![]() ![]() “It’s a small target, but you’re not going very fast. The ship and aircraft both have systems that are constantly communicating with each other, speed, heading, wind direction and other factors. “But the F-35 was designed for the landing operation to be very simple if you follow the correct steps.” “You hear it said, and it really does look like a postage stamp in the ocean,” Ross said. All the jets, helicopters, Ospreys and Marines you need. “Unlike an aircraft carrier, you can take one of these smaller boats, rapidly put it off the coast of ‘Country X’ and say, 'We have fifth-generation airpower in your country tonight,'” Weide said. One of the most obvious differences is the huge lift fan directly behind the cockpit, which allows the jet to hover, takeoff from ships, and land vertically.ĭuring their exchange, all three pilots landed on Navy amphibious warships, which, at approximately 850 feet, are smaller than aircraft carriers, but capable of deploying a variety of aircraft. The F-35B carries less fuel, pulls fewer Gs, carries a different weapons load-out, and has no internal cannon. While similar in cockpit layout, low observable and fifth-generation technology, there are several systems differences, Ross said. ![]() In addition to culture, the jets have their differences too. “They call a two-ship a ‘section’ and a four-ship a ‘division.’ They still use port and starboard and fore and aft and I’m like, ‘which way is that again?’ I still don’t know.” “There’s a lot of unique jargon in any military branch,” Ross said. Within a few months of each other, the pilots went through an initial Air Force F-35A course at Eglin AFB, Fla., then a Marine Corps F-35B course at MCAS Beaufort, S.C., where they also learned a few new words. “It was an opportunity to take pilots of different experiences and train them together in a platform that was designed for multiple services and multiple countries to be interoperable,” Newman said. To transition, Ross, Newman and Weide took advantage of a unique opportunity – an exchange program with the Marine Corps, flying the F-35B Short Takeoff and Vertical landing variant. The Air Force was rapidly filling its pilot slots at Hill Air Force Base, and the Marine Corps needed help filling theirs at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. There were still only two operational F-35 units in the Department of Defense. “The F-16 was my baby, that’s what I grew up loving and wanted to fly, but you see the F-35 come on line and hear about all it can do with stealth and fifth-generation capabilities, and you quickly realize that’s the future,” Weide said. Spencer Weide, were all stationed in Korea and they all decided to transition from the F-16 Fighting Falcon to the F-35A Lightning II. For three former F-16 pilots in the 388th Fighter Wing here, transitioning to the F-35 didn’t only mean learning a new aircraft, it also meant transitioning to a completely different service, the United States Marine Corps. ![]()
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