#Marine corps fighter pilot series#

Courtesy photo 'It just makes the carrier much more lethal'ĭion has also flown the F-35B, a short takeoff and vertical-landing variant for the Marine Corps that can fight from airstrips and amphibious assault ships. The first US Navy aircraft carrier to deploy with F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, the variant engineered for carrier operations, was USS Carl Vinson, which departed San Diego last month and sailed through the South China Sea recently with the 'Argonauts' of Strike Fighter Squadron, or VFA, 147, the Navy's first F-35C squadron, on board. US Navy aircraft carriers have started deploying with F-35C stealth fighter jets, aircraft that one fighter pilot called 'a game changer' and said are making US carriers even more lethal. See more stories on Insider's business page.

The first Marine F-35C squadron is working up to its carrier deployment, expected in early 2022.Ī Marine pilot in the squadron talked to Insider about what the stealth jet means for US carriers. The US Navy's first F-35C fighter-jet squadron deployed on an aircraft carrier early last month. The investigation into that accident is still ongoing.Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 conducts a new expeditionary landing demonstration on December 3. Cederholm, then-commander of the 2nd MAW, commented.Īnother USMC MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crashed in the Southern California desert in June 2022, killing five Marines. “If an unauthorized device could contribute to risky decisions, it is very likely that the mandatory employment of a video and voice recording system provided by the Marine Corps would have the opposite effect,” Major General Michael S. In order to better debrief and analyze post-flight information in the future, the report recommends the addition of a video and voice recording system to the MV-22B, which it currently lacks. The investigation also concluded that the aircrew was qualified and the aircraft properly maintained. However, the footage recovered from the GoPro helped rule out degraded weather conditions as a factor in the accident. “Such devices are prohibited on grounds that they can incentivize risktaking and serve as a distraction that may have been the case with Ghost 31,” the report reads. While the reason for the flight deviation is unclear, the investigators note that an unauthorized personal GoPro recording device was found at the crash site and was in use at the time of the crash. The Osprey impacted the valley’s eastern side.

The incorrect maneuvers caused the aircraft to lose altitude and airspeed, with not enough turning room to recover. It was followed by an overcorrected maneuver with a right turn in excess of 80 degrees.

#Marine corps fighter pilot series#

According to the investigation, the aircrew deviated from the preplanned flight and entered the Gråtådalen Valley for a series of low-altitude maneuvers.Īt one point, the aircrew conducted a left turn at a 68-degree angle-of-bank in the river valley, exceeding the MV-22B Osprey normal operating envelope by 8 degrees. Ghost 31 was on a training flight out of the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) Bodø Air Base.

An investigating officer of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) released a report on August 15, 2022, in which it determined that the causal factor for the accident of the Osprey, call sign “Ghost 31”, was pilot error.