F-35B First Hover And Short Takeoff

Photo by Andy Wolfe

BF-1 demonstrates the capability to hover during a test flight at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The flight begins with a conventional takeoff before the pilot, Graham Tomlinson, initiates conversion to STOVL mode at 200 knots. He then slows the aircraft to sixty knots and flies a decelerating approach to a zero airspeed hover at 150 feet above the runway. This marks the first free air hover in the F-35B. Upon reaching zero airspeed, Tomlinson executes test points to confirm the controllability of the aircraft in hover. After completing all hover test points, he executes a slow landing at seventy knots. Later in the day, BF-1 performs the first F-35 short takeoff, lifting off at 100 knots using less than 1,000 feet of runway.