'Full-scale' F-35 training to start in 'fall'

I expected that an article with this title would indicate real student pilots are flying at Eglin.

Not so.

Some funny quotes though:

“The Fifth-generation aircraft that we have in the Air Force today and will have in the near future — the F-35 — cannot train in realistic conditions anywhere but in the sim.”

From the evidence, I agree.

Then there is this:

"We, the collective United States of America, can no longer afford to pay $90,000 an hour to fly an aircraft in live training,” Bakke said."

Does he know something we don't? If he is right, we can't have an Air Force shaped around the F-35 disaster.

Heat, real stress, discomfort, g-warm up exercises, real g's. More stress management.

I refer to something we may have thought about before:

Their most faithful disciples were the two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover. These two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments. They were unfailing in their attendance at the secret meetings in the barn, and led the singing of 'Beasts of England', with which the meetings always ended.

USAF announces Luke AFB as preferred alternative for F-35 operational training

USAF has named Luke Air Force Base, Arizona as the preferred alternative for USAF F-35 operational training. This could involve up to 6 F-35 squadrons and up to 144 aircraft.

Assuming everything works out for Luke, after USAF pilots get their initial training at Eglin AFB, Florida, they would go on to Luke AFB to get their operational training. From there they would go on to a front-line F-35 squadron.

Currently, the pilot pipeline for the F-35 is suffering delays due to safety issues with current production aircraft for use as initial pilot trainers at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. This means the initial pilot training effort at Eglin is grounded until further notice.

Of interest, Arizona Senator McCain would naturally be interested in this Luke AFB announcement. McCain is also the lead Republican chair on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).

USAF--F-35 pilot training decision 2013 at the earliest?

The reason for the question mark is that this is the only newspaper with the story. Do the words below mean that a decision on when F-35 flight training will begin will not happen until 2013; at the earliest? The USAF was after all the decision maker on this. The reason F-35 pilot training has not started thus far are technical problems with the jet such as unsafe fuel dumping, lightning issues and some other things.

EGLIN AFB — The limbo in which Eglin Air Force Base’s Joint Strike Fighter training school has been operating since it opened its doors has been extended.

The Air Force plans to reassess the impact of F-35 flight training and has postponed until 2013 at the earliest any decision on where the flight training will take place and which runways will be used.