Latest news about F-35 Vertical landing-Accomplished!
One can only imagine the great sense of accomplishment that Graham Tomlinson- the pilot of the aircraft that accomplished the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Vertical Landing. This took place on the 18th of March, so very recently and this was also the first attempt by the team to vertically land with one of the three F-35 aircrafts that are being used for the tests that are being conducted for the research program for the US Military. The program is – Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) and research has been carried out for a long time now, Tomlinson was one of the leaders of this team, who was also a retired pilot of the Royal Air Force of UK.
It was supposed to be only an initial experiment but fortunately for the team, it was a successful one although there will be further tests carried out and routine practices held so that this vertical landing can be perfected with the aircraft and consequently in the near future this feature of the most superior Supersonic Stealth aircraft in the world can be fully functional and add to all the other features of the aircraft.
This experiment itself did not last very long, that proves the short take off capabilities of the aircraft- Tomlinson has been recorded to have flown the aircraft for less than fifteen minutes after take-off after which he hovered over the air field for about a minute right before he attempted landing the plane in the landing pad that was only ninety five square meters in area. The landing was without any faults but this will have to be perfected before the country can make use of the vertical landing facilities for the Navy especially where the aircraft will be able to land in the most extreme landing conditions and constricted spaces.
