Unfinished F-35 puts test pilots in hot seat

[unhappycamper]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/plane-633747-test-says.html



Unfinished F-35 puts test pilots in hot seat
By WILLIAM D'URSO / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 3, 2014 Updated: 10:24 p.m.

Hovering above the landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base, Colonel Mark Massaro could feel the rudder in his F-35 Lightning II lock up. Yellow words splashing across a 35-inch, touch-sensitive screen told him the situation was bad, but not dire.

That message was reinforced by the engineers from nearby Ridley Mission Control, whose voices crackled through Massaro’s $380,000, custom-fit helmet. The test pilot eased his F-35 to the ground.

~snip~

"We’re doing all of it at once: We’re still designing the airplane, we’re testing the airplane, we’re still building the airplane, we’re fielding the airplane ... and eventually, we’re going to build a global support posture over the next four years that covers the globe,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan, the F-35 Program Executive Officer, told about 200 Pentagon and defense industry officials at the National Press Club in downtown Washington on Wednesday.

The program has been plagued by a series of costly delays and setbacks. The latest and most embarrassing came in July, when a fire in a Pratt & Whitney engine forced the Pentagon to ground the entire F-35 fleet. That forced the cancellation of the F-35’s planned worldwide debut at the Farnborough Air Show in London.

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The definition of 'Design As We Go' or DWAG:

"We’re doing all of it at once: We’re still designing the airplane, we’re testing the airplane, we’re still building the airplane, we’re fielding the airplane ...." sez Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan.