I never liked night flying at Edwards, so the approach of slowly transitioning from twilight makes a lot of sense. With that big, empty lakebed all around the approach end it's like you're descending into a black hole. You don't even have the minimal cues of a ship's wake as a reference below you. It's just black. The good news: sounds as though the cockpit lighting system is working as advertised.
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/01/19/photos-f-35-conducts-first-night-flight-as-tests-continue/
The bad news may be at another link, with radar and other mission systems being less mature than the program had planned. My money still goes on software immaturity as the culprit, but what do I know?
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/01/20/report-notes-f-35-testing-program-has-not-delivered-effective-and-consistent-radar-performance/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to join the discussion! Do you know something more about a recent flight test? Jot a line and let us know how it went! Think you know what will be coming next? Tell us what to expect! (Comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.)