F-35 engine mishap cause still not known

The root cause of the engine F-35 engine fire/mishap is still unknown but that hasn't stopped the USMC.

The article ends with this:

Early indications pointed to a possible quality problem with one part of the engine, but that finding must still be further corroborated, said one of the sources.

That is not enough evidence to make a flight across the ocean with what are prototype aircraft; as confirmed here (PDF). Hint, look at what defines "milestone-C" in a DOD procurement program. Where is the F-35 on that chart: after over 100 aircraft prototypes have been either delivered or are in production?

The fifth jet they want to take to the airshow is owned by the UK. They have a different rule-book.

Four Marine Corps F-35 B-model jets remain in southern Maryland waiting to leave for Britain. A fifth jet, owned by Britain, is still in Florida.

Strict UK liability laws mean British authorities need additional information before granting flight clearances. If something went wrong, the individual officer who approved the flight could be sued personally, the sources said.

It appears we need some adult leadership in DOD that understands what defines safety after a mishap; what defines unwarranted risk to aircrew and equipment and gambling with our tax-dollars.

In peacetime.

To date, the F-35 has no proven war-fighting capacity.

As an aside, here is one of the lies to Congress that helped them hand over money for this now, failed program.


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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week and the F-35
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie
-F-35's air-to-air ability limited
-F-35 Blocks--2006 and today
-The F-35B design is leaking fuel