Disaster F-35 defeated by flashlight - Yes, its from RT but all it takes to stop fighter jets isn't an AR-15 but cheap chink made flashlight from Amazon

Article (Archive)

One of the $14-million engines on a US Air Force F-35A fighter jet was destroyed last year after an engineer left a metal flashlight inside the machine, a military investigation by the Air Force Aircraft Accident Investigation Board published on Thursday reveals.

The pricey plane, part of the Air Force’s 56th Fighter Wing, was undergoing required maintenance at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, when the “accident” occurred on March 15.

Maintenance workers on the military’s F-35 fleet had been ordered to install a metering plug into each engine’s fuel line in December 2022 after a “mishap with the fuel system” that month. The doomed engine at Luke was attached to “one of the last aircraft that needed to be completed,” the investigation stated.

A three-person engineering team from the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit, part of the 56th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, performed the installation, removing a single panel to insert the plug, and turned on the engines to test the installation for fuel leaks. No alarms or alerts were observed during the 13 minutes they allowed the jet to run, according to the report.

Only when they turned it off did they realize something was amiss, hearing a “clanging sound” and discovering “significant damage.”

One of the engineers subsequently “identified damage to the blades of the engine,” the investigation noted. “He reported the engine damage to the maintenance expeditor and stated, 'I believe I just ingested a flashlight.’”

No humans were injured by the engineers’ mistake, though the cost of the “foreign object damage” was estimated at nearly $4 million. The Air Force reportedly opted to scrap the entire $14-million engine due to the extent of the wreckage.

The investigators concluded the blame lay with the engineers’ failure to follow protocol, which requires a “tool check” prior to testing an engine. They also neglected to attach all needed items to themselves as procedure dictated. The workers tested negative for drugs and alcohol and the report denied “lifestyle factors were a factor in the mishap,” placing some of the blame on official procedures that allowed two members of the maintenance crew to each believe the other had accounted for the errant flashlight before testing the engine.

Officials declined to reveal if anyone had been disciplined over the costly error when asked by military blog Task & Purpose on Friday.

The F-35 is the most expensive weapons system ever built, costing about $1.6 trillion over its development lifetime. The Air Force acknowledged in 2021 – nearly 20 years after the troubled plane was conceived – that it had failed at affordability, costing nearly $36,000 per hour to fly compared to $22,000 per hour for the F-16 it was meant to replace.

 

[Night Crawler]

So Joe Biden is bluffing when he claims an F-15 can stop an AR-15.

Just put the AR-15 in the engine. It will just suck it up. If that happens the engine would probably be totaled.

 

[JosephStalin]

Gotta tell ya, those Chinese flashlights are very good, and inexpensive. Sturdy, made from aluminum, I believe. No bulb, uses LED, zooms in/out, three light settings - regular, bright, and strobe. Needs just one AA battery. Can take it on a plane, have done so several times. Have carried such flashlights for years, give many away as gifts, always appreciated. Get a pack of six on eBay for about $20 delivered, actual price varies with exchange rate. Keep several at home for gifts/emergencies.

Seriously, if you have a good Swiss Army knife and one of these flashlights you're ready for most emergencies.

Apparently some dumbshit used his light to look inside the engine then forgot to put the light back in his pocket. Stupid fucker.

 

[MrJokerRager]

I think Joe Biden read my mind.

"You Need An F-16, Not An AR-15" - Biden Once Again Suggests US Govt Could Murder Gun-Owners (Archive)

President Joe Biden told a group of mayors that they would be instrumental in implementing his Second Amendment policies, including a ban on some types of semiautomatic rifles, so-called “assault weapons.”

President Biden welcomed a bipartisan group of mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting at the White House on Friday.

He told the mayors that the American Rescue Plan has spent $15 billion on infrastructure and public safety.

The president said much of that money went directly to cities to hire and equip police officers, institute violence intervention programs, and fund other crime prevention programs.

“You’ve done a tremendous job putting those resources to work. You know how to do it,” President Biden said. “Mayors are the people who get things done.”

He said that, at the urging of his staff, he is continuing his push for a revival of the 1990s-era “Assault Weapons Ban.”

The ban, which he said he helped the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) write, was in place from September 1994 to September 2004.

President Biden claimed the ban reduced violent crime, including mass shootings. That claim has motivated his administration to push for a renewal of the policy.

“My staff came to me and said, ‘We need a White House office dedicated to getting guns off the streets and treating the trauma from violence,” he said.

“I’m still committed to banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“When we passed the Second Amendment, guess what? You weren’t allowed to have a cannon.”

During his speech Friday, President Biden drew chuckles from the mayors as he derided an argument sometimes made by Second Amendment advocates against “assault weapons” bans.

“You’ve heard, ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots?’ Guess what, man? I didn’t see a whole lot of patriots out there walking around making sure that we have these weapons. If you really want to worry about the government, you need an F-16. You don’t need an AR-15,” President Biden said.

The president’s remarks drew laughter from the mayors.

A Rand Corporation study completed in 2020 and updated in 2023 found limited evidence that “high capacity magazine” bans reduced mass shootings and inconclusive evidence on the effect of banning “assault weapons” on the incidents of mass shootings.

President Biden also touted the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” (BSCA) passed in June of 2022 as “the first gun safety law in 30 years.”

Under the BSCA, President Biden has issued numerous executive orders, directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to change or write many sometimes controversial rules, and established a “White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention” last September.

The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is led by Vice President Kamala Harris and staffed by veterans of the gun control movement. Stefanie Feldman, President Biden’s staff secretary, runs the office with Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox.

Previously, Mr. Jackson led the Community Justice Action Fund, which focused on the impact of violent crime involving guns on minority communities.

Mr. Wilcox worked at Brady, served on the Board of Directors of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and practiced law in New York City.

Recently, Ms. Harris announced the office’s “Safer States Agenda” to push similar programs at the state level.

“We’re deploying teams to meet with communities that have been victimized, to make sure they get the help they need,” President Biden told the mayors.

 

[Cpt. Stud Beefpile]

If anything goes into that engine it's going to damage it. That goes for any plane. Birds can damage a jet engine. A fucking bird. Something you can crush with your foot. Jet engines are very fragile. They normally get wear and tear just from operation. It doesn't take long either.

Jet airplanes are one of the easiest things to damage in a domestic insurgency situation.

So Joe Biden is bluffing when he claims an F-15 can stop an AR-15.

It won't be the F-15's you have to worry about, unless you're one of the top high-value targets or the Loyalists intercept an airplane. That would be the thousands of drones you can't even see let alone shoot at with your deer rifle.

 

[The Ugly One]

Next you'll be telling me a Bradley can be stopped by nothing more than a few pounds of sugar poured in the gas tank.

 

[Fatniggo1488]

Other shit aside, if a little oppsie can easily cost your military 14 million dollars in a piece of equipment which is only effective when used en masse, that might should make you rethink some things.

Edit:
Angry rice farmer victim sperging bellow

 

[Fatniggo1488]

Further going into the stupidity of this, and US military spending to really upset the goat fucker rape victim coping club.

The median income mutt will in 20 years, which is roughly their working lifetime, earn around 1.7 million McBucks. This means that this little oppsie was on par with about 8 US citizens completely draining their entire life incomes.

There's no rational person who'd argue this is a sustainable military.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

"Russians discover basic aeronautics rules" - the article.

 

[JustSomeDong]

So Joe Biden is bluffing when he claims an F-15 can stop an AR-15.

If C. Thomas Howell, of all people, could take on the Russians and Cubans with a hunting rifle and a PTSD'd Jennifer Grey, I think my chances would be at least even money.

WOLVERINES!

 

[Male Idiot]

Stupid or careless maintenance crew is the bane of any plane.

Nothingburger.

 

[FamicomGorby]

This is like throwing a rock inside of a running jet engine and then blaming the engine when it explodes.

 

[Shark Senpai]

Heard a story from fighter pilots of an F-16 getting defeated by a cleaning rag before so not much of a surprise that if you leave shit in an aircraft engine shit will go wrong.

Edit: Found a record of the story I heard about. https://www.f-16.net/index.php?module= AircraftDB&func=display_airframe&id=1419&actype=F-16

 

[Clusterfuckk2]

Reading the headline, I almost thought Fatrick Tomlinson's paintball idea wasn't so bad after all.

 

[CircuSphere]

Today on obvious news that barely qualifies as news, anything that comes in contact with jet turbines is going to ruin both the thing and the turbine. This includes but is not limited too, birds, flashlights and underqualified sheboon air-marshals.

 

[HackerX]

The object being a flashlight is practically irrelevant. FOD to turbine blades can be caused by the ingestion of literally any object of sufficient mass and rigidity. A keychain, some chicken bones, a misplaced combination wrench, anything. All can cause millions of dollars of damage to a jet.

Next you'll be telling me a Bradley can be stopped by nothing more than a few pounds of sugar poured in the gas tank.

Zaney Kramer and his Junior Mints.

 

[Skitarii]

Great, all Russia/China needs to do is suborn lots of air force mechanics, seems doable.

With the way things are looking, this might not be a joke soon enough

 

[SpergioLeonne]

So Joe Biden is bluffing when he claims an F-15 can stop an AR-15.

His claim was f 16, strike eagles are useless

 

[Bland Crumbs]

Here's a lovely Youtube video that explains why this is bad.

I kind of want to make that my ringtone.

 

[Omori Boy]

Other shit aside, if a little oppsie can easily cost your military 14 million dollars in a piece of equipment which is only effective when used en masse, that might should make you rethink some things.

Edit:
Angry rice farmer victim sperging bellow

The F-35 isn't a Sukhoi.

 

[George Lucas]

If anything goes into that engine it's going to damage it. That goes for any plane. Birds can damage a jet engine. A fucking bird. Something you can crush with your foot. Jet engines are very fragile. They normally get wear and tear just from operation. It doesn't take long either.

I thought that the only problem was large birds like geese and albatrosses? Those have a lot more heft to them, and would fuck up your car if you ran into them.

Gotta tell ya, those Chinese flashlights are very good, and inexpensive. Sturdy, made from aluminum, I believe. No bulb, uses LED, zooms in/out, three light settings - regular, bright, and strobe. Needs just one AA battery. Can take it on a plane, have done so several times. Have carried such flashlights for years, give many away as gifts, always appreciated. Get a pack of six on eBay for about $20 delivered, actual price varies with exchange rate. Keep several at home for gifts/emergencies.

Seriously, if you have a good Swiss Army knife and one of these flashlights you're ready for most emergencies.

Apparently some dumbshit used his light to look inside the engine then forgot to put the light back in his pocket. Stupid fucker.

LEDs made flashlight design dead simple. In the old days you had to use an incandescent that would become dim over time. The only benefits of the old ones were that they had a more natural color and that the dimming would give you some indication that the batteries were wearing out. An LED just dies on you without warning. However, the LED Maglites I use actually do dim before the battery goes out. I'm not sure if that's a special programming they did to simulate the old behavior.