F35 could break pilot's neck on ejection! - Senate pushes for inquiry into buying F35's

Just a another little minor issue with the F35 lemon. Turns out the half a million $ helmet is badly designed and too heavy. This causes another minor issue, that of pilots who are of lighter weight could very well have their neck broken ejecting the plane in emergencies.

The US Air Force officer who heads the JSF program, Lieutenant-General Chris Bogdan, told a congressional hearing this week that the problem was caused by the helmet throwing the pilot's head back and forth during the high-speed ejection.

A test carried out in late August revealed the initial catapult from the cockpit forced the pilot's chin down, with unacceptable force in the case of pilots who weighed less than 62 kilograms.

The head was then forced back after the pilot leaves the cockpit and encounters "wind blast" because he or she is still travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour, he said.

It is then thrown forward again when the seat's parachute opens.

"We take this deficiency with the ejection seat and the safe escape very, very seriously," General Bogdan said.

The manufacturers are having to redesign the helmet - which itself costs more than $500,000 - to bring its weight down from just over 2.3 kilograms to less than 2.2 kilograms.

The space-aged helmet, which itself costs more than $500,000, allows the pilot to see through the body of the plane in every direction thanks to six external cameras.

General Bogdan said the various manufacturers including Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and UK-based firm Martin Baker, which makes the ejection seats, would bear the cost of the fix. sydneymorningherald

Meanwhile, the Greens are now pushing for a complete senate inquiry into the purchase of the F35 lemon after Canada pulled out of it's purchase of them. The thing costs a fortune and is a plane designed to do everything, but which can't do anything very well. Jack of all trades and master of none.

A push to examine the wisdom of Australia's planned $24 billion fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters - ranking as the nation's largest ever defence purchase - is underway in the Senate. 

Greens defence spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson on Friday has urged the Senate's standing committee on foreign affairs and trade to inquire into the suitability of the stealth jet for Australia's strategic interests. 

The move comes after the election last month of new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a promise to abandon plans to purchase the troubled fighter. 

Officials from Australia's Defence Department told a Senate hearing a Canadian withdrawal from the F-35 project would not have a cost to Australia, only for US Air Force Lieutenant-General Chris Bogdan to soon afterwards estimate the price of each aircraft would likely increase by up to US$1 million. 

"This is about the public's right to know how their money is being spent and if we are getting value for money," Senator Whish-Wilson said. 

"I would like to see many of the criticisms levelled at this procurement answered by a wide range of experts and discussed in detail at this inquiry." The Age