USMC F-35B Down

[Abbo46]

First crash of an F-35 this afternoon.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1045720680174690311[/tweet]

[AndrewW]

Link: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/f-35b-l ... a-1.549535

Pilot safely ejected, thankfully

[Brevet Cable]

Only a 'C' to go now, then.....

Have ISIL / AQ / the Taliban claimed responsibility & have the Americans blamed Russia yet?

[Tmyers123]

Only a 'C' to go now, then.....

Have ISIL / AQ / the Taliban claimed responsibility & have the Americans blamed Russia yet?

You sure?

[toom317]

Nice of them to use a pic of an RAF airframe in that link.

[Brevet Cable]

Only a 'C' to go now, then.....

You sure?

Unless I'm mistaken, they lost an 'A' when the engine lunched itself but they haven't lost a 'C' yet.

[Tmyers123]

Only a 'C' to go now, then.....

You sure?

Unless I'm mistaken, they lost an 'A' when the engine lunched itself but they haven't lost a 'C' yet.

Completely forgot about that. Let’s just hope there aren’t any more accidents.

[Joe Spares]

...although they nearly lost a C last month when one ate a refuelling drouge, writing off the engine....

[Eagle85]

100k+ flying hours and twelve years and this is the first actual crash, not withstanding the aforementioned engine failure and refuelling near miss and the nose gear problem recently. Surely that has got to be one of the greatest achievements with a new jet? Comparible with predecessors... How many hours did the Phantom/F-16/Harrier/Tornado/F-18 etc do before a total loss? Would be interesting to compare. An unbiased comparison would be favourable of course without all of the nay sayers, haters and armchair experts jumping on the old querty...

[vulcan558]

100k+ flying hours and twelve years and this is the first actual crash, not withstanding the aforementioned engine failure and refuelling near miss and the nose gear problem recently. Surely that has got to be one of the greatest achievements with a new jet? Comparible with predecessors... How many hours did the Phantom/F-16/Harrier/Tornado/F-18 etc do before a total loss? Would be interesting to compare. An unbiased comparison would be favourable of course without all of the nay sayers, haters and armchair experts jumping on the old querty...

100k flying hours for the f35B. Where do you get that figure from.

[Brevet Cable]

Comparible with predecessors... How many hours did the Phantom/F-16/Harrier/Tornado/F-18 etc do before a total loss? Would be interesting to compare. An unbiased comparison would be favourable of course without all of the nay sayers, haters and armchair experts jumping on the old querty...

Different times, different technology, different testing & training regimes.....any comparison would be as valid as comparing ( non-combat ) losses between WW1-era & WW2-era aircraft, or 1950/60s aircraft with 1980/90s ones.

The F-35 aircraft have had a history of engine & airframe issues, haven't they?

[Brevet Cable]

100k flying hours for the f35B. Where do you get that figure from.

https://www.f35.com/news/detail/lockheed-martin-f-35s-surpass-100000-flight-hours-system-development-and-de
100k hours for the whole F-35 fleet, not just the 'B' model.

[boff180]

100k+ flying hours and twelve years and this is the first actual crash, not withstanding the aforementioned engine failure and refuelling near miss and the nose gear problem recently. Surely that has got to be one of the greatest achievements with a new jet? Comparible with predecessors... How many hours did the Phantom/F-16/Harrier/Tornado/F-18 etc do before a total loss? Would be interesting to compare. An unbiased comparison would be favourable of course without all of the nay sayers, haters and armchair experts jumping on the old querty…

Seems to be an assumption that it was a problem with the aircraft that caused this. Any assessment is skewed until causes of crash are categorised for each type.

No cause has been announced.

Could quite easily have been pilot error or a bad bird strike.

An example being the Rafale, of the 5 aircraft that have been lost - 4 were due to pilot error and the 5th's reason has yet to be announced.