I had the chance to go to the F-35A media event at Edwards AFB on August 27th. They took us out to the intersection of taxiway Bravo and the main runway and we watched AF-01 land after a test flight. Once the plane landed we climbed into the Air Force bus and they took us to hangar 1820 for the official briefing and interviews.
Media events are always interesting. They are, of course, designed to put the best foot forward for that particular program, but hopefully what you hear is said with good justification. Some are more successful at it than others.
I won't comment on my thoughts on that aspect (we are teammates on the program, after all, and subject to bias), but I will make an observation on how things are presented to the media. The Air Force did a great job for the most part. There were glitches, but flight test is used to that and so are flight test PR events. Regardless, the media had great access and good quotes and soundbites.
Lockheed Martin does an outstanding job with media events. Having gone head-to-head against them and being on the same team with them on different occasions, it is still an amazing thing to watch. Nobody else in aerospace - and I mean nobody else - does PR as well as those guys! I've seen them blow away Boeing and us many times. In that regard, my hat is off to them.
This event was no different, even though it was the Air Force's gig. Lockheed Martin provided top-notch images and background information to the media with DVDs and thumbdrives so deadlines could be quickly met. From the media side it is always fun going to one of their events.
And the plane was fun to shoot, too. I just wish the sun had been to our backs, but it was so high up in the sky it was probably a moot issue. Nevertheless I think I got some neat images. I even got artsy! That one I submitted to the 2010 Aviation Week photo contest. I will post that shot at a later date.
The Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor flew a demo program both days. This shot was from the Saturday performance. The original aircraft had a mechanical problem and was replaced by the aircraft that was supposed to fly in the AFFTC "Pass in Review." Needless to say, the demo (and heritage flight) was deemed more important.
The Raptor performance was nothing short of spectacular! I have never seen a large fighter do the moves this one did! And they have added new twists to the routine since I last saw an F-22 demo at Pt. Mugu over a year ago. It was absolutely breathtaking.
The advantage of being on the South Base media area is three-fold: proximity to the main runway; having the sun at your back instead of in your eyes and having the aircraft fly close and overhead during some of their maneuvers. The photo above is one such example. I absolutely love catching fighters in full afterburner! The twin spikes of flame with their shock diamonds are cool looking.
This is another instance of what is known as good timing and "situational awareness." Basically it's picking a good step-up and taking note of what is going on to make a good shot better. I knew the Lockheed C-130J would cross behind and above the F-22 Raptor. I just didn't know how high up the frame it would be. I estimated where I thought it would enter the image and waited. Sure enough, there it was and it made for a more interesting shot. One of the things I particularly like about it is the green glow off the F-22's HUD (Head Up Display). It adds a nice touch of color.
This picture was taken at the 2007 NAS Pt. Mugu open house.
As a belated Happy 4th of July to everyone, here's a General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16XL at the 1998 Edwards AFB open house with an American flag reflected in its canopy. It was a fun image to shot.
If you are a part-time aviation photographer like me, once in a while you get to participate in what we like to call "one-time-good-deals." This was one of them. In July of 2001 the Lockheed Martin team (including Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems) and Boeing were locked in a hotly contested fly-off for the Joint Strike Fighter contract. In the midst of this competition, Lockheed Martin managed to pull off one of their patented PR coups that they are justly famous, or infamous for, depending on whose side you're on at the moment. On July 20 and 26 they flew their X-35B STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) test aircraft through a "Mission-X" profile.
Mission-X has been described as the "Holy Grail" of aeronautics. It has long been a dream of designers to build an airplane that can fly supersonic yet take-off and/or land vertically. Several aircraft have done both parts, but not on the same flight or sortie (mission). The X-35B became the first aircraft to do so. After making a short take-off of less than 500 feet, it went to altitude and flew supersonic, then returned to make a vertical landing. More impressively, it did it at Edwards AFB (about 2000 feet altitude) and, in a subsequent test, with a 10,000 lb fuel load.
I was fortunate enough to witness the July 26 flight test. This shot was taken as the Sun broke the Eastern horizon. The X-35B, with BAE test pilot Simon Hargreaves in the cockpit, was doing final systems checks before taxi. Once he was under way, we were taken to the runway and got to see the take-off and return vertical landing on the Mission-X flight and the subsequent hot-refueling, second take-off and heavy-load hover and vertical landing test flight. I'll post some of those shots another day. Needless to say it was a most impressive performance. It was then that I became convinced that Lockheed Martin would win the competition.
And so they did.
I had the chance to go to the F-35A media event at Edwards AFB on August 27th. They took us out to the intersection of taxiway Bravo and the main runway and we watched AF-01 land after a test flight. Once the plane landed we climbed into the Air Force bus and they took us to hangar 1820 for the official briefing and interviews.
