Tags for this video have been changed from '1955 Hover Board, Pathe' to '1955 Hover Board, Pathe, US Navy, Flying, Platform, VTOL, Thrust' - edited by calvados

The Harrier could also be used for vertical takeoff if required (VTOL), which I believe is not possible with the F35 (STOVL)?

>> ^Jinx:

The Harrier is to the F35 as the Sopwith Camel is to the Eurofighter.
Ok, thats hyperbole, but the Harrier was pretty limited. I wasn't supersonic for a start, no stealth capabilities, fairly limited air to air/manoeuverability etc. No gun for ground attack either.

FTFY
>> ^criticalthud:

and...because of drones, it is utterly irrelevant.


Actually, and while I'm on this soapbox, @EMPIRE is right. By the title of this video, I though I was going to see something impressive, like landing on a vertical surface. Sure there are aspects of the F35 that are impressive, but VTOL is not one of them.

It's kinda like showing off a smart phone and going "it's a smartphone THAT MAKES PHONECALLS!!"

That said, while I am philosophically and pragmatically opposed to spending billions on flying killing machines that don't even have an enemy to fight, fighter jets are generally some of the most impressive bits of engineering around.

>> ^lantern53:

War is hell, but learning chinese would be worse.


Don't worry, the Chinese will never invade. They will simply foreclose.

I thought they cut the VTOL version of the F-35 because of the rising cost of development?

VTOL for Concorde (almost)!

There is no conspiracy, no hidden technology. Just a fairly standard turbofan engine and some VTOL construction. Nothing fancy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_X-Jet

Lots of your questions answered here:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/nasas-puffin-aircraft-stealthy-one-man-vtol-aircraft

This is too cool. I seriously want one of those, but I do have a few questions to be answered before:

- How long is the battery expected to last?
- What sort of airspeed is it capable of?
- Max altitude?
- Pressurized cabin, if max altitude is high?
- Is it possible to land horizontally? The VTOL doesn't seem possible in the event of an engine failure or if the battery runs out.
- What type of license would be required in order to fly one of these? A cross between a plane and a helicopter, multi-engine aircraft.
- Communications? Avionics? Access to any of those seems sort of limited in the position you'll be flying in.
- Field of view: You'd be looking straight down for most of the flight. Anything coming from above you will be very hard to notice.
- How does it handle itself in bad weather?
- Can it taxi by itself?

Either way, I'm in love with the design. It's just beautiful.

Why didn't they show it transition from VTOL to forward flight? That used to be the hard part for the Harrier IIRC.

No upvote from me because there was a lack of VTOL clips - the one thing that the Harrier can do that few other jet fighters in production can do (one of the F-35 Lightning II JSF variants was supposed to be a VTOL-capable fighter to replace the F-16, F/A-18, A-10, and the Harrier... the F22 Raptor still outclasses it in many respcts). Granted, the Harrier can only hover for about a minute before the engine overheats...

Hard to believe that the Harrier's design is almost 50 years old...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrier_Jump_Jet
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Strike_Fighter

Tags for this video have been changed from 'x35, vtol, lockheed martin' to 'x35, vtol, lockheed martin, fighter, jet, airplane, jsf, vertical, lift, hover' - edited by kulpims

^ relatively, sure.
but no such thing as an easy takeoff in one of those.

vtol in a harrier is like balancing a hippo on a basketball, for even the best pilots.

>> ^antonye:
53 seconds of awesome.


Any longer in VTOL mode and they'll overheat.

Decent *british *engineering though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrier_Jump_Jet

Why he did that? Well it's not a VTOL...

so does everybody really agree on what yahtzee said about the VTOL level near the end? I played all the game on Delta (hardest) difficulty and that was the single easiest level - not once died while in the "chopper", even reloaded from the beginning just to experience more awesome flying goodness. and the controls felt, I might say, a little bit too intuitive, somewhat like an arcade.