BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

Maybe skip the "Five Alarm" chili next time? Officials are still tight-lipped about what caused an engine fire that caused the JSF to miss its international debut last month. The incident has almost certainly resulted in the loss of a quarter-billion-dollar  airframe.  All that has been released so far is that " excessive rubbing " inside the engine was the root cause.  What is not know is whether or not this is an inherent design flaw, the result of flawed maintenance, or simply a fluke occurrence.  USMC Commandant, General James Amos, has dismissed the mishap as "one-off" . Despite this nonchalant view towards the JSF's self immolation, the F-35 has undergone strict flight restrictions .  These have been relaxed somewhat, but it is enough to slow down testing that is already far behind schedule. Now comes word that Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of the F-35's F135 engine, is close to developing a fix . The need for a desig...

It seems there have been some conflicting reports regarding the JSF's flight status.  Contrary to my previous post reporting that all Lightning IIs were still flying after a F-35A caught fire on take off, it turns out that JSF fleet has indeed been placed on the no-fly list. The issue behind the confusion?  Wording.  Technically, the JSF has not been officially grounded, but F-35A and F-35B flights are now considered "suspended ".  According to Breaking Defense:   Readers who may be wondering why you haven’t seen the word grounded should know that grounding has a specific meaning for the military and these aircraft have not been grounded — yet. Grounded means the plane won’t fly until further notice or the specific conditions that led to the plane being banned from flight is found and fixed. So far they’re expecting to get the planes back in the sky as soon as they have some idea as to the fire’s cause. Part of the ambiguity comes from the fact that th...

It looks as if a slight case of spontaneous combustion is not enough to ground the JSF fleet for very long.  After its second grounding  (however brief) this month, the F-35 is still  flying. While the cause of the fire is still not known, authorities are confident (or desperate) enough to continue flying the JSF.  This is good news for those looking forward to seeing the JSF make its first trans-Atlantic appearance in the United Kingdom next month.