ... ached.html

"FORT WORTH, Texas, December 15th, 2010 -- On Thursday, Dec. 9, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program team reached its 2010 goal of 394 test flights jointly established by the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office and Lockheed Martin. Since the first flight of the F-35 on Dec.15, 2006, the program has logged a total of 531 flights, expanding the performance envelope of the three F-35 variants and testing the mission systems.

“We exceeded our 394-flight goal and expect to meet our overall test-point goal this year by reaching ahead and working 2011 test points,” said J.D. McFarlan, Lockheed Martin vice president of F-35 Test and Verification. “While we are still behind on our overall STOVL variant testing, we are working through a plan to get us back on track.”

In November, the program completed 60 flights against a plan of 51. Both the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) and the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants exceeded their monthly flight targets. The F-35C carrier variant (CV) jet fell just two flights short of its plan."

A few words on the test points:

F-35 achieves flight test goal

Quote:

[..]

The eight test jets have flown some 300 flights since June. This is despite a fleet wide grounding in October due to a software issue with the fuel boost pumps as well as challenges with the F-35B STOVL jet, which has slowed the type's flight test progress. Overall the program has logged 531 flights to date.

As of December 12 3698 test points had been completed of a planned 3772 by the end of the year. The CTOL and CV remains ahead of plan while the STOVL trails behind. A break down for each jet: CV; 462 against 270 planned, CTOL; 1343 against 1064 planned, and STOVL; 1893 against 2438 planned.

AF-3 arrived at Edwards AFB on December 11 after a 1,200-mile ferry flight from Lockheed's Fort Worth plant in Texas. The flight was piloted by Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill "Gigs" Gigliotti and included a tanker rendezvous to refuel. The jet is the first fully low-observable compliant F-35 and will mainly test the F-35's advanced technologies and mission systems. A wide range of systems will be tested, such as the APG-81 AESA radar and AN/ASQ-239 "Barracuda" electronic warfare system, as well as other sensors and avionics as flight testing progresses.

B. Bolsøy
Oslo

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Overview of F-35 test flights