Pilot Ejects From F-35B

[buffnut453]

OOPs.....Old article, but same issue, different fuel line. The current one....

Pentagon grounds some F-35s after ejection on Texas runway

The F-35 Joint Program Office told services a fuel tube failure may have caused an F-35B's crash, which has now led to some fighters being grounded.

www.defensenews.com

Given the scant details available, I'm not sure we can say it's the "same issue." This incident refers to a "fuel tube" whereas the old article refers to a "fueldraulic line" (whatever one of those might be). While I can accept both have "fuel" in the title, they could be very different issues with different causes and remediation approaches.

Happy to be corrected if I'm misunderstanding the situation.

 

[cvairwerks]

Fueldraulics are the motivating force for most mechanical operations on the F135 engine. Instead of having hydraulic actuators and be coupled to the aircraft hydraulics or a standalone system, the fueldraulic system is run by fuel pressure off of various fuel pumps. Nozzle control drives are included in this. Any fuel line that had a problem big enough to cause an engine problem of this magnitude, is going to be in the fueldraulic system, outside of a main fuel line issue. Whether it was a hard line or a flex line, nothing has been released yet. It's enough of a problem that a specific set of B models have been temporarily grounded until the conclusion of the investigation. No idea on why Israel grounded a portion of their fleet, as they only have A models.

Here's a photo of a B model engine on the stand. A significant portion of the hard and flex lines you can see are fueldraulic. There are a number of oil lines, but most are on the forward end of the core section.

Rolls-Royce LiftSystem - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[wlewisiii]

View: https://youtu.be/a9u_Cq9SH5E

 

[FLYBOYJ]

A usual, Ward does a great job!

 

[SaparotRob]

You would know better than I would.

 

[wlewisiii]

Just saw this tonight.

Lockheed: F-35 deliveries can’t resume until mishap investigation done

Lockheed Martin also previewed its plans for updating existing fighters with the hardware and software upgrades known as Technology Refresh 3.

www.defensenews.com