Posted on 03/08/2012 10:56:13 PM PST by U-238
The US Marine Corps hopes to start F-35B local area flights at Eglin AFB, Florida, in early April with operational student pilots starting to train in the autumn, a service senior official says.
"We anticipate flying at Eglin to start in the next month," the official says. "And our first student pilots to start training next fall to coincide with the delivery of the operational squadron aircraft at MCAS [Marine Corps Air Station] Yuma [Arizona]."
But before training operations can begin, the Marines and other services need to be confident that the F-35 is robust enough to withstand the rigors of flying day-to-day sorties while being operated by fleet aviators and maintenance personnel.
"We will initially focus our effort at Eglin with VMFAT-501 and over the next few months conduct local area flights to establish our confidence in the maturity of the aircraft to sustain training operations," the official says. That would be "followed by an evaluation of the JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] aircrew training process, and then after review of the results of these efforts determine the readiness to commence student training."
The marines are going to use the first few operational aircraft to be delivered to bolster the training fleet Eglin until the service can setup its operational evaluation fleet at Edwards AFB in California, the official says. The US Marine Corps hopes to start F-35B local area flights at Eglin AFB, Florida, in early April with operational student pilots starting to train in the autumn, a service senior official says.
"We anticipate flying at Eglin to start in the next month," the official says. "And our first student pilots to start training next fall to coincide with the delivery of the operational squadron aircraft at MCAS [Marine Corps Air Station] Yuma [Arizona]."
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
ping
I have a C-note that says they’ll stick a female pilot in with this first group of F-35 students.
Any takers?
about damned time.
Click on pic for past Navair pings. Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist. The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation. This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
That’s a sucker bet. They may even throw in the first flamer too.
A Flamer Female would make headlines.
You can't have my money.
Wonder if they'll restrict training on the F-35 to known liberals and gays? That would be a start toward giving Obozo the military he wants. The one that'll turn on patriots. His "Red Army".
And a homo, a lesbian, and anything else they can.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.