Originally Posted by
Finningley Boy
I've no idea I'm sure you'll be utterly surprised to hear. I simply asked if there was a trend affecting the B and not the other two, it could be a common fault or it could be simple bad luck! That's the extent of my technical knowledge, but you sound like you have far greater insight! Could it be that there is a problem, yet to be determined, affecting the drive shaft for the great rotating dustbin which hoovers up internal capacity and re-shapes the airframe? I don't know.
FB
Finningley,
May I offer the following observations?
Yes, it's quite possible that there is a problem with the drive shaft. Even after the (literally) tens of thousands of hours of test rig work, full scale tests, testing of actual production hardware spanning tens of thousands of operating cycles, yes, it's possible that there is a problem with the lift fan drive shaft. Or not. Or there may be a problem with the huge 'dustbin' at the aft end of the aircraft that burns highly flammable fuel and runs at incredibly high speed. Or not. The lift fan certainly does occupy internal capacity. And yes, it reshapes the airframe. A bit like the weapons bays, and almost every other bit of equipment in the aircraft of whatever variant. But if you have a requirement for a STOVL capability, you need a powered lift system. This will impact the design. It's called a design trade off.
This is the first F-35 lost, after nearly 12 years and well over 100,000 flying hours. That's not a bad achievement, and British engineers (and pilots) have played a huge part in it. Might be nice, once in a while, to acknowledge that.
Once again, sincere best regards to the pilot, I hope that the excellent UK sourced Martin Baker seat has done its job, as MB seats have invariably done for many years. And best regards to all those on the programme who will now be working flat out to find out what caused this crash.
Engines