If you listen closely to the audio, the engine never spools down on first contact. The F-35 I saw land once, as soon as the wheels hit, the engine cuts to a low roar normally. In this case it's running all the way up until dude punches. Any bet from the second things went sideways he was trying to cut the power nonstop up til he went "Oh Shit! This's gonna purely suck!" and punched out.
I suspect (could be wrong!) this incident was assisted by a multi-million dollar computer. The pilot stuck it out, maybe too long, hope xe is ok. You'll notice it wasn't a junky old ordinary F-35, it was the super duper, extra fancy, extra expensive, VTO version. We should buy extras, you know, so we don't run out of 'em. Tree Mike
While I'm not an engineer, I remember the engineer's axiom of the more complicated you make something--the higher the chance of one or more failures/break-downs/etc. Why not just flood the skies with a thousands of F-15s and F-16s--as Stalin once opined--"Numbers have a quality all their own", which was proven in Europe when five or six Sherman tanks would go after one Tiger--while there were three burning Shermans (where most of the crews survived to fight another day in another made in the USA, mass-produce Sherman tank) at the end of the battle--there was one dead Tiger with its whole crew dead or maimed and no replacement tank or crew to take its place.
Just looking at it, I'd say y'all are right. Looks like a computer malf to me. I have had crapcopters do the exact same thing, the exact same way. The FC just flips out, forgets where it is and starts hammering the outputs... and kills itself. Which makes this doubly intriguing. That bird has to have at LEAST triple redundancy. The three FC's will constantly monitor their orientation, pilot, and each other and if anyone flips out - they are over-ridden and the computer takes over. I can see such a failure in my cheap chinese crapcopter electronics... but... a multi-million dollar bird? That pilot was right on the ball by the look of it. Text book ejection too. We will have to see what comes out of this. I am betting it gets swept under the rug, myself. Fighter planes are not designed for VTOL work, end of story...
Don't "assume" the problem was the FC, remember that ACTUATORS and SERVOS do the work in the Real World, and are subject to failure just like any electro-mechanical device. Yeah, it COULD be FC failure, but I'm putting MY money on a failure of servo/actuator. Been there...
Excellent point, A. About all we can be confident of is that the craft itself was at fault… and even that may be untrue pending further investigation… we will just have to wait for the investigators to do their thing…
Maybe 30 Years ago, there was an X-Plane (X-29, i think) that had Wings swept Forwards, and it was so Totally Unstable that without the FC Computers it was Unflyable by Hand. Just a Test for Instability vs. Electronic Controls, but it had a Circuit 'beside' the FC that if the Electronics F-d Up, it hit the Relay to Eject the Pilot...
Nice ejection
ReplyDeleteIf you listen closely to the audio, the engine never spools down on first contact. The F-35 I saw land once, as soon as the wheels hit, the engine cuts to a low roar normally. In this case it's running all the way up until dude punches. Any bet from the second things went sideways he was trying to cut the power nonstop up til he went "Oh Shit! This's gonna purely suck!" and punched out.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. Appears aft lift fan kept making power.
DeleteI suspect (could be wrong!) this incident was assisted by a multi-million dollar computer. The pilot stuck it out, maybe too long, hope xe is ok. You'll notice it wasn't a junky old ordinary F-35, it was the super duper, extra fancy, extra expensive, VTO version. We should buy extras, you know, so we don't run out of 'em.
ReplyDeleteTree Mike
While I'm not an engineer, I remember the engineer's axiom of the more complicated you make something--the higher the chance of one or more failures/break-downs/etc. Why not just flood the skies with a thousands of F-15s and F-16s--as Stalin once opined--"Numbers have a quality all their own", which was proven in Europe when five or six Sherman tanks would go after one Tiger--while there were three burning Shermans (where most of the crews survived to fight another day in another made in the USA, mass-produce Sherman tank) at the end of the battle--there was one dead Tiger with its whole crew dead or maimed and no replacement tank or crew to take its place.
ReplyDeleteJust looking at it, I'd say y'all are right. Looks like a computer malf to me. I have had crapcopters do the exact same thing, the exact same way. The FC just flips out, forgets where it is and starts hammering the outputs... and kills itself.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes this doubly intriguing. That bird has to have at LEAST triple redundancy. The three FC's will constantly monitor their orientation, pilot, and each other and if anyone flips out - they are over-ridden and the computer takes over. I can see such a failure in my cheap chinese crapcopter electronics... but... a multi-million dollar bird? That pilot was right on the ball by the look of it. Text book ejection too. We will have to see what comes out of this. I am betting it gets swept under the rug, myself. Fighter planes are not designed for VTOL work, end of story...
Don't "assume" the problem was the FC, remember that ACTUATORS and SERVOS do the work in the Real World, and are subject to failure just like any electro-mechanical device. Yeah, it COULD be FC failure, but I'm putting MY money on a failure of servo/actuator. Been there...
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, A. About all we can be confident of is that the craft itself was at fault… and even that may be untrue pending further investigation… we will just have to wait for the investigators to do their thing…
DeleteMaybe 30 Years ago, there was an X-Plane (X-29, i think) that had Wings swept Forwards, and it was so Totally Unstable that without the FC Computers it was Unflyable by Hand. Just a Test for Instability vs. Electronic Controls, but it had a Circuit 'beside' the FC that if the Electronics F-d Up, it hit the Relay to Eject the Pilot...
ReplyDelete