One thing's for certain: all that "All-Aspect Situational Awareness" gear better work - cause the dude driving this a/c won't be able to see jack behind him. Apparently part of the resaon for the F-35 not having an F-16 type raised canopy was the placement of the fans/blowers immediately behind the cockpit for the "B" VSTOL version going to the Marines, RAF & a few others.
One thing's for certain: all that "All-Aspect Situational Awareness" gear better work - cause the dude driving this a/c won't be able to see jack behind him. Apparently part of the resaon for the F-35 not having an F-16 type raised canopy was the placement of the fans/blowers immediately behind the cockpit for the "B" VSTOL version going to the Marines, RAF & a few others.
One thing's for certain: all that "All-Aspect Situational Awareness" gear better work - cause the dude driving this a/c won't be able to see jack behind him. Apparently part of the reason for the F-35 not having an F-16 type raised canopy was the placement of the fans/blowers immediately behind the cockpit for the "B" VSTOL version going to the Marines, RAF & a few others.
Didn't the Harrier get a cockpit redesign for that exact reason? It seems like I heard that somewhere like at the museum or the History channel.
I think some of you are making too much of any potential 'viz' problems the F-35 may/may not have in the rear quadrant ...
For example: I never had any problems lookin' ''over my shoulder'' when flying this bird w/ a 'big hump' behind the cockpit ....
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Images by A4sForever
You DO REALIZE, of course, that one of the cornerstones of flyin', fightin', and survivin' in the ACM/'Dogfight' arena is keeping your opponent(s) IN FRONT OF YOUR WING-LINE ???
Of course, when you're saddled w/ more than one opponent -- you are looking fore AND aft (actually -- your head is on a swivel) as you might have to 'play' one or two of your opponents off the other(s) to determine when to break off the one you're tracking/shooting and which 'new nose' to honor as you bend it back around and engage a 'new' nose in your one V many engagement/furball ...
Hope that makes sense ... I guess you had to be there ...![]()
Shit, A-4s: that's because the A-4 turns inside just about anything else it might fly against. In the F-4, they should have put a rotating ejection seat for the RIO to sit on because 90% of the time (if his stick was dumb enough to turn horizontally against an A-4), the RIO is unstrapped, turned completely around and calling "6 o'clock at a half mile, turn, roll . . . do something fast!"
:icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol: .... I love it.
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