2976

https://youtu.be/GIy6XPTa0SI

2977

Huh. I am not familiar with standard procedures for that sort of thing, of course. Is it a normal precautionary move to eject when the plane isn’t on fire and is pretty much stationary? I am not being snarky, I simply do not know what sort of complexities and safety protocols are at work here.

2978

I was wondering the same thing. Seemed like an unnecessary ejection. But Ward Carroll who posted the video is a retired F14 RIO and didn’t comment on it, so I assume he thought it was reasonable to eject in that situation.

2979

No, that dude fucked up big time. He ain’t gonna be flying planes anymore.

2980

The final assembly is in Fort Worth, so that was likely a brand spanking new F-35B on a test flight.

2981

There was something off with the thrusters. It nosed over, then continued to move. Whether mechanical or pilot error can’t really be said by me, but it was sliding uncontrollably into a wall.

2982

I doubt that’s true - I know it’s pretty standard for fast-jet flight manuals to include ejection in the checklist for any runway departures. I’m surprised he didn’t punch-out earlier, and I suspect he was waiting for the aircraft to level itself first (note he ejected as soon as the wings were level).

2983

Well, that’s what the f15 pilots I talked to suggested

2984

But what does laserpig think?

2985

But seriously. After watching the video a few times there are two things I see.

  1. It seems that there might have been pilot error. As far as the landing goes.
  2. He really had no choice but to eject.

So @timex may very well be right about him not flying again.

2986

It’s total speculation on the part of the pilots I talked to about it, too, but they were like, “that’s the kind of fuck up that follows you”.

2987

I listened to an interview quite recently with an F-5 pilot who realized that his plane was going to overrun the runway, and wishing that ejection was an option because hitting the gravel at the end of the runway at 30mph probably wouldn’t look very violent, but all the plane had to do was roll over and it would have a good chance of killing him. He ended up upside down with a smashed canopy, a large splinter of which was dug into his neck, and completely unable to free himself. He would have been dead if it had dug a little deeper, or if his plane had caught fire.

2988

Especially that it had not been delivered yet. The pilot was, essentially a test pilot. Brand new plane. Totaled. Bad move.

2989

Well that part certainly seems true, and that could be true even if it wasn’t really the pilot’s fault.

It could have been a lot worse though. At least the plane seems salvageable.

2990

I’m just guessing but, salvageable, for small values of salvageable. The ejection seat is a bomb going off in the cockpit.

2991

Speculation that the flight logic may be flawed. When the plane does that initial bounce off the ground, the weight disappeared from all the landing gear, which may have triggered the engine to full throttle even as the fan doors were closing. Which is why it dove its nose into the ground.

2992

As I said, I have no clue about how these things works. I mean, to me, a funky relatively brand-new plane like the F-35 with perhaps some bugs still in the software (I don’t know, just thinking) might earn the pilot a pass, depending on the debrief etc. But I don’t know how thee USAF does stuff, nor do I have the technical knowledge or experience to really comment on it.

All I can say is I don’t blame the guy for bailing on that thing. Who knows what it might have done next?

2993

At least it wasn’t a Tesla?

2994

I’m going to laugh and laugh when fighter jocks are totally and permanently sidelined by nerds flying drones in a dark room.

2995

How many G’s can you pull?

Drone: How many you got?

We are nowhere near fighter jets being replaced by drones, but it is only the logical next step.

No clue what happened on that F-35 landing, but ejecting was a bad call, because of how much damage it would have done to the plane, especially seeing as how there was no catastrophic wreck in the aftermath of the accident. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but fighter pilots need to be cool and calm in the worst of situations, and those actions did not seem “calm” to me. They’ll have a hard time getting back into the cockpit after that one.