Raptor in service (at last)

[F-16Viper]

If you think French pilots are shirleys go to http://www.simviation.com/acinstall.htm click on Military and go down to the Rafale Near-Splash! video HARDCORE

i fail to see the military

[ozzy72]

Whoops! Sorry I posted the wrong link, this is what happens when you have excessive numbers of windows opening whilst modding! Try http://www.alexisparkinn.com/aviation_videos.htm

[Woodlouse2002]

A little too much vin rouge for lunch me thinks.

[GuitarFreak]

Has anyone done that in FS2004 yet?

Gryshnak

I'm pretty sure DSB has one...but it's payware.
Anyone have a link to their site?

[SomeGuy]

As you may have seen from my last avatar, I LOVE the Raptor!!

IRIS (DSB) has a prototype YF-22 model, found here, but AlphaSim just released the F-22A, found here..

I just bought the AlphaSim Raptor, and I must say that it is the most amazing aircraft that I have ever flown!

[C]

On the topic of the F-22, anyone with access to the 24-30 April Flight International magazine will be interested to see the story of the Raptor pilot who was trapped in the aircraft for 5 hours. He couldn't open a malfunctioning canopy, and he had to be cut out!

edit: see this link for photos!

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2006/04/why_is_this_man.html

[Mobius]

On the topic of the F-22, anyone with access to the 24-30 April Flight International magazine will be interested to see the story of the Raptor pilot who was trapped in the aircraft for 5 hours. He couldn't open a malfunctioning canopy, and he had to be cut out!

I saw that, they sure made a mess of that cockpit.

[fighter25]

Has anyone done that in FS2004 yet?

Gryshnak

there is an ito raptor in the fs2004 military pages

IRIS released their Raptor for FS2004

[fighter25]

On the topic of the F-22, anyone with access to the 24-30 April Flight International magazine will be interested to see the story of the Raptor pilot who was trapped in the aircraft for 5 hours. He couldn't open a malfunctioning canopy, and he had to be cut out!

I wouldn't be too happy either.

[Isak922]

Your almost 3/4's of a year late on this thread  ;D

But Yes, Iris has released they're YF-22 as freeware. I'm sure most of us know that already  ;)

[dcunning30]

Whoops! Sorry I posted the wrong link, this is what happens when you have excessive numbers of windows opening whilst modding! Try http://www.alexisparkinn.com/aviation_videos.htm

I'd say that flight had a pucker factor of 8.

I can imagine that pilot saying to himself:  "I won't do that again!"

[DizZa]

63 Billion dollars is spent on the F-22 program for only 180 planes. Great.

According to my math that's 39 Billion dollars just for development. By comparison the A380 costed only 12 billion $ and the 787 8 billion $.

Should of upgraded the F-15 or got something like the Eurofighter.

[Chris_F]

63 Billion dollars is spent on the F-22 program for only 180 planes. Great.

According to my math that's 39 Billion dollars just for development. By comparison the A380 costed only 12 billion $ and the 787 8 billion $.

Should of upgraded the F-15 or got something like the Eurofighter.

Originally the production run was supposed to be much larger.  The dollars spend are largely R&D dollars, so more airplanes would have made each airplane much cheaper.  Wasn't the program originally supposed to deliver planes numbering around 500 or so?  Also, the F-22 has many very expensive systems in it that commercial airliners simply don't have a need for.  No need for fancy stealth radars and passive radar receivers and super duper secure communication stuff in a Boeing or Airbus.

I think the per-plane cost though isn't too out of line (minus R&D) considering the capabilities.  In fact, the cost burndown curve (year over year cost improvements) for the plane has been quite impressive, outpacing anything of its scale in US Defense Aquisitions history.  The plain ain't cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than it has every right to be considering the quantity changes, capabilities, and the like.

[dcunning30]

I used to work for a defense contractor (Hughes Aircraft), I can attest the tolerances, redundancy, and toughness that goes into military hardware is way overkill for civillian use.  You cannot compare civilian manufacturing costs with military manufacturing costs.  Trying to do so introduced flaws in the logic from the very start.