quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
For chrissakes, can we ease up on all the damn exclamation points?

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

For chrissakes, can we ease up on all the damn exclamation points?

What's the problem???

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
For chrissakes, can we ease up on all the damn exclamation points?

Absolutely!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

over 40 years, i flew 19k hours in helicopters with many indications

Yes, but did you ever eject from one?

nope, maybe a good thing about helicopters!!

quote:

Originally posted by uvahawk:
As a retired AF Lt. Col., I find all this drama puzzling. In the past, all the services were as forthcoming as possible. Trust and credibility with the public were considered important. Apparently, values have changed over the years.

Yup, you and (F-14 RIO) Ward Carroll, CDR, USN (RET) remain perplexed.

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

over 40 years, i flew 19k hours in helicopters with many indications

Yes, but did you ever eject from one?

nope, maybe a good thing about helicopters!!

I seem to recall one ejectable helicopter, a Russian model. Kamov maybe? An explosive charge separates the rotor head before the seats fire. Still sounds a little frightening.

ETA: Kamov Ka-50. Pass.

GAO report: F35s on average, mission capable 55% of time.

What GAO Found

Maintenance challenges negatively affect F-35 aircraft readiness. The F-35 fleet
mission capable rate—the percentage of time the aircraft can perform one of its
tasked missions—was about 55 percent in March 2023, far below program goals.
This performance was due in part to challenges with depot and organizational
maintenance (see fig.). The program was behind schedule in establishing depot
maintenance activities to conduct repairs. As a result, component repair times
remained slow with over 10,000 waiting to be repaired—above desired levels. At
the same time, organizational-level maintenance has been affected by a number
of issues, including a lack of technical data and training.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105341.pdf

^^^^^
The ratio of F-35 problems to F-22 problems is amazing. I don’t have hard numbers, but I can’t recall seeing any reports of significant F-22 problems in the last couple of years. The F-35 is a vastly different story.

Didn't F-22 have an oxygen system problem that was pretty bad and suspected as having caused more than one crash? They had grounded them all, and this was before F-35 was pronounced ready for primetime.

Only one I ever heard of though.

The 911 call showing interaction between an operator and the F35 pilot who ejected over South Carolina last weekend has been released

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...t-sure-plane-is.html

The unnamed pilot, a 47-year-old with decades of flying experience, parachuted into a resident's back yard from 2,000ft after the super-advanced stealth aircraft suffered a malfunction over Charleston.





More at link

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
The 911 call showing interaction between an operator and the F35 pilot who ejected over South Carolina last weekend has been released

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...t-sure-plane-is.html

The unnamed pilot, a 47-year-old with decades of flying experience, parachuted into a resident's back yard from 2,000ft after the super-advanced stealth aircraft suffered a malfunction over Charleston.





More at link

What I am surprised about is that he called 911. Wouldn't he have a squadron commander, or some emergency contact at the base to call? I mean, if he needed immediate assistance, or the crash set someone's house on fire, I get a 911 call, but that wasn't the case.

Maybe that was the AI that took over the plane, though . . .

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:

The unnamed pilot, a 47-year-old

An active duty 47-year-old fighter pilot?

Can't be too many of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:

The unnamed pilot, a 47-year-old

An active duty 47-year-old fighter pilot?

Can't be too many of them.

Sounds like either the Squadron CO or XO given the age.

quote:

Originally posted by Snake207:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:

The unnamed pilot, a 47-year-old

An active duty 47-year-old fighter pilot?

Can't be too many of them.

Sounds like either the Squadron CO or XO given the age.

That would be my guess. Almost got to be a Lt. Colonel or Colonel at that age.

Assuming the pilot was commissioned at 21-22 y/o, the pilot would have around 25-26 years of service.

Lockheed Running Out Of Parking Space For F-35s Pentagon Refuses To Accept

https://www.zerohedge.com/mili...tagon-refuses-accept

Another day, another indication of what a spectacular, snakebit clusterf**k the F-35 program is.

The latest blotter entry comes to us from the US Government Accounting Office (GAO), via a new report pointedly titled "F-25 Joint Strike Fighter: Program Continues to Encounter Production Issues and Modernization Delays."According to GAO, Lockheed Martin is running out of parking space for all the completed F-35s that the Pentagon refuses to accept.

These aren't one-by-one rejects. Last summer, the DOD put a complete freeze on accepting the stealth fighters until Lockheed fixed huge hardware and software problems associated with "Technology Refresh-3" (TR-3), a $1.8 billion package intended to expand the planes' capabilities.

The worst of the software glitches affect the F-35's radar and electronic warfare systems, "with some test pilots reporting that they had to reboot their entire radar and electronic warfare systems mid-flight to get them back online," says GAO. Gee, that sounds kinda bad.

As the TR-3 woes continue, the jets are stacking up at Lockheed's facilities. Referencing a milestone that had already passed when it published its report, GAO wrote, “If TR-3 software is delayed past April 2024, Lockheed Martin is projected to exceed its maximum parking capacity and will need to develop a plan to accommodate more parked planes." Deflecting concerns, in a statement last week, Lockheed said, “Specific details about parking will not be shared due to security considerations."

GAO says the software won't be stabilized until "at least June 2024." Whenever that day comes, it will only be the beginning of the end of this latest chapter, as GAO says eventual delivery of the backlogged jets will take a year.

In the meantime, silly taxpayer, don't bother asking for a specific number of undelivered F-35s. In a lack of transparency that's surely driven soley by a desire to shield the military-industrial complex from embarrassment, "DOD deemed reporting the specific quantity of aircraft to be unsuitable for public release," said GAO.

The chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee gave reporters a strong hint last week. “We know one thing for certain: it's going to be at least over 100 aircraft stacked up on the tarmac,” said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), according to Defense One.

https://www.defenseone.com/bus...sks-pentagon/396646/

More at link

Does anyone recognize the potential for delays in acceptance of the aircraft might have something to due with the USG possibly not having the money>

NO, they just print money now!

This is an older thread.

Sacked Marine Pilot Whose F-35B Flew Without Him After Ejecting Gives His Side Of The Story

Charles Del Pizzo has finally given his version of the bizarre 2023 incident that resulted in his jet flying for dozens of miles without him in it before crashing.

by Howard Altman
April 1, 2025

The Marines partially blamed Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo for the loss of his F-35B Joint Strike Fighter that flew pilotless for nearly 12 minutes before slamming into the ground following his ejection back in September 2023. Now the 48-year-old retired colonel is giving his side of the story.

In a truly amazing piece by Post and Courier reporter Tony Bartelme, Del Pizzo pushed back on the Marine Corps’ findings, saying he was essentially blinded in bad weather by cascading equipment malfunctions while returning to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, from a training sortie over the Atlantic Ocean.

Before the incident, Del Pizzo was putting the jet through its paces as he was learning its strengths and weaknesses before taking command of VMX-1, a key operational test and evaluation squadron in Yuma, Arizona. The mishap occurred as Del Pizzo was attempting an instrument landing in the F-35B’s vertical mode in zero-visibility conditions during a raging storm. Unlike the Air Force’s F-35A and the Navy F-35C carrier variant, the B version flown by the Marines possesses short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) capabilities, allowing it to take off, land and hover in a manner similar to the AV-B8 Harrier jets that Del Pizzo used to fly...

Complete article:

https://www.twz.com/air/sacked...is-side-of-the-story