aaam, yes the F-35B can carry out an automatic hover vertical landing and it has demonstrated that ability. However the pilot is able to control it in any phase of flight - within limits - under control of the FCS, which necessarily starts to limit what the pilot can do in certain configurations. However this computer system limits the aircraft in any other flight situation - not just in vertical landing mode. There is a good demo of a vertical landing in the simulator video online at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWuB9wA ... r_embedded
______________________
Just Push ‘Auto-Land’: April 2011
“A Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff & vertical landing test aircraft last week achieved an impressive milestone, according to Warren Boley, Pratt & Whitney military en-gines president. “For the first time,” Boley said in an in-terview, “a pilot pushed a button & the [air]plane landed autonomously.” Boley joked that the pilot could fold his hands behind his head or ‘read the paper’ while the air-plane safely settled down to a vertical landing from hover. The flight was the 74th vertical landing of the F-35 test program, & the fact that the Marine Corps was willing to allow the test indicated high confidence in the airplane & its Pratt-supplied F135 engine, Boley told the Daily Report April 8.” — John A. Tirpak
http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Pages/default.aspx
______________________
Former Italian F-104 pilot has a go on the F-35 Demonstrator:
How does the F-35 JSF fly and fight? by David Cenciotti – December 21, 2010
http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2010/12/21 ... and-fight/
"...Of particular interest was the opportunity to test the hovering capabilities of the aircraft, that is in fact also available in the STOVL version that interests both the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) and the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF). The pilot, by means of a switch manages the transition from conventional flight to the Harrier-style, so to speak. The aircraft autonomously directs the nozzle and reduces the speed to the IAS (Indicated Air Speed) previously set through a dedicated button on the throttle (which is also operated in automatic mode).
Once in “vertical” mode, the aircraft is extremely simple to fly, even thanks to the camera underneath the fuselage that allows the pilot to see downwards, and to decide where to place the wheels. Moving the stick forward or backward the aircraft climbs or descends: with a couple of attempts, you can also manage to maintain the desired vertical speed. With the rudder, you can point the aircraft nose wherever you want and even a novice can land with some precision and without major problems.
The only difficulty I encountered during the flight was distinguishing between all the switches on the throttle, that pushed up with the little finger, allowed me to select the autothrottle. As for the rest, airplane is a real dream, extremely easy to be piloted and able to provide the pilot with all the information he might need, in the preferred layout."
_________________
FARNBOROUGH: BAE to ramp up work on JSF production - By Craig Hoyle - 13/07/10 - Flight International
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... ction.html
"...Flying an approach to the RN’s new aircraft carrier in sea state six should be a daunting prospect for a novice pilot. But a single button press slows the aircraft to 60kt (110km/h) and automatically configures its flaps and nozzle deflection, making it a matter of merely flying an approach angle of 6-7° towards a series of white lights on the deck. Such design traits go to showcase the F-35B’s attraction for military user and industry alike. Each of the Royal Navy’s ski jump-equipped Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers will be able to carry up to 36 F-35Bs.
UK’s STOVL HERITAGE LIFTS F-35B TEST PROGRAMME
The UK became the originator of short take-off and vertical landing design when in 1960 Hawker Siddeley made the first flight of its P.1127 prototype, the aircraft that would go on to become known as the Harrier. Decades of experience in STOVL design and operation led to the UK becoming heavily involved in the design of Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. This differs markedly from its predecessor through the addition of supersonic performance, but crucially, also brings a generational leap in how it is flown. The man who knows perhaps the most about new-generation STOVL operations is a BAE Systems test pilot of more than 25 years experience, and who flew the Harrier operationally for the Royal Air Force. This year, F-35 lead STOVL pilot Graham Tomlinson grabbed a place in the history books by making the first vertical landing involving the type. Tomlinson describes the flying characteristics of the Harrier and JSF as being like “chalk and cheese”.
“The Harrier has been, and remains, a miracle for the era when it was developed, but the aeroplane can bite you,” he says. “JSF is absolutely transformational. All the pilots say it’s [F-35B STOVL] ridiculously easy to fly, but it should be.”
BAE has around 25 personnel based at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where flight testing of the STOVL aircraft is under way, also involving Lockheed and US Marine Corps pilots. Five F-35Bs will make around 1,900 flights during the programme’s ongoing system development and demonstration phase. Achieved by making a single button press, the F-35B’s transition from forward flight to the hover is a world away from the multitude of control demands placed on a Harrier pilot today. “All the conversions done have been faultless,” says Tomlinson, who on 18 March made the first vertical landing using test aircraft BF-1. “There’s a lot of drag when you open that lift fan door, and you as the pilot notice that. But we’ve got plenty of power. When you spin up that [Rolls-Royce] lift fan you’ve got 40,000lb of thrust available: that more than compensates.” Flight testing of the F-35B – the first of three JSF variants to enter service – is at a “careful, cautious & considered” pace...."
A4G Skyhawk: www.faaaa.asn.au/spazsinbad-a4g/ & www.youtube.com/channel/UCwqC_s6gcCVvG7NOge3qfAQ/videos?view_as=subscriber