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Aircraft

Watch the F-35 in its first public aerobatic demonstration

By Darren Quick
June 20, 2017
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The F-35 takes to the skies over Paris in its first public aerial demonstration
Lockheed Martin
The F-35 takes to the skies over Paris in its first public aerial demonstration
Lockheed Martin

It's not the first time the F-35 Lightning II has appeared at an air show, but it is the first time it has wowed crowds with a full aerobatic display. An F-35A – the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant – showed the public what it could do at the 2017 Paris Air Show on Monday, in the aircraft's aerial demonstration debut.

The development of the F-35 has been far from smooth flying, with numerous delays and cost blowouts raising doubts and attracting criticism from many quarters. So, the flying displays at Paris–Le Bourget Airport this week are intended to do more than just impress the public –they need to impress the representatives of military forces attending the show as well.

The full debut aerial demonstration with Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn at the controls can be seen below. Attendees at the Paris Air Show can also catch briefings being run by Lockheed Martin where pilots will discuss the aerial demonstration and how the maneuvers on display relate to operational flying of the F-35.

Source: Lockheed Martin

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AircraftLockheed MartinFlightF-35 JSFParis Air Show 2017
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Darren Quick
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continues as Managing Editor of New Atlas.
16 comments
TomFullery
I was at the Avalon air show and there were some pretty impressive manoeuvres...
Lourie Höll
Well, that was unimpressive.
Techtwit
It can roll, it can fly in circles and it can loop the loop. Pretty impressive for the bargain price (I don't think). Could well be just a poor video. Lack of any points of reference made any judgement of performance almost impossible. At one point I could not tell if the plane was flying horizontally, very slowly, with a high angle of attack, or was actually climbing, as the uniform background gave no referential clues.
Τριαντάφυλλος Καραγιάννης
I admit I almost fell asleep watching this. I had to go and watch the PAK FA's show on the same airshow to wake up. This was one of the most boring airshow videos I've ever watched (not to put New Atlas to shame, and all)
James P Pratt
Saw the F-35 perform at the Chino Air Show back in May. Pretty impressive. Also, according to the news media, it scored a 30:1 kill ratio at the last Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB.
Douglas Bennett Rogers
I expected at least a vertical landing.
ezeflyer
Other than the 391.1 billion taxpayer dollars paid to Lockheed, I don't see what the big deal is about the F-35. With drones, fighter aircraft are fast becoming obsolete anyway.
Derek Howe
Douglas Bennett Rogers - Only the F-35B (the Marines version) can take off and land vertically.
Bob SpencerSpencer
This is what we get for a Trillion Dollars? At least it didn't crash! That's about all you can tell from this poor video.
Vanilla Cat
I know less is more, but is way less way more?
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