Marine pilot loses command after ejecting from F-35B that kept flying

Re:Marine pilot loses command after ejecting from F-35B that... by dotancohen on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @04:44AM (#42114131)

He was transitioning the aircraft from mode 4 (STOL) to mode 1 (normal flight) when he made the decision to bail. The wings were not generating lift - without computer control the aircraft could have rolled severely.

Pilots eject when the wings are level. If he was facing the possibility of severe uncontrolled roll (or believed he was) then ejecting now before the roll was a good call. At least so far as his wife and children are concerned.

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Re:Marine pilot loses command after ejecting from F-35B that... by nradov on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @09:50AM (#42115861)

The wings were generating lift and not stalled. Changing the flight control mode doesn't imply that the aircraft was in vertical flight.

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Re:Marine pilot loses command after ejecting from F-35B that... by dotancohen on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @10:46AM (#42116429)

Going from mode 4 to mode 1 on the F-35B (I don't know about the AV-8 family) has a significant portion of the flight below stall speed. I don't think that we know at what portion of the flight this happened.

And that's an insignificant detail in the rest of the post anyway, a nuance that does not invalidate the rest of the points made in the post you are replying to.

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Re:Marine pilot loses command after ejecting from F-35B that... by nradov on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @10:54AM (#42116531)

We do know at what portion of the flight this happened. It's right there in the report. The airplane was in stable forward flight, not stalled. You did not make any valid points.

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