Navy rescues 94 million dollar F-35 from South China Sea (Page 2): Really? He just lost a 94 million dollar aircraft. Was this an accomplished Naval pilot with a sterling history of...

SteveR Loc: Michigan

BobHartung wrote:

If you have never flown onto or off a Big Deck then you need to keep your quips to yourself. An aircraft carrier is the most dangerous working environment in the world.

Really? He just lost a 94 million dollar aircraft. Was this an accomplished Naval pilot with a sterling history of carrier landings or a young lieutenant? That, too, could make a difference. Put it this way, the commander who decides to put him in another F-35 is staking HIS/HER career on this pilot not losing another one.

Walkabout08

I expect these guys mostly fly by the numbers; airspeed, altitude, rate of descent, glide path etc. They’re dialed in so to speak unless something happens to go wrong. It is the most difficult flying one can do, especially so at night. The Navy inquest will ultimately conclude the reason for this accident. Thankfully the pilot I believe is OK and unless the inquest concludes it was pilot error he/she will most certainly be flying again.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Walkabout08 wrote:

I expect these guys mostly fly by the numbers; airspeed, altitude, rate of descent, glide path etc. They’re dialed in so to speak unless something happens to go wrong. It is the most difficult flying one can do, especially so at night. The Navy inquest will ultimately conclude the reason for this accident. Thankfully the pilot I believe is OK and unless the inquest concludes it was pilot error he/she will most certainly be flying again.

I have watched all of the Smithsonian Channel's episodes of Air Disasters. While there were a few that were caused be maintenance failure, structural or design failure, by far the biggest cause of air disasters was pilot error.

If there was no indication of problems with the aircraft prior to landing, what are the chances that there would be a problem just at the moment of landing?

My bet is on pilot error, and until disproved I know he won't be flying.

pendennis

BobHartung wrote:

If you have never flown onto or off a Big Deck then you need to keep your quips to yourself. An aircraft carrier is the most dangerous working environment in the world.

My late brother could attest to that. He served three tours on USS Constellation, two in VA-146, and one as ship's company. He wasn't an Airdale, but was flight-deck qualified. They lost crew over the side, more often at night. Whether by suicide, jet blast, missing a step, etc., no other place has more ways to get you killed, including just standing by. The VF squadrons also lost of couple of F-14's during air ops; they just disappeared somewhere in the South China Sea.

After I got off active duty, I was a reservist for a number of years. One of the mandatory schools was firefighting/damage control. On the first day, we were shown a movie of the fire on USS Forrestal in 1967. A Navy Captain narrated the movie. We wondered why a Navy Captain, and a student, would be narrating a classroom movie. Turns out he was in command of the second-shift flight operations after leading the first flight. He had been on the bridge and lived it. You can bet that he set the tone for the rest of the class.

During the movie, he simultaneously noted that a Zuni rocket launched by stray static electricity, struck the fuel pod on John McCain's A-4, starting the conflagration. At the end of the movie, he was still a bit shaken by the experience.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

SteveR wrote:

Really? He just lost a 94 million dollar aircraft. Was this an accomplished Naval pilot with a sterling history of carrier landings or a young lieutenant? That, too, could make a difference. Put it this way, the commander who decides to put him in another F-35 is staking HIS/HER career on this pilot not losing another one.

You know nothing. What where the weather conditions? Was there a technical or computer problem. Was the ALS working correctly? The decision to fly or not is not left to one person but to a board of seasoned aviators with long track records.

P.S. I am a former Naval Flight Surgeon and have served on accident investigation panels and been present at fitness for flight hearings. Your experience?

sheldon minsky Loc: iron mountain michigan

kvanhook wrote:

One of my college friends did over 1100 carrier landings in his Navy career. One of the most challenging things to do. I'm wondering, how would the Chinese know there was a plane at the bottom of the ocean?

Jerry sent them a URL so they could check it out.

tcthome Loc: NJ

SteveR wrote:

I'm not sure about gathering information about the accident, but the Chinese won't get it and its secrets.

https://dallasexpress.com/u-s-navy-recovers-94-million-jet-from-the-south-china-sea/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Dallas%20Express&utm_content=Daily%20Dallas%20Express+CID_79c4900a831464ff794de07287a0cea7&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=US%20Navy%20Recovers%2094%20Million%20Jet%20from%20the%20South%20China%20Sea

In this day & age if conducting operation in the area, any area, they should have a salvage crew within a resonable distance. Too much tech to let get into anothers country's hands. IMO!

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

Good for us.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

SteveR wrote:

Really? He just lost a 94 million dollar aircraft. Was this an accomplished Naval pilot with a sterling history of carrier landings or a young lieutenant? That, too, could make a difference. Put it this way, the commander who decides to put him in another F-35 is staking HIS/HER career on this pilot not losing another one.

Take it easy. We all make mistakes. Forgive and forget.

Seriously, no pilot makes 100% of his/her carrier landings perfectly. I doubt there's much F-35 technology that the Chinese haven't already stolen.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bad+carrier+landings

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

Retired CPO wrote:

It doesn't matter how much it costs. Even a ten minute dunk in salt water and it's toast. Will never fly again. Of course there might be some clues as to why it crashed. And certainly good to recover whatever classified gear it was carrying. It will never work again either but it's good to not let it get into someone else's hands.

Working or not, reverse engineering could result in secrets being learned,

lbrande

BobHartung wrote:

You know nothing. What where the weather conditions? Was there a technical or computer problem. Was the ALS working correctly? The decision to fly or not is not left to one person but to a board of seasoned aviators with long track records.

P.S. I am a former Naval Flight Surgeon and have served on accident investigation panels and been present at fitness for flight hearings. Your experience?

His qual is "armchair admiral".

walkurie Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

I have nothing but respect and admiration for anyone trying to land a high perfomance fighter on a postage stamp. Just happy as a taxpayer that we recovered the carcass.

cwp3420

SteveR wrote:

Really? He just lost a 94 million dollar aircraft. Was this an accomplished Naval pilot with a sterling history of carrier landings or a young lieutenant? That, too, could make a difference. Put it this way, the commander who decides to put him in another F-35 is staking HIS/HER career on this pilot not losing another one.

It’s a shame you couldn’t have been a fighter pilot. You could have been the Navy’s very first pilot who was absolutely perfect on everything he did, faux Christian. I guess you earned your wings watching television. Are you a doctor too because you watched MASH also?

fantom Loc: Colorado

rmorrison1116 wrote:

What makes you believe it was the pilot's fault? They don't let any pilot fly one of them and things do go wrong.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

tcthome wrote:

In this day & age if conducting operation in the area, any area, they should have a salvage crew within a resonable distance. Too much tech to let get into anothers country's hands. IMO!

ayou would not want to pay for the ships or the manpower to man them 24x7.