We've lost an F-35

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

He didn't ejecting willingly. Apparently there was some issue and the plane ejected him.

I had a girlfriend do that to me in high school.

 

[VaqueroTD]

If it lands in my backyard, I do need a new tire on my F-250. I wonder what size those F-35s use.

 

[DoctorChicken]

These things happen. You put two socks in a dryer, only one comes out. Fighter jets go missing.

 

[MWH1967]

How do you LOSE an F-35?

 

[DoctorChicken]

How do you LOSE an F-35?

Apparently by the pilot ejecting and the plane zooming off very quickly.

I'd guess they knew the general area it crashed, but not the exact location.

 

[Tabascocat]

The speculations of what happened are all over the place

1. Pilot doing exercises, accidentally hits autopilot then ejected him/her self

2. A militia was shooting a .50 caliber weapon at it

3. The jet was hacked and taken over, forcing the pilot to eject


I believe one thing for sure…..we will never know the truth which can be stranger than fiction

 

[Runwildboys]

The speculations of what happened are all over the place

1. Pilot doing exercises, accidentally hits autopilot then ejected him/her self

2. A militia was shooting a .50 caliber weapon at it

3. The jet was hacked and taken over, forcing the pilot to eject


I believe one thing for sure…..we will never know the truth which can be stranger than fiction

Was the pilot by chance an old Japanese man?

 

[noshame]

Must have called the Chinese and got the location

 

[Creeper]

The speculations of what happened are all over the place

1. Pilot doing exercises, accidentally hits autopilot then ejected him/her self

2. A militia was shooting a .50 caliber weapon at it

3. The jet was hacked and taken over, forcing the pilot to eject


I believe one thing for sure…..we will never know the truth which can be stranger than fiction

It could have been a software glitch too, but it is weird that the pilot ejected and the plane continued to fly for 2 hours. I do agree that we will probably never know the truth about this one.

The hacking rumor is interesting although I am not sure how realistic it is. The F-35 is capable of networking with other F-35s so that implies there is some kind of communications path between F-35s. I supposed in theory that path could be exploited to access the F-35 systems, but I am pretty sure the designers would build in some pretty good security to prevent that. Still, if I recall correctly the original drones were controlled with unencrypted radio signals at one point.

It is not unusually for new planes to to have issues that go undiscovered for some time. Once those issues are corrected the planes turn out to be pretty reliable. Let's hope that is the case with the F-35 since we spent a boatload of tax dollars to build them - and we are still building them.

One thing to look for is what happens to the pilot. If he/she faces a court martial or washes out, then we can assume pilot error. If it is some kind of espionage we will hear nothing for a few years then a story will leak to the media.

 

[gtb1943]

It could have been a software glitch too, but it is weird that the pilot ejected and the plane continued to fly for 2 hours. I do agree that we will probably never know the truth about this one.

The hacking rumor is interesting although I am not sure how realistic it is. The F-35 is capable of networking with other F-35s so that implies there is some kind of communications path between F-35s. I supposed in theory that path could be exploited to access the F-35 systems, but I am pretty sure the designers would build in some pretty good security to prevent that. Still, if I recall correctly the original drones were controlled with unencrypted radio signals at one point.

It is not unusually for new planes to to have issues that go undiscovered for some time. Once those issues are corrected the planes turn out to be pretty reliable. Let's hope that is the case with the F-35 since we spent a boatload of tax dollars to build them - and we are still building them.

One thing to look for is what happens to the pilot. If he/she faces a court martial or washes out, then we can assume pilot error. If it is some kind of espionage we will hear nothing for a few years then a story will leak to the media.

sad to say its more likely for the Air Force to blame the pilot then admit there is a serious problem.

 

[Streifenkarl]

Found it yet?

 

[Creeper]

Found it yet?

They say they did. It was an F-35B, the vertical take off and landing version - also the most expensive version of the plane.

The more I read about it the more fascinated I am with this plane. It has built in flight controls in case the pilot passes out or becomes incapacitated. If the plane senses the pilot is not in control it takes over and will level out the flight path. So it looks like when the pilot bailed out, the computers took over the controls and kept the plane in the air as they were designed to do.

The pilot apparently landed in someone's back yard. He called 911 from the person's house. He told the 911 operator the plane had a malfunction but did not elaborate.

 

[Streifenkarl]

They say they did. It was an F-35B, the vertical take off and landing version - also the most expensive version of the plane.

The more I read about it the more fascinated I am with this plane. It has built in flight controls in case the pilot passes out or becomes incapacitated. If the plane senses the pilot is not in control it takes over and will level out the flight path. So it looks like when the pilot bailed out, the computers took over the controls and kept the plane in the air as they were designed to do.

The pilot apparently landed in someone's back yard. He called 911 from the person's house. He told the 911 operator the plane had a malfunction but did not elaborate.

Haha imagine that happening to you. That's the one scene from Top Gun Maverick right there lol... would have been cool if the plane landed somewhere safely. On a Walmart parking lot or so...

 

[gtb1943]

They say they did. It was an F-35B, the vertical take off and landing version - also the most expensive version of the plane.

The more I read about it the more fascinated I am with this plane. It has built in flight controls in case the pilot passes out or becomes incapacitated. If the plane senses the pilot is not in control it takes over and will level out the flight path. So it looks like when the pilot bailed out, the computers took over the controls and kept the plane in the air as they were designed to do.

The pilot apparently landed in someone's back yard. He called 911 from the person's house. He told the 911 operator the plane had a malfunction but did not elaborate.

in a lot of ways it is more drone than plane. Shame that automatic system does not have a feature to tell it to land.

WIll be interesting to hear the official version of this accident. Got a feeling the pilot is going to get grilled very hard for ejecting from an aircraft still clearly capable of sustained flight.

 

[SuspectCorner]

Aliens came back to collect their sled, which had been reverse-engineered.