Hey guys
I have never really posted anything on this forum but I have some neat info a few of you might take interest in.
Last night I got to go to the Lockheed Martin plant in Ft. Worth Texas and fly the F-35 SIM. That thing has one baaaad cockpit! To start off with there are two huge MFD's. They are so close together that they really just look like one 20" wide screen tv. It is all touch screen which is cool as hell and each pilot gets to decide what he wants to see in front of him. Its sort of like windows on any computer. He can have his armament page up when he needs too and then minimize it when he does need it there. That goes for everything! Also if one MFD goes out he can switch it all to the other much like all the modern planes can.
The cockpit also looks naked! There is hardly anything in there! To the left is one small engine start up panel with a few switches and the throttle. The throttle is massive though! It’s so big it’s not even funny. On the right side of the cockpit is the stick and a switch or two. It is no joke that cockpit is clean as hell. I am used to being in an F-16 cockpit so compared to that the F-35 is naked with nothing in it, doesn't look right. My dad (former F-4, F-14 pilot) said that it’s about the same size as an F-14 except the rails are a lot lower. The other odd thing is that they added a canopy bar but there was a reason for that with the thickness of the plexy glass. Another cool thing is that the cockpit opens up backwards now. The pivot point is at the nose of the jet rather then at the back.
The STVOL version is going to be super bad ass too! They made it to where the throttle controls forward and backward movement, the stick is altitude and the rudders pivot left or right. The computer does every now to where it takes a lot of the skill out of it. It will not let you crash more or less (we will see). There is a few other sweet things they did to it that is a big change from the Harrier too!
There is a bunch of other stuff that this plane can do but I am not going to post because I am not sure if it is classified. This plane truely is amazing!!!
Other then that they just got the first F-35 on the floor and are going to stick the engine in it this week. First flight is in Sept...
It was so nice walking up and seeing the first F-35 right next to a half a dozen block 60's. so so nice!
I have never really posted anything on this forum but I have some neat info a few of you might take interest in.
Last night I got to go to the Lockheed Martin plant in Ft. Worth Texas and fly the F-35 SIM. That thing has one baaaad cockpit! To start off with there are two huge MFD's. They are so close together that they really just look like one 20" wide screen tv. It is all touch screen which is cool as hell and each pilot gets to decide what he wants to see in front of him. Its sort of like windows on any computer. He can have his armament page up when he needs too and then minimize it when he does need it there. That goes for everything! Also if one MFD goes out he can switch it all to the other much like all the modern planes can.
The cockpit also looks naked! There is hardly anything in there! To the left is one small engine start up panel with a few switches and the throttle. The throttle is massive though! It’s so big it’s not even funny. On the right side of the cockpit is the stick and a switch or two. It is no joke that cockpit is clean as hell. I am used to being in an F-16 cockpit so compared to that the F-35 is naked with nothing in it, doesn't look right. My dad (former F-4, F-14 pilot) said that it’s about the same size as an F-14 except the rails are a lot lower. The other odd thing is that they added a canopy bar but there was a reason for that with the thickness of the plexy glass. Another cool thing is that the cockpit opens up backwards now. The pivot point is at the nose of the jet rather then at the back.
The STVOL version is going to be super bad ass too! They made it to where the throttle controls forward and backward movement, the stick is altitude and the rudders pivot left or right. The computer does every now to where it takes a lot of the skill out of it. It will not let you crash more or less (we will see). There is a few other sweet things they did to it that is a big change from the Harrier too!
There is a bunch of other stuff that this plane can do but I am not going to post because I am not sure if it is classified. This plane truely is amazing!!!
Other then that they just got the first F-35 on the floor and are going to stick the engine in it this week. First flight is in Sept...
It was so nice walking up and seeing the first F-35 right next to a half a dozen block 60's. so so nice!
