'There are certain weather conditions we haven't tested yet, so we can't fly there yet. We had to find a way to fly instrument conditions without flying in certain kinds of weather. The creative solutions the team came up with were to fly over the water and remote areas over land where there isn't cultural lighting to provide a horizon for the pilot,' said Vitt.
'This is just another example of what happens here all the time, the ITF finds a way to accomplish the testing and get the data we need to overcome the various hurdles we see every day. It's just fantastic.'
While still in the early development phase, the ITF has used the night flights as an opportunity to identify areas of improvement for the mission systems to better serve the warfighter. As the ITF successfully wraps up the night flights, the team's input will ultimately result in a safer, more capable weapon system.
This is not the first series of night flights for the F-35 ITF. In December 2011, a flight test only clearance was granted, so the test team could get an early look at the aircraft's refueling lights and assess night air refueling capabilities. Nighttime aerial refueling took place for the first time in early 2012, demonstrating the F-35's ability to safely and adequately perform the task.
Wow. Twelve-and-a-half years after signing the contract.
No rush or anything.
2 comments:
"We had to find a way to fly instrument conditions without flying in certain kinds of weather."
It sometimes feels as though we are all living in a satirical novel, and statements like the one above would fit in beautifully to that context.
In the real world of engineering, it absolutely is required to get the aircraft out into actual weather to find out what the weather may do to the instruments. Including unforeseen interactions.
Air France and Airbus found that out the hard way when AF dropped an A330 in the Atlantic, losing 228 lives, after a sequence of events that began with pitot icing and resultant unreliable airspeed indications.
Isn't this kind of symptomatic for the whole project?
Construct the plane in a simulator, build the plane ASAP, sell it and first after that perform simulated test and try to solve every errata with software revisions.
As if it was a movie they was shooting where you fix stuff in post production.
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