Forum: F-35 milestones

How about a credit to the source and photographer?

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codeonemagazine wrote:

How about a credit to the source and photographer?

"Of course", my apologies are getting the best of me. But, I was shocked over the tailcode change. Yes, this info was provided from several sources including;

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/index.html

and photos by "Carl Richards"

and thanks again for your excellent web site, that we all visit regularly! Kudos to you! Very Happy

tally wrote:

May 17 brought first flights. Yes, flightS. AF-17 as 09-5004/OT "31 TES" and AF-18 as 09-5005/OT.

The 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron is located at Edwards AFB, California.

...provides, maintenance and engineering experts to work alongside AFMC and Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center personnel.
...provides early war-fighter insight and influence during developmental testing.

I saw BF-05 running up and down the runway at LM Fort Worth today...curious?

How well is F-35 testing going? 07 June 2012

http://whythef35.blogspot.com.au/2012/0 ... going.html

"...All numbers and events are as of May 31st.

Monthly flight and Test Point actuals again exceeded plan...."

...CF-3 performed a total of 18 successful roll-in arrestments [MK-7 (6 with risers and 4 with no risers) and E-28 (8 arrestments)] at Lakehurst from 80 to 100 knots ground speed...." Beer

BEST to go to the blog post to see the rest. I'll search for same info elsewhere online and post the successful arrest info in appropriate 'other' thread.

[quote="spazsinbad"][b]How well is F-35 testing going......[b]CF-3 performed a total of 18 successful roll-in arrestments [MK-7 (6 with risers and 4 with no risers) and E-28 (8 arrestments)] at Lakehurst from 80 to 100 knots ground speed.[/b.....

Oh joy! Very Happy

The hook mod is working, perhaps even the damper mod. Yeah! Another hook problem bites the dust! Applause

The Mk-7 is the same as the a/c carrier system, but with runways.

The E-28 is the portable field arresting system.

While they are on a roll, perhaps they will try the AAG at Lakehurst. Idea

Ztex wrote:

I saw BF-05 running up and down the runway at LM Fort Worth today...curious?

Have any of these SDD had the bulkheads replaced. BF-05 first flew in Jan. 11 and no report of obtaining 50 flights......curious???????? Question

F-35A AF-19 First Flight 9 June 2012

Martin test pilot Al Norman was at the controls for the first flight of F-35A AF-19 on 9 June 2012 at NAS Fort Worth JRB.

Smile

This is the third (of 24 LRIP 1,2,3) OT tailcode to the EW test squadron in the first 37 inflight a/c.

BF-05 left Fort Worth for Pax River (I think) today....just FYI.

neptune wrote:

Ztex wrote:

I saw BF-05 running up and down the runway at LM Fort Worth today...curious?

Have any of these SDD had the bulkheads replaced. BF-05 first flew in Jan. 11 and no report of obtaining 50 flights......curious???????? :?:

Normally an SDD airplane would not have the bulkheads replaced, but would have them inspected more frequently. It all depends on where (flight hours) in the design lifetime the durability test airframe first began cracking.

Let's say the durability test began cracking at 3000 flight hours. Depending on the safety factor, that might clear an SDD airplane for 750 or 1500 flight hours, if the usage were similar to design. More severe usage would reduce the cleared flight hours of the SDD airplane. The SDD airplanes are nowhere near that flight hour level now, so I doubt they would require anything but inspection.

If future inspections find cracks, then more than likely the cracked bulkheads would be repaired rather replaced, for obvious reasons. It's possible the SDD airplanes will never have to have the bulkheads repaired, since their flight time will likely be much less than the design life. If I remember right, my structural test F-16A No. 2 had about 750 hours on it when it was retired.

It is also entirely possible the early LRIP airplanes would be repaired in a similar way. Replacing a bulkhead is about equivalent to building a new airplane.

However, these are Navair airplanes, and there is no telling how they will handle the problem.

F-35 Lightning II Program Status and Fast Facts June 12, 2012

https://ex.democracydata.com/243F8CB0E1 ... cc798e.pdf (140Kb)

"Program Status
? Cumulative flight test activity totals for 2012 as of May 31, are provided below:
o F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets have flown 211 times.
o F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have completed 161 flights, 128 of which began with a short takeoff. Additionally, F-35B STOVL aircraft have conducted 52 vertical landings.
o F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets have flown 109 times.
? Since December 2006, F-35s have flown 2,242 times and accrued more than 3,500 cumulative flight hours. This total includes 91 flights from the original test aircraft, AA-1; 1,945 SDD test flights; and 206 production-model flights.
? During May, the program achieved the highest number of F-35 flights in a single day, 11, three different times: May 10, May 17 and May 22.
? During May, AF-7, an F-35A CTOL, flew 14 times accumulating 35.6 flight hours to set an individual jet record for the most flight hours in a single month.
? On May 10, AF-6, an F-35A CTOL, flew the highest altitude to date for a Mission Systems test jet, 39,000 feet.
? On May 15, AF-7, an F-35A CTOL, became the first production F-35 to fly supersonic.
? On May 17, the Cooperative Aircraft Test Bed (CATB), highly modified 737-300 aircraft designed to integrate, develop, and test the F-35 Lightning II sensor suite and associated mission systems software, demonstrated the F-35’s Electronic Attack (EA) capabilities against Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) range emitters.
? On May 22, CATB achieved integrated Multiple Advanced Datalinks (MADL) communications with the Open Air System Integration System (OASIS) laboratory.
? On May 31, the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) fleet, including the original test aircraft AA-1, achieved 2,000 total flights.

F-35 Fleet Status
System Development and Demonstration (SDD) Fleet
? 14 F-35s comprise the SDD test fleet. There are six F-35As assigned to Edwards AFB, Calif., and five F-35Bs along with three F-35Cs stationed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Aircraft
? Currently there are 24 active LRIP aircraft, 12 of which are assigned to the 33d Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., two of which are engaged in flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., and ten of which are undergoing checkout flights at the F-35 production facility in Fort Worth, Texas."...

LM Fast Facts from 12 June 2012 PDF (140Kb):
https://ex.democracydata.com/243F8CB0E1 ... cc798e.pdf

hmmm, in here, CV varient has no further range than A version.

Has been that way for a long time. Only recently was the F-35A reduced to 590 nm rather than 600 nm [KPP change].

Lockheed Martin officially opens Canberra office 05 July 2012

http://www.asiapacificdefencereporter.c ... rra-office

"...[Mr. Kubasik] looking at it from a high level, the development of the F-35 is going very well. One of the key metrics he uses is the flight test program and in particular the number of test points that have been achieved – with up to eight significant criteria looked at to validate performance. According to Mr Kubasik, Lockheed Martin will try and undertake around 1,000 flights during the course of this year and use these to retire another several thousand test points.

He added that the company exceeded its target of flight tests in 2010 and did the same thing last year. He and other senior executives receive nightly updates about aircraft test performance – an indicator of how closely progress is being monitored. As of the morning of the briefing – July 3 – the Joint Strike Fighter was about 50 flights ahead of its 2012 schedule and also about 1,000 test points ahead of plan...."

This article has no formatting. WTF? Very Happy

Forum: F-35 milestones

Overview of F-35 test flights