The Joint Strike Fighter program launched in the early 1990s, when the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps set about developing what they called a Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter. The aircraft would replace the F-16, A-10, and F/A-18 in the United States as well as the CF-18 in Canada.
The first step in becoming a Joint Strike Fighter pilot is familiar to anyone who has learned to fly: ground school. In Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, ground school consists of academics and simulators that teach the pilots how to operate and fly the aircraft. When I learned to fly the AV-8B, I got a stack of books. I read the books, sat in classes, and practiced in a basic cockpit trainer. My student got a laptop computer with a stick and throttle to plug into it, just like the stick and throttle in the F-35. His classroom is fully electronic. He learns by doing. When we are teaching him about the fuel system, he sees the fuel system, watches the fuel burn down, and views the fuel display on his computer exactly as it appears in the aircraft. When he is in the classroom, his desktop trainer has a touch screen display, a stick and throttle, and a headset and microphone so he can use voice activation to command certain functions —all precisely mimicking the systems in the airplane. After three weeks in the classroom, he graduates to the Full Mission Simulator, an F-35 cockpit that slides into a large dome. Multiple high-definition cameras project on the surface of the dome images of the scenes around the airplane. Although the simulator does not move, it provides realistic video and sound. The simulator is vital, because the F-35 does not have a trainer or two-seat variant. When a student first flies the airplane, he or she is solo.
Center stick pilots need to become side stick pilots. Push button and analog pilots need to become touch screen and digital pilots. Head-up-display pilots need to become helmet-mounted-display pilots. Fourth generation pilots need to become fifth generation pilots. We’re still learning what the F-35 can do, and we need people who know the airplane and can continue to drive it to its ultimate performance.
Quirky said:The Making of a Joint Strike Fighter Pilot
http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/The-Making-of-a-Joint-Strike-Fighter-Pilot-223970321.html
If/when the F-35 arrives in Canada, I hope i'll still be in a position where I can get my hands on it.
tomahawk6 said:AESA radar making the F-35 obsolete ?
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-NOTAM-140909-1.html
dapaterson said:Unlikely. Most maintenance will be contracted to Lock Mart.
Quirky said:3rd line for sure, 2nd maybe. First line will always be AVN/AVS techs.
MilEME09 said:except for the whole warranty probably preventing to much work from being preformed at first line and even second line except for basic maint tasks
:rofl:Quirky said:Something tells me that they won't be sending contractors up to Inuvik or for whatever conflict....
Journeyman said::rofl:
Can you say "Calian"?
Did you not see all the civie contractors over in Afghanistan?
Oh right......a fighter guy -- you folks weren't part of the rest of the CF's war.... op:
Quirky said:One more reason to release and work the oil field. :nod:
PuckChaser said:We have 15 recruits probably on these forums that would be happy to take your job.
You know what they say .... ;DQuirky said:One more reason to release and work the oil field. :nod:
E.R. Campbell said:According to a report in the Globe and Mail, LGen (ret'd) Charles Bouchard has dropped off the panel of experts the government hired to review the fighter aircraft project, saying he was too busy to take on the task.
The panel is, now, according to the article:
+ James Mitchell of the consulting group Sussex Circle, a former senior civil servant who has served cabinet and Treasury Board;
+ Keith Coulter, former Communications Security Establishment chief and a former fighter pilot;
+ Rod Monette, federal comptroller-general, who also served as a senior bureaucrat in National Defence;
+ Philippe Lagassé, University of Ottawa professor an outspoken critic of the jet procurement.
Haletown said:Korea is in competition with us for a whacked procurement system.
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/09/24/korea-dumps-boeing-f-15-for-stealth-f-35-pacific-sweep-likely/
Haletown said:Korea is in competition with us for a whacked procurement system.
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/09/24/korea-dumps-boeing-f-15-for-stealth-f-35-pacific-sweep-likely/