Hovering slowly and precisely along the taxiway I couldn’t help but be reminded of the time I flew a Harrier T.Mk10. I’d thought that the Harrier was an incredible flying machine, but the F-35 is something else!
In fact, as soon as I sat down onto the Martin-Baker Mk16 ejection seat it was immediately apparent that the F-35’s cockpit is unlike that of any other fighter I’ve flown. Of course, I should qualify that observation by making it clear that although I’ve been lucky enough to fly about a dozen different fighters and fighter trainers, powered by piston, turboprop and jet-engines, I am not a fighter pilot.
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Allan
says:The last ever unmanned fighter eh, I doubt it. Technology hasn`t yet got to the point of eradicating the pilot from the cockpit. It seems that history is repeating from the fifties when manned aircraft were going to be superseded by missiles and unmanned fighters. Here we are a half century later and we still have humans in the cockpit.
Simon
says:Can you perform maneuvers that would be considered ‘bad’ by the computer?
Is the computer limiting your potential movements sub-optimal in a jet fighter? Obviously you dont want to make a hard landing or a stall – but maybe they’d be necessary at points?
Bob
says:No, the only thing you can do without he computer stoping you is eject
PAUL
says:I’m just worried about all those lines of software codes!! Throw in a couple more good measure!!
nino
says:computer code will be the weakest link
Arlene
says:I couldn’t resist commenting. Veryy well written!