Watch This F-35C Fighter Jet Almost Drop Into The Ocean After Being Launched

This is very cool. I came across this on Digg. An RAF pilot posted some videos to Instagram of an F-35 doing a low energy catapult launch. You can see the F-35 taking off and going lower than the deck. In another view you can see the F-35 get low enough to the water that the jet wash parts the ocean.

Here and here.

digg.com...

Something you don’t see everyday...low energy catapult launch! That sink is scary, but it was a part of the test plan. The folks at PAX River needed to find the lowest amount of energy that the catapult needed in order to safely launch an F-35C...they definitely found it! Through a smart build up and mitigation the test professionals go where others don’t.

a reply to: grey580

I think one site recorded it as, "Code Brown"

Here,

www.thedrive.com...

Low throttle launch........scary.....cant imagine....my right hand wants to push forward just watchin......


Code brown team to the deck, please

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Low energy catapult launch from what I understand. Just to see what the minimum cats the plane needs to get flying.

The catapult power was deliberately reduced with every launch. They had to find where the lowest edge of the launch envelope was, so they very carefully reduced power with each launch.

In calm seas he probably wasn't sweating too much.
Next they need to try it in huge swells to see if they can time the jets lowest point with the swells being the lowest.
They probably have a limit as to when they can take off when swells get big?

Think they try time the launches to when the carrier crests a wave for maximum height..

originally posted by: Zaphod58
The catapult power was deliberately reduced with every launch. They had to find where the lowest edge of the launch envelope was, so they very carefully reduced power with each launch.

So would they risk an F-35 if they happened to reduce the power too much ?

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

They're extremely careful. They model it, test on land based catapult units, and very carefully step the power down on the ship based units. Every step of the way is as carefully planned and executed as carefully as possible. If at any point something doesn't go as modeled, they go back and do it again until everything is as expected.

It was during test trials. They knew it would get close to the water. It's cool to see but was intentional.

I wonder if they take into consideration the weight of the cast iron pair of balls that pilot must have.