F-35 Pilot: Forget Drones, the Skies Still Belong to Fighter Pilots | FerrariChat

F-35 Pilot: Forget Drones, the Skies Still Belong to Fighter Pilots

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by NYC Fred, Jun 17, 2021.

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  1. NYC Fred

    NYC Fred F1 Veteran
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    Fred C
    #1 NYC Fred, Jun 17, 2021
    https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/f-35-pilot-forget-drones-the-skies-still-belong-to-fighter-pilots

    "As a fighter pilot, I have a lot of respect for what Elon Musk has accomplished. His ability to not adhere to dogma has allowed him to revolutionize two industries through SpaceX and Tesla. Much like a physicist, he relies on first-principle science to solve problems, which allows him to see things from a fresh perspective. However, he is wrong about the fighter jet era being over."

    Hasard Lee is a fighter pilot currently flying the F-35 Panther, the United States’ newest 5th Generation stealth fighter. Prior to flying the F-35, he flew the F-16 Viper, including 82 combat missions. In his latest role, he was the Chief of F-35 Training Systems, developing innovative techniques to train future fighter pilots.

    Hasard is a writer and speaker for Sandboxx. He also runs a YouTube channel that receives over 10 million views per month.
     
  2. Jaguar36

    Jaguar36 Formula Junior

    Nov 8, 2010
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    #2 Jaguar36, Jun 17, 2021
    While I agree that he's right for now, I think this would change near instantly if we ever got into a real fight with a country even remotely as capable. Either we'd pull manned fighters out just because we don't want to risk lives, or our adversary would flood the air with drones that may only be 10% or even 1% as capable, but could be mass produced so quickly that they'd win with pure numbers.

    Look at what happened even way back in WW2, the Germans didn't have the pilots to risk bombing London, so they built the V-1. Sure the V-1 was pretty ineffective, but they built like 10,000 of em and were able to do considerable damage.

    We also have the issue that even if we theoretically could produce a drone today that could match an F-35, due to our defense acquisition process it would take 10-20 years before it actually was put in service.
     
  3. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #3 energy88, Jan 5, 2022
  4. BJK

    BJK F1 Rookie

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    #4 BJK, Jan 5, 2022
    .
    "I'm very surprised the emergency gear down systems didn't work, or weren't used," he said." :confused: hmmm ......

    .
     
  5. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 energy88, Jan 6, 2022
    I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. But can't completely rule out amnesia!

    Probably something stupid like Maintenance not plugging a wiring harness back in they might have worked on.
     
    BJK likes this.
  6. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Terry H Phillips
    #6 tazandjan, Jan 6, 2022
    On our F-111s the Dash-one had a very complicated procedure to go through if the gear would not retract. We all said screw that, if the gear would not retract, we would bring it back for maintenance to fix. No telling whether it would come back down after doing all that stuff. F-111 emergency gear extension just unlocked the main gear, and it fell down from sheer weight. Took a while to lock.
     
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