Pilot Ejects From F-35B (1 Viewer)

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MIflyer

1st Lieutenant
6,153
11,716
May 30, 2011
Cape Canaveral
Happened today. He was making a VTOL landing, bounced, and then things went awry from there. Looks like he got out Okay after the airplane was on the ground and was doing some gyrations.

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Screenshot 2022-12-15 at 19-14-07 Video Pilot ejects from F-35B near White Settlement Texas - ...png


Screenshot 2022-12-15 at 19-14-42 Video Pilot ejects from F-35B near White Settlement Texas - ...png


 
It looked almost like he could not get the engine shut down after landing. Reminds me of the guy who took his Walther turbine powered homebuilt out for a taxi test at our airport. He quickly found he had no brakes and when he tried to shut it down it would not. When I came up to see what was going on he asked me to shut off the fuel valves, located down between his feet, where he could not reach.
 
When in landing mode, isn't the engine supposed to reduce to idle automatically with enough weight on the landing gear?
You would think - remember you have that lift fan that is also spinning. Although it is engine driven, it's putting out a lot of thrust.
 
You would think - remember you have that lift fan that is also spinning. Although it is engine driven, it's putting out a lot of thrust.
Looking at it, it could be all sorts of things, probably turn out to be some sensor or system that didnt work or didnt work how it should.
 
Looking at it, it could be all sorts of things, probably turn out to be some sensor or system that didnt work or didnt work how it should.
Agree, that's why I hate to speculate. The only thing I would "guess" at is this pilot had an issue and he was trying to troubleshoot before the crash. You also had a belch of white smoke emit from the exhaust as he was descending.
 
Used to investigate accidents for the Navy and Marines in the 70s, did a bit more for Desert Storm, and spent most of my 42-year career working STOVL stuff. Given the weird somersault the aircraft did after the first touchdown bounce, and the fact that the elevators didn't suddenly make a drastic change in position that would drive an actual command to pitch down like this, it looks to me like the aft engine nozzle was still putting out power but the lift fan wasn't for some reason. Having looked in detail at that system years ago, I suspect a driveshaft failure and I'll be really interested to see whether my offhand guess turns out to have any merit. It's hard to stop thinking like an investigator after having done if for awhile!
 
Hmmm....

"Time Compliance Technical Directive (TCTD)"

I think they mean Time Compliance Technical Order (TCTO)

TCTOs are an air force thing. I never heard of NAVAIR using the term "TCTD'"

Anyone who in currently engaged in the business have any other information?
 
So bad manufacturing of the fuel line that wasn't discovered by QC of its manufacturer nor then engine manufacturer's QC upon receiving these parts.
 
So bad manufacturing of the fuel line that wasn't discovered by QC of its manufacturer nor then engine manufacturer's QC upon receiving these parts.
With 3/4 of my 42 years in aviation being in QC/ QA, even with modern inspection tools and processes like AS9100, you're still going to have things like this happen.

And to add to this - until this comes from "official sources" it's hear-say.

EDIT!!!

LOOK AT THE DATE OF THE ARTICLE!!!!!

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