F-35 Local Area Flights Could Start This Week

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By DAVE MAJUMDAR - DefenseNews

F-35A Lightning II local area flights might start as early as this week at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Fla., an Air Force source said. Such flights would commence once the Air Force issues a military flight release (MFR).

The Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base might issue such a military flight release as early as this week, sources said.

According to Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) chief engineer Doug Ebersole, an Air Force airworthiness board declared the F-35A as being compliant with its Tailored Airworthiness Certification Criteria on Feb 23, which is a crucial step in granting a formal MFR.

The declaration means the Air Force is satisfied that its version of the aircraft, the F-35A, is safe to fly. It also means that the Air Force understands and accepts the risks where there are gaps in the jet’s compliance with service airworthiness regulations, Ebersole said.

A MFR would allow qualified F-35 test pilots to begin flying the stealthy fifth-generation fighter around the Florida base. Eglin currently has two test pilots who are qualified to fly the jet: Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith and Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann.

Once those local area flights prove that the aircraft and maintenance procedures at Eglin are robust enough to sustain a full-scale training course for transitioning instructor pilots and students, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) will start the syllabus.

Smith and Bachmann will act as the initial instructors for the rest of the cadre at the 33rd Fighter Wing. The three services have selected some of the best, most experienced pilots to form the initial batch of instructors at Eglin.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has also cleared the Marines’ F-35B short take-off vertical landing jets to operate at Fort Worth, Texas, where the planes are built.

However, the sea service requires an additional independent safety audit before fleet pilots are allowed to fly the aircraft, Ebersole said.

“We expect that to happen in the mid-to-late March timeframe,” he said. “Probably late March.”

After the audit, Marine pilots, who fall under NAVAIR’s purview, will be able to start training along side their Air Force brethren in their F-35B model jets next month.

Posted in: 33d Fighter Wing, Air Force, Eglin Air Force Base, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, Naval Air Systems Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base