Right top to
bottom: The USAF
has own the
F-22 alongside
the F-35A at
some displays to
showcase the two
fth-generation
ghters.
Jamie Hunter
A Raptor, F-35A
Lightning II
plus F-86E and
F-86F Sabres
y in formation
during the 2017
Heritage Flight
Training and
Certi cation
Course at Davis-
Monthan AFB,
Arizona, in 2017.
USAF/SrA Betty R.
Chevalier
Ready to taxi for
the display at
Davis-Monthan
AFB. USAF/SrA
Kimberly Nagle
The Raptor
display includes
manoeuvres that
all F-22 pilots
can y, just
not usually at
300ft above the
ground!
Rich Cooperaccelerate out of the manoeuvre’. He adds,
‘If I selected afterburner the jet would just
keep climbing.’
‘We joke in the Raptor community that
the pilot inputs are just requests — the
jet decides when to activate the thrust
vectoring and how to use the ight
controls. The tailslide’s a great example of
that. You’ll see the jet falling backwards
and see the horizontal stabilisers going
crazy — all I’m trying to do is keep the
ight controls nice and smooth, I barely
move the stick, so the ight controls are
where the magic happens — Lockheed
Martin did a incredible job.
‘I’d love to take credit for all this
manoeuvrability, but in all reality it’s 99.9
per cent the ight control computers. I’m
just telling the jet where I want the nose
to point and the power I want via the
throttles — the computers are constantly
working out how to execute what the
pilot wants.’
Putting all of this together — knowing
the air supremacy ability of the F-22
and being able to see the incredible
performance, makes the Raptor display a
bit special. As Maj Dickinson concludes:
‘That’s a full-up operational jet. We don’t
do anything to it. It’s full of 18,000lb of fuel,
it could y the display with a full load of
weapons and you’d see an identical demo.
I can and do take any jet o the line to go
to an airshow — so you’re seeing a full,
war ghting-capable machine.’RAPTOR^7164-71 Rock Display C.indd 71 28/09/2017 14:49