343 - Flying and Testing the F-35

Guests: Tucker Hamilton (ssp.mit.edu/people/tucker-hamilton) Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lig…) is going to be more or less what the F-16 and F-18 are today: the backbone of the US and NATO land and sea-based air forces. It is a multi-role fighter, and one of its versions has the capability to take off with a very short roll and land vertically. Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton is a test pilot who has flown all three versions of the jet. In this episode we talk about flying this fifth-gen fighter and about some aspects of the testing program. For more F-35 and Cinco check out episode 78 (fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/078-f-35-ligh…) of the Fighter Pilot Podcast (fighterpilotpodcast.com).

• Cinco on Instagram (instagram.com/cincohamilton)

• Cinco on TikTok (tiktok.com/@cincohamilton)

Introduction with Tucker Hamilton
00:01:56
Lockheed Martin F-35 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lig…) | F-35A -> Conventional CTOL (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CTOL) | F-35B -> Short takeoff and vertical landing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOVL) | F-35C -> Carrier-based (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier-based_aircraft)

Flying the F35
00:11:23
Fully Fly-by-wire (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-by-wire) | HOTAS "hands on throttle-and-stick" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOTAS) | F-35 Cockpit from simulator (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lig…) | Distributed Aperture System (DAS) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/AAQ-37) | ILS Instrument Landign System (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_landing_system) | Radius fight (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_fighter_maneuvers#…)

Testing the F-35
00:36:53
Testing at Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lig…) | Edwards Air Force Base (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_Air_Force_Base) | CAS Calibrated Airspeed (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibrated_airspeed) | Probe-and-drouge Air Refueling (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling#Probe-a…)

Noble Eagle Mission
01:03:57
Operation Noble Eagle (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Noble_Eagle) | Temporary Flight Restriction (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Regulat…) | Cessna 172 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172) | Tail Number (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_registration)