343 - Flying and Testing the F-35

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Guests: Tucker Hamilton Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II 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 of the Fighter Pilot Podcast.

• Cinco on Instagram
• Cinco on TikTok

Introduction with Tucker Hamilton

00:01:56

Lockheed Martin F-35 | F-35A -> Conventional CTOL | F-35B -> Short takeoff and vertical landing | F-35C -> Carrier-based

Flying the F35

00:11:23

Fully Fly-by-wire | HOTAS "hands on throttle-and-stick" | F-35 Cockpit from simulator | Distributed Aperture System (DAS) | ILS Instrument Landign System | Radius fight

Testing the F-35

00:36:53

Testing at Wikipedia | Edwards Air Force Base | CAS Calibrated Airspeed | Probe-and-drouge Air Refueling

Noble Eagle Mission

01:03:57

Operation Noble Eagle | Temporary Flight Restriction | Cessna 172 | Tail Number