Posted on 10/05/2020 1:30:45 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
The Marine Corps has released new information about its F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter that crashed earlier this week after a mid-air collision with a KC-130J tanker.
The F-35B, which crashed close to Ocotillo Wells, Calif., was assigned to the ‘Green Knights’ of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, a Marine Corps spokeswoman told USNI News. The KC-130J that made an emergency landing is assigned to the “Raiders” of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 352.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...
I wonder if the advanced, sophisticated situational awareness features of the F-35 may have led to complacency on the part of the pilot.
Not counting at least one career.
Yes, only a career.
Well, let’s give them some time. It may be a career, maybe not. Unexpected things do happen that can bite even a good pilot doing all the right things.
Only if it has an ‘auto refuel’ feature, which it most likely doesn’t.
Careful!
Your post is diametrically opposed to the “guilty before proven innocent” philosophy so prevalent on this page and in law enforcement agencies.
Prepare to be flamed
It was bad enough throwing away single engine F-16s at 26million+ apiece. Can’t afford to lose these as quickly ads the F-16s went down.
F-35. Another single engine masterpiece.
What are even talking about?
In air refueling is one of many ways to earn your hazard/flight pay. Number of things that can go south if your not paying attention or if some system or hardware fails at the wrong time.
” It may be a career, maybe not.”
If this guy is flying an F35 he’s several cuts above the rest already. Stuff happens.
The air corps equivalent of hitting a gas station bollard.
LOL...and I am guilty of that as well, but I have a soft spot for pilots...:)
I’m truly glad the pilot is ok. That said, let us not forget that approximately 125 million bucks just exploded into a million pieces. That somebody screwed up is obvious. But, I’m sure they will get a letter put in their file.
True...there could have been some kind of unforeseen turbulence, a hardware or software failure, that kind of thing.
That is an expensive mistake, but that is the world we live in.
I often wonder, if we get into a real shooting war with an enemy bent on attriting (not even sure if that is a word) us and capable of doing it, would we be able to draw from the boneyard?
I mean, hell, an F-18 from the boneyard may be better than nothing, even if there are 5th Gen fighters prowling around. They can’t be everywhere...
According to Wiki, the F-35B runs a cool $101.3 million.
Damn, never even heard about this accident.
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