F-35A crew swap provides flexibility for training

Production milestones, roll-outs, test flights, service introduction and other milestones.
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by spazsinbad » 22 Mar 2019, 05:00

Vaguely I recall the USN has done the pilot swap onboard CVNs at least or maybe ashore also along with USMC? I'll check.
F-35A crew swap provides flexibility for training
21 Mar 2019 Micah Garbarino, 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

"HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS) -- Maintainers and pilots in the 388th Fighter Wing recently completed the first operational rapid crew swap exercise with the F-35A Lightning II. "Other aircraft like bombers, tankers, helicopters, and twin engine fighters have been doing ‘hot crew swaps’ for some time. Until now, it hasn’t been safe to do with a single engine fighter, but the F-35’s maintenance-friendly design provided Airmen here an opportunity to develop this capability," said Col. Michael Miles, 388th Maintenance Group commander.

During a rapid crew swap, a pilot takes off, completes his mission, lands and takes on fuel while another pilot takes over the cockpit of the same fighter. This cuts down on the number of required maintenance actions and reduces the time it takes to generate a new sortie by up to two hours, said 1st Lt. Ryan Naluai, 421st Aircraft Maintenance Unit assistant officer in charge.

“The jet’s systems report on the health of the aircraft as it is flying and after it lands. So, under these conditions, we can confidently put it back up in the air again immediately without doing a full post-operation inspection,” Naluai said. “It’s a testament to the reliability of the F-35 and the proficiency of our maintainers.”..."

Source: https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display ... -training/


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by spazsinbad » 27 Mar 2019, 21:58

IMHO 'Jane's' gets information jumbled or just RONG however it seems this story goes out of the way to explain that during the F-35 'hot swap' the engine is shut down. To my knowledge/experience 'pilot swaps' took place with engine running whilst suitable precautions were taken about FOD down engine intakes etc ('old hot refuel' on ground is different again).
US Air Force performs first F-35A rapid crew swap exercise
26 Mar 2019 Pat Host

"Key Points
• The US Air Force recently performed its first operational rapid crew swap exercise with thanks to a F-35A prognostic system
• The exercise was not previously possible in legacy fourth-generation aircraft due to engine inspection requirements


...The USAF can perform rapid crew swaps with the F-35A due to the aircraft's Prognostics Health Management (PHM) system, which reports the aircraft's status to pilots and maintainers and tells them if there is an unsafe issue with the aircraft. If the F-35A lands with no issues, which the service calls Code-1, it can then shutdown the engine, swap crew, and confidently put the aircraft immediately back in the air without performing a full post-operation maintenance inspection. The USAF said this is a unique capability for a single-engine fighter.

Until now it was not safe to perform rapid crew swaps with legacy single engine fighters because a full post operation maintenance inspection was required when an aircraft engine is shut down completely. This includes running through checklists, visually inspecting the engine, aircraft structure, and systems, a common practice with legacy aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon."

Source: https://www.janes.com/article/87468/us- ... p-exercise



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