Because I was inverted

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 08/21/2017 at 09:55 • Filed to: planelopnik

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USMC test pilot Eric Northam from the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two-Three (VX-23) fires a Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder while flying his Lockheed Martin F-35C inverted. Just because he can.

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(Photo: Dane Widdeman for Lockheed Martin)

facw > ttyymmnn 08/21/2017 at 10:02

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Wonder if that works when launching out of the bays. I’d hope they’ve got enough oomph to get clear even when inverted, but I don’t think we can take anything for granted with the F-35.

ttyymmnn > facw 08/21/2017 at 10:04

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When I first saw the headline, I thought it was firing from the weapons bay, not the rail. I’m guessing that it wouldn’t work internally.

facw > ttyymmnn 08/21/2017 at 10:14

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Was hoping to find a pic of an F-22 pulling the same trick, but this is as close as I could get:

Seems like not being able to fire while inverted would be a big weakness and one I hadn’t even considered.

Edit: Here’s an F-22 shooting during a roll:

Ssfancyfresh > ttyymmnn 08/21/2017 at 10:22

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I as hoping the article would mention the use of the reflective stickers affixed to the belly of the aircraft and maybe also the missile. They look like photogrammetry targets. So, they might be doing some 3D modelling of the launch. Very interesting.

uofime-2 > facw 08/21/2017 at 10:28

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Got to see one of these flying at the Chicago air show this weekend, that thing could some crazy maneuvers. Very impressive to see 

McMike > facw 08/21/2017 at 10:29

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That’s the first thing I thought of.

How about inverted and pulling negative Gs? Surely they thought of that, right?

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > facw 08/21/2017 at 10:30

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My understanding of how the bays work is that the launch rail is on a trapeze mechanism that carries the whole thing, missile and rail clear of the bay, then the missile fires and the rail retracts and the door closes, so it shouldn’t have issues getting the missile clear.

LongbowMkII > ttyymmnn 08/21/2017 at 11:10

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I’m actually surprised it can do that without catching fire or falling apart.

ttyymmnn > LongbowMkII 08/21/2017 at 11:19

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In a way, firing from an inverted rail is no different from firing from the over-wing rail on a SEPECAT Jaguar. I always thought this was super cool.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > ttyymmnn 08/21/2017 at 13:31

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We’ve got this awesome stealth fighter that carries everything internally, but can’t launch missiles inverted so we’ll just tack some radar reflectors to the wings and hang hugely reflective missiles from them. Or am I missing something here?

ttyymmnn > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 08/21/2017 at 14:06

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I think that sums it up pretty well.