British F-35 fighter " crash "

[Angry Turnip]

Don`t shoot the messenger, but it seems a British F-35 has come down in the Mediterranean. The pilot has been safely returned to the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

As to if it actually crashed, or had some in flight failure is currently unknown, doubtless the UK Media will have a field day with this, and ask all the wrong and stupid questions.

Sadly the beeb don`t have a Reg Turnhill or a Raymond Baxter, or even Christopher Wain anymore.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59323895

[jasT1981]

Glad to hear pilot is safe.

No doubt the BBC will show footage of a Tornado.

[Sneaky_Nikon]

Hope they have a fully comp policy on it!

This, rather than any specific tech or performance problem is the real issue with operating the F-35, it's frighteningly expensive, to the extent that nations with small fleets may be unwilling to deploy them, or at least deploy them first, when needed. 

[Angry Turnip]

Some UK media reports suggesting some sort of " red plastic cover " was not removed before flight, and the aircraft came down shortly after take-off.
Which leads to the question, why was this item not removed, and why was it not noticed in the pre-flight checks and walk around ?

[jasT1981]

Rain cover is being touted by the daily mail. Not too sure how legit this is, all the basis for it is that a red thing was seen floating afterwards

[Sneaky_Nikon]

If true, someone's career in the Andrew is about to take an interesting turn.

[rookie]

I see sky news have leaked cctv footage from the carrier .https://news.sky.com/story/leaked-footage-shows-moment-british-f35-jet-crashes-into-mediterranean-during-hms-queen-elizabeth-carrier-take-off-12482611

[Angry Turnip]

Strange how the video is recorded from a monitor, could be fake I suppose, quality isn`t great ie extreme glare, which is a bit suspect for a new state of the art ship.

It could very well be a photoshop job, I am not entirely convinced. Some P45`s will be handed out I am sure.

[jasT1981]

Airframe was ZM152 and first flew in June 2019.

https://twitter.com/Justin_Br0nk/status/1467858245255671822

[Angry Turnip]

HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier has returned to Portsmouth, with one F-35 too few.
Maybe they should fit a crash net on the bow like they used to have on some carriers years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-59593047

I notice in this article, it says the aircraft has been recovered, I am not sure if that is correct, last I heard it was located 1 mile down, but as for a recovery, not sure.
One thing is for sure, this incident should never have happened, ground crew and the pilot are supposed to do separate walk arounds to check everything is correct
before any aircraft is signed off for flight.
The cover should easily been spotted, usually these procedures have a 3-way fail safe.
That big vent door behind the cockpit must create some serious drag, what a weird design.

[jasT1981]

Yeah, looks to have been recovered according to the Times, Independent and Daily Mail.

[jasT1981]

The folk at HMS Nelson were feeling mischievous at their Christmas Party.

https://twitter.com/lennylaw/status/1470408676066443269?

[Angry Turnip]

I heard the favourite Royal Navy game recently is " Ker Plunk " , ok I `ll get my coat.

[jasT1981]

Another F35 goes in the water. F35C of the US Navy

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/24/f-35-lightning-ii-has-landing-mishap-on-uss-carl-vinson-in-south-china-sea