tomatoboy
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Source: https://twitter.com/houstonairw/status/1603469769407139842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603469769407139842%7Ctwgr%5E959442303182fee9fdd4d8a7223da40073824d61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.usni.org%2F2022%2F12%2F15%2Ff-35b-joint-strike-fighter-crashes-in-texas
Voric13
Redshadow09
Was a little worried that the jet was going to make a break for it and go towards the road
embodymentofgattaca
Expensive Whoopsie!
witheredspoon
That ejection almost brought him right back to the plane, good thing it wasn't on fire!
LupusLilium
Was thinking it'd be bad for the wind to pick up and pull the pilot back towards the plane.
crazywelshy
Or into the bloody intake! That's what was going through my mind! I wonder if the engine auto stops if the pilot ejects.
jiynxed
Lol the parachute looks like a boobie
NortonGuy
Nice. He'll get a tie from Martin-Baker.
happywalker
https://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/
CatHateDogDogLoveCat
Translation to civilian?
zazzoooo
Martin-Baker is the manufacturer of ejection seats. They send gifts to pilots saved by their seats (although I thought it's champagne)
HaYouLose
Poor guy saved his butt, only to have it thoroughly chewed by the squadron commander.
tomatoboy
I think the F-35B has an auto eject mode. He may not have initiated the eject.
Havok707
That.. is great, but terrifying at the same time
ForkForkFork
It seemed like the landing was going OK, but then things got harrier.
ObrynTal
The commentary sums up Texas as a whole.
Shesroyal524
What's important here is the pilot is safe.
crespomodesto
That's coming out of your check
EccentricNut
It's coming out of all of our checks
IMustGrowUpReally
VTOL - Very Trashed On Landing
zHurk777
VBWOTM. VeryBigWasteOfTaxpayerMoney: description of the F35 program.
PsySne
This comment isn't appreciated nearly enough.
acetothermus
That'll probably buff right out.
zHurk777
With a $50,000,000 buffer.
shameofslate
I came here to say this
backrideup9
I think he still landed in the explosion zone.
HenryLongfellowIII
They might learn some things from the accident to tweak the ejection seat behavior.
MacklinBurtMacklinFBI
This is why we don't have healthcare
Johnsky
Could have gone worse... Could have gone better.
loopdesigns
Coulda been raining.
RacecarIsRacecarBackwards
Yeah, could have been a F-104 Starfighter...
Johnsky
Those planes were flying coffins.
RacecarIsRacecarBackwards
But really cool as well!
Johnsky
Oh yeah, no doubting that. They looked cool as hell.
BallsackHippo
Comrade Dyatlov's school of thought. Not great but not terrible.
congressionalbitch
PrinceOfWhales
Pucker factor must have been through the roof before pulling the ejector handles.
GadenKerensky
Whenever an F-35 crashes, there's always a flood of comments, always the same, talking about how bad it is, as if the F-35 is alone in fault
FoxGodRecords
DOT&E say it's a piece of shit. The Air Force wants its replacement as soon as possible. So does the Navy.
phuzz00
The F-35B is the best VTOL jet in the world. Not that there's any others to compare it to since they stopped making Harriers.
RatFromADifferentSewer
I just want the F16 to be phased out by 6th generation aircraft already
GadenKerensky
No. It must become chonkier.
somnif
RT and Pierre Sprey did an amazing job of convincing folks the F35 was garbage. It's rather amazing how well memes work as propaganda.
GadenKerensky
That they did. The F-35 isn't flawless, but a bit of aviation history and you know it's not the worst.
zHurk777
The F35 program is an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money. It will NEVER achieve any of the claimed cost savings.
crespomodesto
ejection seat works great though, props to camera man
Hotjoe1991
Don't give him a prop I think he does just fine with a real camera.
somethingsomethingwittyhere
Also, we're clearly seeing a turbojet.
MadeYouLookAgain
From a total lay persons point of view it seems like the distance the ejection seat sent him would have been insufficient if the plane ?no?
crespomodesto
you wanna be upwind of an explosion
MadeYouLookAgain
Okay. Now do you want to comment on what I said instead of that rando piece of advice?
crespomodesto
I might break international laws if I provided insight
MadeYouLookAgain
You’re soooo cool!
SadToSay
An important thing to note is ejection seats put incredible stress on the pilots body quite often resulting in serious spinal fractures->
SadToSay
Increasing launch velocity to obtain furthrer distance could be disastrous. In the air it could get a lot more distance.
MadeYouLookAgain
Yeah. They also could fall into a ball of flame.
MadeYouLookAgain
And like, stop being alive.
whatIdontknowcouldfillawarehouse
The what I thought. He's gonna get sucked into the engine
fformulaa
Whole episode looks like a scene from a video game where the physics fails and the models rigidbody goes wonky
madwookie
The Kraken and Clang really do exist!
EccentricNut
"If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing." -Chuck Yeager
LesserMinionofChaos
I’m no aeronautical engineer, buuuut technically he did not, erm….walk… away from that landing.
WeylandYutaniCorp
As a former fully qualified AF avionics tech. That aircraft will also NOT be flying the next day. or the next. or the next...
EzraFell
Yeah, he also did what.... like 7-10 million USD in damage you think?
zHurk777
The F-35 is a MASSIVE BOONDOGGLE. What a waste. I'd rather spend the money on healthcare.
Surullian
Doubly so if you're test piloting unproven technology like Chuck.
Bonchoman
Chuck Yeager is the reason why pilots talk the way they do on coms
ARLawrence
Sometimes I just shake me head. There was a kc135 callsign “Ruff” the other day, he would bark when he called tower
imadethisaccounttotellyouthis
Ad a non pilot,I will absolutely sound like the jet pack guys from red alert 2, if I ever fly.
frostyTunak
Oh, dis is nice coat. ACKnowledged
122andan8th
Rubber shoes in motion!
imadethisaccounttotellyouthis
It will be a silent... spring...
Lanaux
Rid'en Hiiigh
RedAlertDesolator
I am contractually obligated to upvote this comment.
Erdanya
That seemed a little excessive... but hey, the pilot is worth more than the.. *checks airframe cost*.. ohhh....
MikeyOhno
$400,000* btw
Returned
It’s cheaper than a new boeing 767.
prettydumb
no way to know if that plane isnt going to explode if youre inside, im sure it was based on the increasing warnings blaring
Bonchoman
Maybe he felt a bit too tall
tasteslikechaos
Lolhe did everything he could to regain control of the aircraft. Once he determined he totally lost the aircraft training kicks in to eject
tasteslikechaos
Better to 0-0 eject and have a bumpy ride then potentially burn to death.
LuciusNeedful
The cost of training a pilot is about 10Mil. That plane is 35Mil. Mind you, that plane does not gather experience. The pilot does.
Flechet
and that's for a "standard" USAF combat pilot IIRC very very few can qualify on that plane so the plane might be cheaper. also
Flechet
can pop a new plane out in a few months, pilot will take ~25 years
LuciusNeedful
Yup. In WWII RAF was not running out of planes. Heck, the Doolittle raid plan was to ditch the aircraft. Only one of 16 B25s landed.
HenryLongfellowIII
$101.3 million according to breakingdefense.com.
OmnesMundiLardum
Total cost of ownership vs item purchase price
CSlice06
Nobody would have been surprised if that thing exploded and/or burst into flames.
monkeyfly
Pilot definitely made the right call. It went wrong and they tried to recover. Put it in as safe a position as they could and then looked/
monkeyfly
After themselves. Couldn't have done anything else at that point but put themselves in danger.
pettingmycatwhileipoo
The time and training of a pilot shouldn't be overlooked. Honestly not sure of the comparison but people should be worth more. I hope. :}
servingmytimeinusersub
But isn't it super traumatic on the pilot? I read somewhere that they can only have 1 or 2 ejections for medical purposes.
erbiumyttriumytterbium
Time and training of pilot is worth much more. MUCH more.
altxatu
Can’t put a price tag in experience
MickeyCallahan
Replacement cost of an experienced pilot is about $10m, replacement cost of the plane is about $35m.
flarflarf
real low speed crashes like this can be repairable, idk if this one is or not
shadowofacrow
This is, but its still a lot of work and not cheap.
jiynxed
Most likely repairable.
Zardif
I doubt it will be. It was undergoing QA tests and hadn't be transferred to the government yet. It'll be disassembled and they'll have to
Zardif
figure out what went wrong.
BonzuPippinpaddleopsicopolisTHETHIRD
It's going back to depot and may be at least a year before it's back in the fight.
nopo
i could understand a month or two, but a full year?
BonzuPippinpaddleopsicopolisTHETHIRD
They're going to have to go over the entirety of the airframe for microfractures and other issues, they'll make sure it's 100% good.
jiynxed
I know a guy can have it in the air next week if you're not picky and don't ask questions
Imgerruinedimger
A human life is always worth more than the vehicle. I'm not dying to save Uncle Sam money on an already bloated defense budget...
FlintNorth44
You are absolutely right. However, the US govt. doesn't share your sentiment.
agonarch
Yeah they don't care about what it's worth, they care about what it would cost to replace.
apollo1kitten1
And some cant be bought one by one. The f35 had to bought by 5 or 6 at once in the 90's
machmach
skogkatt
Failure of forward lift fan.
Donaldbain
Ohhh chute!!!
FairfaxJack
Dude…. everything after the question mark is irrelevant: https://twitter.com/houstonairw/status/1603469769407139842?
Arenlor
Also, nitter.net or another instance.
NicolasKevinMac
Heh. I had the opposite reaction; I don't need to go to twitter, but would like to read the source article that OP started with: ref_url=
NicolasKevinMac
https://news.usni.org/2022/12/15/f-35b-joint-strike-fighter-crashes-in-texas
WellWellWellLookWhoItIs
The question mark itself is unnecessary as well.
FairfaxJack
Yeah, but that's a good dividing line that people can recognize
Uselesstoy
I was always told that a pilot only gets 2 lifetime ejections before they hafta retire. It compresses ur spine permanently by a half inch.
tounushi
There's also a rumor conscripts can't shoot more than 3 APILAS in a lifetime, because of microfractures to the skeleton. 3rd shot kills ya.
Onlyonerowing
I hope they're still tall enough to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl. Losing that on top of everything else would be devastating.
iananimated
That's bullshit - Danny Devito is up to 28 and still going.
waspinatorrulez
That might be a polite way of saying "Hey, you crashed or got shotdown twice, so we don't trust you with a plane anymore."
weidermeijer
“You’re too short to be a pilot… now.”
ChillaAquila
Does that explain Tom Cruise?
weidermeijer
How many times did he eject? Six or seven?
tomatoboy
FormerlySable
They have to give up flying, but they don’t have to retire. (Source: retired fighter pilot father, whose takeoffs equaled his landings.)
AdrianDunne
The man you should really fear is the guy with more landings than takeoffs.
quadraspaz1
Hey the pilot in the vid has equal take offs to landings. He just had a little flourish at the end of the landing
TurduckenMcNugget
Your call sign was Sable I take it? How'd you end up with it?
FormerlySable
It’s strictly my Imgur “call sign.” Dad & bro were the pilots. I’m a teacher. ?
sphericalworld
That’s a helluva stat at the end there.
tomatoboy
It really depends and some pilots have ejected more than twice. There was an A-7 pilot who did three in a few years.
Uselesstoy
makes sense. I'm sure its dictated by the individual. Worked on F/A-18s myself. Never asked an actual pilot, just heard it from other techs.
tomatoboy
The model of ejection seat, the circumstances of the ejection, the landing under chute, and the pilot’s anatomy all play a role.
PimpinKen
So being a non plane fan, was this a vtol landing that got messed up or some trick with the eyes?
tomatoboy
Absolutely a VTOL landing that got messed up.
FormerlySable
Do you know that pilot’s name? I ask because he might’ve known my father, who flew them, too.
tomatoboy
Sadly, no. I know it was an A-7E, the story was relayed by a David Tussey, and one happened on the Lexington. Two were during quals and…
tomatoboy
…one was during operations in the Arabian Sea.
FormerlySable
Oh, a Navy A-7. My father was Air Force, so he probably didn’t know him.
tomatoboy
Yeah, and I suspect that played a role. I’m betting the USAF would pull a pilot who lost two planes. The Navy and Marines are a tad more…
fnoigy
Wow cool, we just saw the destruction of ... The entire state's education budget...
snotrocketscience
Nah, a f35 is like $400m tops and even a stupid state like AL spends a few billion on education. It's at least a few schools though.
SherMattLockSmith
Nah, little flames, no explosion, most of the rather expensive electronics can be salvaged. The airframe is a loss tho.
ICannotSanctionURBuffoonery
To be fair, it's a VERY stupid state... Not that that's actually the children's fault.
Sleepingpanda1260
And the Brass wants to replace the Holy Brrrrrrt with that POS? The only response
FoxGodRecords
At least the BRRRT can do CAS. The F-35A still can't.
tetrisisunrealistic
Look, I love the A10 as much as the next armchair pilot, but its not as good as its made out by every DCS kiddy and the reformers.
Stanistani
In peer combat, that plane is skeet.
barnwolf
Ya, brass is funny about stuff like that. They prefer their planes to shoot things instead of the other way around.
SherMattLockSmith
Stop glorifying this colossal mistake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBzNKS-1ztU it's engineering is insane, sure, but it is not the (1)
SherMattLockSmith
(2) Godsend that you think it is.
TheCaptain00
And the massively overbudget, under-performing, under-production wonder blunder is of a corruption scandal is??
SherMattLockSmith
You described both the A-10 and the F-35 so IDK what point your are trying to make....
TheCaptain00
Simply that the 35 is not a godsend. The A-10 needs replacing but the I don't see the stealth banana being a cost effective replacement.
GadenKerensky
The Holy BRRRRT is not as good as you think. A great deal of mythos and propaganda surrounds that plane.
barrocoyote
I know you're probably joking, but the A10 is a meme and the is not a plane of the future. F-35 is light years better at everything
TheCaptain00
Which is why they're introducing a cropduster for light attack. Those ever important light years of technological progress.
WorkerLurker
That’s a relic, would rather not go full Russia on air superiority.
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GadenKerensky
I mean, the B-52 is older, and the M2 is older still. The difference is, the A-10 was not so great when it first went into service.
WorkerLurker
And I’ve cracked knuckles on those things.
SilverNicktail
I don't get it. Why would you eject? You're down, you cut the engines, plane's not on fire.
GadenKerensky
Because these decisions are done within a matter of seconds and hindsight isn't something a lot of pilots are willing to wait for.
Pepperpete123
You don't get it because you aren't the dude in the aircraft that just got thrown around like a rag doll. Your sitting on your couch.
whatsisname
That's easy to say when it's over and done with. If that plane burst into flames instead, it would have surprised no one. Ejecting was still
whatsisname
the right course of action for the situation.
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tomatoboy
F-35B has an auto eject mode, it’s not yet clear if he ejected or if the plane ejected him.
thomn8r
Technically, all planes have an auto-eject mode
tomatoboy
Regardless, from where the pilot is seated it wouldn’t be immediately apparent if there was a fire.
tomatoboy
And only with hindsight is it apparent the aircraft stopped moving after ejection, the pilot couldn’t know that.