Never Fear The Marines Are Here (could not get the 'school' perhaps a typo/misunderstanding by author?)
WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD James Deboer Combat Aircraft Journal March 2022 Volume 22 No 03
The USMC’s ‘Black Knights’ [VMFA-314] have made history by being the first USMC unit to deploy with the F-35C aboard an aircraft carrier. James Deboer reports on their work-up to this great milestone....
“...Landing challenges
The squadron was in the top three for landing grades during its time out at the carrier in July, which is great considering only about a third of the pilots had prior carrier experience.
The Black Knights are happy to be on the ship with some of the newest technology including systems that make it much easier to land on it. Major Ahern told CAJ [Combat Aircraft Journal]: “The ship is obviously challenging flying, but this aircraft is very stable and it’s not a stressful jet to land on the boat, whereas the FA-18C could be.
”We have Delta flight path and that basically couples the flight controls and the motor to the same control logic where you get instantaneous, glideslope response. Even if the jet motor has to school[?], it’s very, very stable. And when you land at the ship, the rate of descent is based on a glide slope of three and a half degrees. So just a little bit steeper than like your normal airliner that’s going to land at an international airport. So that’s how the glide slope is set up. So it’s just way lower stress and honestly a lot safer. The boarding rates have been really high. It’s very rare that someone doesn’t catch a wire, and the drama has kind of gone, which is nice”....”
Last edited by SpazSinbad; 3rd Feb 2022 at 23:44.
Reason: usual