Article

2007-02-01 Science & Technology

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-02-01 08:29|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Not true...(BTW, that is a whole lot more sedate and printable than the way I originally wrote it.)

Here's what happened: the canopy actuator system failed. It happens, and especially on a new plane (all the birds at Langley are Batch 1 ships)you can expect the occasional problem. The pilot hit the handle, the system it was attached to didn't work. There is no way to access the actuator system except through the cockpit, so the guys were faced with a problem. The only other way to get it off the plane was to jettison it, which could have caused injury to the pilot and even more damage to the airframe - the jettison system simply severs all the mechanical linkages and the slipstream pretty much does the rest. Just sitting there on the ground means the canopy would have probably only gone a few feet in the air with no way to know if it would land IN the cockpit and injure the pilot, or on top of the plane and ding the airframe and RAM coating. Nobody wanted to cut that canopy, but it was teh only logical choice.
BTW, Lockheed is IIRC paying for the titanium flaws.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2007-02-01 10:45|| 2007-02-01 10:45|| Front Page Top

#2 Lockheed Martin's F-22 spokesman, ~~Diamond~~
Joe Quimby, did not return telephone calls.

Posted by JerseyMike 2007-02-01 10:45|| 2007-02-01 10:45|| Front Page Top

#3 You want handles with that?

Posted by RWV 2007-02-01 10:47|| 2007-02-01 10:47|| Front Page Top

23:54 Eric Jablow
23:44 CrazyFool
23:39 Barbara Skolaut
23:34 Barbara Skolaut
23:24 Sock Puppet of Doom
23:22 Chuck Simmins
23:17 Rob Crawford
23:09 Chuck Simmins
23:08 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:51 Chuck Simmins
22:37 RD
22:31 RD
22:29 gromgoru
22:29 mhw
22:26 RD
22:21 Gloque Elmang4914
22:14 BA
22:14 Gloque Elmang4914
22:07 BA
21:55 JDB
21:50 JDB
21:43 gromgoru
21:41 Bill Clinton
21:39 Frank G