It’s hard to imagine a much scarier scenario than turning off the engine to an aircraft in flight to test if it’ll restart.
That’s
just what Navy test pilots did with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter this
summer. And lucky for those pilots and the Joint Strike Fighter
program, the F-35B and its F135 engines turned back on.
Navy
officials announced the F-35B passed it’s “air start” tests meaning the
program can move on to “high alpha, or angle-of-attack tests” — the
maneuvers that set the fifth generation fighters apart from their 4th
generation (F-15 and F-16) peers when it comes to a dog fight
“High
alpha, or angle-of-attack tests, are important for us to fully evaluate
the aircraft’s handling characteristics and warfighting capability,”
Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Matthew Kelly said in a statement.
“Maximizing the performance of the airplane around the very slow edges
of the flight envelope is probably some of the most challenging testing
we will conduct. After we get through it, we’ll know a lot more about
how this aircraft will perform during combat within visual range.”
Test
pilots completed 27 engine restarts at different altitudes of flight,
Navy officials announced Tuesday. The Navy completed the tests at
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., over the Rogers and Rosamond Dry Lakes.
Air
Force officials have already completed air start testing on the F-35A.
Navy leaders said they were able to benefit from the Air Force’s
experience.
“We’ve recently completed air start testing on the
F-35A, so we’re able to share some of our expertise with the Pax team as
well,” said Lt. Col. George N. Schwartz, Commander of the 461st Flight
Test Squadron and Government Site Director, in a statement
Sumber: Defensetech
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