Kevin Brooks wrote:

"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message

snip

Any evidence that STOVL kills more pilots than other fast jets? Or any
evidence that the F-35B is inherently unsafe or "risky" technology? ISTR
the
STOVL X-35 demonstrator did pretty well...

Brooks


Are you joking? How long have you been around Naval Aviation?

When I was at China Lake (for 3 years) we had two class A mishaps (in our
manned aircraft... not counting the drones)--both were Harriers--at least
one pilot was a TPS grad. For one of the pilots, it was his second
ejection
from the AV-8B. The other died in a later AV-8B mishap after he'd
returned
to the fleet. We had one class B mishap--a Harrier. The first guy I knew
of from flight school to die in an aircraft accident? Harrier. The only
flight school classmate I know who was a POW during DS? Harrier. (Sorry,
that last one shouldn't count... Not unique to the STOVL discussion. I
was
on a roll.)

Meaningless. Compare the accident rates per hours flown and get back to me.

snip

The Harrier accident rate is and has been noticeably worse, Kevin. How much of
that is due to accidents during transition/hovering (which would be the only
relevant stat, to compare with CTOL accidents during landing), I don't have the
data for. The AV-8B is apparently a lot easier to handle in the transition and
hover than the AV-8A was owing to its SAAHS and aerodynamic improvements, and
the F-35B will be even easier (accounts I've read suggest its trivial), probably
owing to a combination of different aerodynamic design and FBW controls. After
all, the basic Harrier design dates to about 1960, or even 1958.

Guy