If you blink you'll miss it, but it's clearly there. In a flash between
the :12 and :13-second mark on the video below, a large black object is
observed ejecting forcefully in the opposite direction of the F-35B
during the first short takeoff attempt at NAS Patuxent River on March
17.
Doug Pearson, Lockheed Martin's F-35 flight test manager, saw the mystery object. His first thought: "Oh my gosh, what came off my airplane?!"
The mystery ejection, preserved on video posted on YouTube by Aviation Week technology editor Graham Warwick, was quickly solved on inspection of said object by Pearson's staff.
The force of the F-35B's vectored exhaust nozzle had ejected a rubber grommet placed around a runway light. The grommet had survived multiple takeoffs and landings by other jets at Pax over the years, but succumbed to its first encounter with the F-35Bs vectored thrust on short takeoff.
But there is a simple explanation, Pearson says. Such grommets are not glued or attached to the runway, but simply placed around the lighting fixture, he says. NAS Patuxent River has made changes.
Doug Pearson, Lockheed Martin's F-35 flight test manager, saw the mystery object. His first thought: "Oh my gosh, what came off my airplane?!"
The mystery ejection, preserved on video posted on YouTube by Aviation Week technology editor Graham Warwick, was quickly solved on inspection of said object by Pearson's staff.
The force of the F-35B's vectored exhaust nozzle had ejected a rubber grommet placed around a runway light. The grommet had survived multiple takeoffs and landings by other jets at Pax over the years, but succumbed to its first encounter with the F-35Bs vectored thrust on short takeoff.
But there is a simple explanation, Pearson says. Such grommets are not glued or attached to the runway, but simply placed around the lighting fixture, he says. NAS Patuxent River has made changes.
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