Tag Archives: raptor

Did Someone Patch This Raptor in a Hurry?

The F-22 Raptor has a complex coating system on the skin of the airframe that is part of the overall approach to stealth. Normally, they look pretty well finished in order to preserve the performance of the system (although I have spotted a few jets with the green primer showing through worn finishes). However, one or two of the jets that were at Red Flag had what almost looked like a panel missing from the spine of the jet. Looking a bit closer, I think the panel had been replaced and the finishing of the surfaces around the work remained to be done. It did look a bit of a mess though. Checking some of the other jets, they also show this panel in a slightly different color. Perhaps they have all been undergoing a modification program in this area?

Relaxed Raptor Pilot

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All cool fighter pilots should look like they are not operating a complex and expensive jet. Instead, they should look like they are out cruising in a convertible with their arm resting on the door just taking in the scenery. This guy obviously understands what is required and provides the casual look of a person enjoying their day!

Ospreys on the Docks

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I might have been visiting Mare Island to see the museum and surrounding area but I also got to fit in some wildlife viewing while I was there. I had stepped out of the back of the museum towards one of the dry docks. One of the guys working in a business nearby starting chatting and saying how he wished he had a long lens with him to photograph the ospreys. I could hear a lot of noise but he pointed out the source. All of the high structures around the docks be they cranes or gantries seemed to have a nest on them. Ospreys were all over the place. They had access to the fishing in the water a short distance away so the metalwork was providing a great vantage point with plenty of privacy.

The noise from the nest close to me was pretty loud. A chick was obviously awaiting some food. At first I thought the parents were going to come right in but then I realized that there were so many nests that the birds I could see flying were not necessarily anything to do with this chick. I don’t know whether it had worked that out, though, given the noise it was making when any bird came close. I have no idea how much the nest impact the operation of the machinery and whether there are any restrictions on what can be done when they are in place but they are clearly all over the place.

Hawk Hunting

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On occasions you get lucky and something comes right to you. However, that is not always the way and sometimes you are just never quite in the right place. A Hawk was running along a ridge-line next to a drainage channel near me. I saw it first from a distance and figured it would be long gone by the time I got to the area. Apparently not. As I came alongside the ridge, it flew towards me before gentling drifting along the ridge in the direction I was traveling, i.e. away from me. As it got the end of the ridge it wheeled around to the other side. I figured it would soon repeat the process given the way the wind was blowing onto the ridge. Next time I would be perfectly placed for it to come towards me. I guess it never read the plan. I didn’t see it again. Therefore, the only shots I got were a little distant.

Raptor Vortices

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A bit more from the Raptor display today. As the jet flew away from the crowd, it pulled in to the vertical. From a view directly astern, we got a brief view of the vortices forming over the forebody. The jet was quite a way off so these shots are cropped quite a bit. I love the way the vortex sits away from the body. Chino was a pretty dry environment so not a lot of vapor to pull from the air but it still showed up nicely.

Interesting Raptor Control Inputs

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It might be a long time ago that I did anything closely related to the engineering of fighters but there is still a part of me that is a stability and control type of guy. Watching the control inputs and responses of planes is cool as far as I am concerned. With the advent of fly by wire designs, there was considerable scope to play around with the use of the control surfaces to achieve different aims. With no direct linkages to the stick, the pilot can be totally unaware of the choices the system is making for control combinations.

The engineers may have chosen to program the trailing edges to have different deflections inboard and outboard to offload the outer portion of the wing for example. The F-22 makes use of a variety of interesting control inputs. For example, it doesn’t have a traditional speed brake. I assume this was removed for stealth reasons. Instead, the control surfaces move counter to each other. You may have inboard flaps going down and outboard flaps going up. The moments cancel out but all increase drag incrementally so the effect is like having a speed brake deployed.

Since the aircraft is also unstable, you may have tail deflections that seem at odds with the maneuver being flown. During the Chino show, the usual routine was flown (usual for an F-22 but not many other jets) and, as I look through a bunch of the shots, I see some quite unusual control inputs. If you are in to such things, these may appeal to you. Gary, are you reading this?

Some Gratuitous Raptor Shots

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Unfortunately, I have a rather large backlog of images that I haven’t done much with. This is sometimes the result of having a number of events in a short space of time and other times it is the result of laziness! Last year I covered the Planes of Fame show at Chino for GAR. I got a lot of shots while I was there and I needed a selection to illustrate the piece so I dived in, found some good examples, worked on those and put them into the feature.

Unfortunately, I never got around to undertaking a proper run through of the shoot. I only realized this recently so I have started to go through the images when the time allows. One part of the show I really liked was the twilight show on the Friday. This included a display by the USAF F-22. In the last light of the day, the airframe looked really great.

Running through the shots I found a few of the jet that I really liked. (I found more than will work for this post and some that I like for various reasons but won’t really gel with most people.) As a result, here are a sample of the shots I have been finding. Now I am starting to think about air shows this year for the first time. I might have to go to this one again!

Raptors at Play

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Is the Raptor a good looking jet or not? I still have yet to make up my mind on that one. From some angles it looks pretty cool and from others it looks awkward. Never look at it on the ground because the undercarriage is really not designed to make it look elegant! Either way, it is a striking jet. I have seen them a bunch of times at different venues and, while picking out some shots for a project, I also saw a bunch of F-22s and figured I might have a selection of some of them, hopefully looking at their best.

What is This Bird?

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While I was down by San Francisco Bay, a bird came flying towards me and I took some shots purely for panning practice. I thought it was a gull or a tern so I was only bothered by trying to get steady shots. However, when I look at it, the bird has the beak of a raptor. I have no idea what it is. Does anyone out there know?

F-22 Over Chino

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The USAF F-22 Raptor is a popular air show performer but, with a relatively small fleet, they only have one display team and they have a limited number of engagements around the US each year. Chino was one of the shows that had them booked so it was probably the only time I was going to see the Raptor display this year as opposed to flying operationally. It flew twice while I was there. The first flight was a sunset display and the second was to wrap up the main display on the Saturday including the Heritage Flight performance.

I got a lot of chances to get good shots of the plane. The sunset display had great light but both displays included some tight elements that brought the plane well into view. However, I am now going to tread on dangerous ground and say that I don’t think the display is that good. The flight control system design of the Raptor allows it to undertake some unusual maneuvers which the display makes a lot of. While they are certainly not the norm, I don’t think they should focus on them so much. Certainly show off some of the special features of the jet. Just don’t pretend they are tactically useful and spend more time showing people what they like about jet displays. Being low and slow is not a great place to be.

A crowd of people might be mildly amused by a jet coming down flat while gently rotating about its axis. However, turn up the noise and blast into some fast passes, tight turns and some more aggressive vertical maneuvers and your get a lot of crowd reaction. I once watched a Typhoon display being flown by a test pilot. It carried out a lot of high alpha rolls around the velocity vector. A few pilots around me appreciated the technical skill but everyone thought the display was boring.

Maybe, as the aircraft has been on the display circuit longer, they will evolve into a better combination. A little of the unusual stuff but more dynamic performances that show off the bits the public like.