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F-35 Cockpit View

By lex, on March 18th, 2009

Pretty cool workspace in the F-35, from this Code One special issue (thanks, Trey).

f35_full

I wonder if it plays DVDs?

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March 18th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Defense Industry, Flying, Tech Lust

34 comments to F-35 Cockpit View

  • virgil xenophon
    March 18, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    Sure doesn’t look anything like the busy throne-room of the last King of the Analogs–the F-4. Wonder if it comes with a “mind-meld” ECG brainwave thought control, systems input helmet like they’ve been working on at Wright-Pat for years? And years…….

    But DVDs would be ok, too.

  • Nermous
    March 18, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    I thought cockpits were classified Secret. When I was in VFA-27, we always told people not to take pics into the cockpit or of open panels.

  • JoeC
    March 18, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    Lex did you really mean to have that pointer to the wordpress login? Just asking….

    What gets me is BAE systems working on this. aren’t they they builder of the new Denver airport baggage system disaster? What will they build in that takes an extra billion and several years to fix? Other than that nit…cool cockpit.

  • SSG Jeff (USAR)
    March 18, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    Fighter pilots must have tight butts – that seat looks all of 9 inches wide….

    Huh. Went and checked out that Code One site and I’m surprised at the difference between the F-22 and F-35 cockpits. Why can’t they standardize them more?

  • Pitts
    March 18, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    JoeC – BAE Automated Systems, who built the DIA baggage system, got liquidated a few years back. This is a different outfit working on the F-35.

    Love the foward-tilting canopy. Reminds me of the MiG-21 PF that I’ve sat in at our local air museum. Think the F-35 ‘pit is a little more ergonomic, though…..

    • JoeC
      March 18, 2009 at 7:16 pm

      99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. take one down, pass it around; 99 bottles of beer on the wall… (repeat ad-infinitum) Or maybe its the (modified) hydra? Chop one head off and another head takes its place? Cynical me. Anyway, thanks for the clarification, I’ll reserve my BAE snark until after the request for a billion to build can’t-fail modifications to make it work.

  • claudio
    March 18, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    Pretty cool, and sure it plays DVDs, only Blue Ray though.

    Lex, quick question for you seeing as you’ve flown both the Hornet and the Viper, regarding the position of the HOTAS controls.

    With the VIPER and LIGHTNING II both being on the right side, how does it affect it when you’re turning and burning and have to look deep over your left shoulder? I would think that having your right hand near the “yellow handle” would give you a tad more mobility than having it all the way over to the right. Always wondered about that…

    • lex
      March 18, 2009 at 6:16 pm

      You know, maybe it’s because the control stick was a force sensor (rather than a position sensor), but you just don’ t notice it after a bit.

      I remember early in my transition training, after a brawl we knocked-it-off, climbed back to altitude and dressed the formation. I was taking some notes on the previous fight while glancing over my left wing from time to time to make sure that the wingie wasn’t creeping in. When the time came to grab the stick again, my hand naturally went back to the space between my legs, only to whiff around for a startlingly terrifying moment. Before realizing that the stick was still on the right horizontal console.

      Silly rabbit.

  • claudio
    March 18, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    It makes sense, prob make more diference in a wire plane vs DFBW. I laughed out loud imagining the nanosecond of sheer panic realizing that the stick is not where its supposed to be. Prob not as funny back then.

    Thanks

    Meant to put it under your reply. mea culpa

  • xformed
    March 18, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    If it plays Blue Ray disks, check to make sure it’s coded only to play mission or training ones.

    While XO, the Det OIC and one of the other valiant aviators were trundling down the centerline pway, all dressed for the flight. The helmet bag of the OIC was quite filled, despite the one on his head. I asked Marty for a peek into the bag, and when coming up with lots of cassettes, he told me the dashboard of the SH-60B had a cassette player for training tapes, but they used it to listen to music….

    Quite by accident, I wandered nto an EW module and noted several music CDs laying about…not being Ship’s Company (but a mere inspector for CNSL), I causally asked the EW what they did with them. He then explained that the EWOBT (a venerable Z-248) was equipped with a CDROM, so as to be able to keep up the proficiency using audio CDs of threat intercepts…but it also player regular CDs, too, and the officers didn’t know that (well, not for a bit longer…)

    Funny how “training devices” are remarkable “dual use” devices sometimes…

    I don’t want go fast pilots watching flicks at mach plus…distracting, I can only assume. Sides…no one ever put a CCTV feed on the bridge for us black shoes…

    • claudio
      March 18, 2009 at 8:42 pm

      ES-3A had a nice capability to suck up trons out of the air, and a good number of radios to broadcast on. Soooo, on long flights when accompanied by others, we’d tune in a radio station or play something locally and broadcast it on a “briefed” Raven Radio button. most enjoyed it.

      Sailors will find uses not originally intended by the manufacturer, especially for entertainment.

      • XBradTC
        March 18, 2009 at 9:34 pm

        It was hardly elegant, but you can wire a car stereo or a Walkman into the intercom system of a Bradley or an M-1. Nothing like listening to a little Metallica or Ratt just as you tear into the Republican Guard.

    • Curtis
      March 19, 2009 at 6:11 am

      Only takes USB. Regrettably, no USB allowed on military systems.
      Stupid radios in my outfit were all military and thus could not tune any commercial bands (HF-UHF) there was no music, no soul. We could get the time tick but that was it.

  • yak
    March 18, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    In the wayback, the primary mission duty for the copilot/COTACin the Hoover was finding a good signal on the AM radio, er – the ADF. In the Jax oparea it was 690 on your radio dial – the Big Ape (WAPE).

    Sure got some weird music coming out of Algeria and Morocco while in West Med, though.

  • Nose
    March 19, 2009 at 4:02 am

    You guys are Neanderthals. DVD’s are soooo 90′s.

    F-35 is entirely digital (think MacBook Air). You want a movie, it gets downloaded.

    Sheesh.

  • Jim Collins
    March 19, 2009 at 5:09 am

    Nose.
    Not too sure that I like all this digital stuff in the cockpits. I can just imagine some F-35 pilot about to engage an enemy aircraft and all of the sudden they hear “You’ve got mail!”.

  • Byron
    March 19, 2009 at 5:11 am

    Yak, you and me have to be the same age; I clearly remember the Big Ape and the Greaseman (who is STILL on the airwaves!)

    Little known fact: after the Greaseman got fired in Jax, he went to DC where he started to really get big time. Turned out that he was a short guy, about 5’7″, and was a degreed psych major. His partner from back then, Robby Rose? Still on the radio here, doing country now :)

    • Nose
      March 19, 2009 at 8:10 am

      I believe that Nino Greasmanelli, aka Carlos the international terrorist, aka “The Lawman” is now on a station up in the Frederick (aka Fredneck) MD area, IIRC.

      Buddun buddun buddun…

  • SpazSinbad
    March 19, 2009 at 5:36 am

    “Chickenman was a radio series spoofing comic book heroes. It was created by Dick Orkin when he was a production director at WCFL in Chicago, Illinois. The famous catch-phrase of the series was:
    “He’s everywhere – he’s everywhere!”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenman_(radio_series)
    & http://www.radio-ranch.com/chickenman.html

  • SpazSinbad
    March 19, 2009 at 5:42 am

    “The 273 [Chickenman] episodes can still be heard today on American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), particularly on stations that broadcast to American Forces stationed outside the continental United States (OCONUS).”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Forces_Radio_and_Television_Service

  • VQ Bubba
    March 19, 2009 at 6:14 am

    What’s cool…

    Next generation of glass panel that can put any combination of instruments in front of you.

    Tilt forward canopy that looks like a corvette (although to keep the F-35 alive through this administration we ought to note it’s similarity to the bonnet of a Saab or Subaru)

    DVD/Blu-Ray – who cares. The real question is whether or not it can cross the international dateline without falling out of the sky like the Raptor. http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f22-squadron-shot-down-by-the-international-date-line-03087/

  • lex
    March 19, 2009 at 6:50 am

    F-35 pilot: “Where’s my HUD?!?”

    Engineer: “It’s on your head!”

    Pilot: “Oh.”

    (H/T Tommy T.)

    • Idaho Joe
      March 19, 2009 at 7:19 am

      Oh My God! It’s Jeff Goldblum from “The Fly.”

    • virgil xenophon
      March 19, 2009 at 7:29 am

      Not QUITE the original Wright-Pat “mind-meld” helmet I was talkin’ ’bout, but CLOSE!

      PS to Idaho Joe: Sci-Fi always paves the way!

    • Larry
      March 19, 2009 at 8:15 am

      Why not just go all in and give the pilots black stormtrooper/Darth Vader helmets and be done with it?

      Kidding aside, how much does a HMD like that weigh? Doesn’t that start to torque the neck pretty hard during high-G, looking over the shoulder situations?

      Did you have any experience with HMDs during your time in squadrons?

      • virgil xenophon
        March 19, 2009 at 11:59 am

        Larry/

        You want to exercise the neck muscles? Try wearing what the RAF wears–theirs is a true “crash” helmet and weighs accordingly. Makes what we wear seem like wearing a baseball cap.

  • SpazSinbad
    March 19, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    1st Gyrene Happy to be THERE: “”O.D.” Bachmann today became the first U.S. Marine Corps pilot to fly the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, logging the flight-test program’s 90th mission. He is the fifth pilot to fly the stealthy, multirole fighter.” http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/aeronautics/press_photos/2009/f35b-marine-stovl.jpg
    & http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2009/090319ae_f35b_marine-flight.html

  • SpazSinbad
    March 20, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    VIDEO: USMC pilot likes his “bad-ass” F-35 By Stephen Trimble on March 20, 2009 “Meet Major Joseph T. Bachmann, a developmental test pilot for the F-35 Lightning II. Since yesterday, he also happens to be the first US Marine Corps pilot to fly the jet. Not surprisingly, he enjoyed the experience, especially its “wickedly sharp roll-rate” and “bad-ass” maneuvering.
    http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/03/video-usmc-pilot-likes-his-bad.html

  • yudara
    July 4, 2009 at 9:56 pm

    flight f35 is my dreams…i hope before i die i can to get…but i know that’s just a dreams…hhehehhe…the excellent fighter…

  • john
    April 15, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    f 35 is top jet flight of us,

  • montra---trimek----pig----thailand----
    May 12, 2010 at 11:25 pm

    good—morning—–lockheed–martin—–cockpit—f–35——-o.k.—–wonderful—best–?———-from—name—montra—trimek—pig—–thailand———-thankyou—good–luck–and—success—-by—e–mail—montra_trimek@yahoo.co.th
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