Jetex,
Last time I checked Bill Sweetman was a journalist / aviation author (and usually known for writing mass-market trite of little technical rigour - in my opinion), not an engineer, scientist or test pilot involved in the F-35 programme.
His figure for the speed at which wing lift will make a difference is woefully wrong, his assumption of touch down speed is wrong, his assumptions of the touchdown conditions are wrong, but he did manage to guess right that you'll have brakes to stop you with. Given his great knowledge and expertees, he doesn't say why someone would ever want or need to bolter - I'd be interested to hear what they are (how many Harrier mates have ever had to 'bolter' from an RVL, and if so, why?).
SRVL is still a UK only investigation/development, so you'd be hard-pushed to call 'intensive program action'. You point-blank can't SRVL onto an LHD/LHA as the deck's too small.
He must be very smart though to figure out that running an engine at or near full power will reduce the engine life. You can safely say that about any engine for goodness sakes. Clearly though this will be news to Pratt & Whitney and they won't have thought of it. Oh hang on, I think they might have designed an engine or two before. They might have even read the specification that they're designing the F135 to that requires thousands of hours of engine life.
I give up though, in future I concur that we should let Bill Sweetman and the PPrune cynics club design our airplanes, engines and operating procedures as they know best.
Toodle pip,
Single Seat, Single Engine, The Only Way To Fly
Last edited by SSSETOWTF; 8th Aug 2008 at 17:07.