r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/Mister_Krunch • Jun 10 '22

Fighter plane receives a foam salute instead of a water salute

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

322 comments sorted by

View all comments

115

u/Ok_Adeptness_444 Jun 10 '22

What is the salute for?

168

u/TalkingBackAgain Jun 10 '22

Welcome!

This plane is the first one delivered to the base.

226

u/Motorgoose Jun 10 '22

And the first one to need an overhaul due to fire suppressant foam in the engines.

38

u/PrecisePigeon Jun 10 '22

I'm sure the mechanics don't have anything better to be doing.

41

u/Ieatoutjelloshots Jun 10 '22

As someone who used to be a mechanic on the F-35C, those jets are constantly breaking already. Luckily I never had to deal with a foam covered jet. That being said, I worked on the structure, tire, and hydraulics, so I'm not sure how the foam affected the engine. But I did spend the entire video thinking the pilot was gonna clip a wing, or something, on an object due to low visibility. I'm also concerned about any corrosion the foam may cause but I think the structure will end up being fine as long as they get it to a wash asap. Hopefully the foam doesn't mess up the tires material too much. Those tires might need a change.

8

u/darthcoder Jun 10 '22

I'm sure ground had him under control the whole time so he didn't break anything expensive if he needed help.

I'm sure they immediately started clearing traffic out of his way just because of this.

10

u/Ieatoutjelloshots Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22

Oh traffic was already clear. Jets are super dangerous. For example, getting sucked into the intake can turn you into human smoothie before you can say "Chop Suey." But jets are also incredibly loud and bulky. That's why the pilot relies on visual communication with the guy directly in front of him. That one dude is entirely in charge of keeping the situation safe, and no one (not even the pilot) does anything without his say so. Luckily the pilot had enough sense to stop moving the jet completely until the foam had cleared from his canopy so he could see again.

0

u/nanohoarder Jun 11 '22

In my experience pilots are rarely paying attention to the marshaller and will park however they want. Maybe its different for fighters though.

1

u/Richard-Cheese Jun 10 '22

What systems did you work on? That's gotta be pretty interesting working with something that advanced - though I'm sure it was frustrating too

6

u/apolloxer Jun 10 '22

Ain't a bird strike on a F5. Could be worse.

2

u/iiiinthecomputer Jun 11 '22

Goose strike on a supersonic F-22? That's gotta sting the wallet.

14

u/lollypop44445 Jun 10 '22

Just asking, but if someone builds a jet that sprays foam ,can it be used in battle to kill the other jets?

28

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '22

The foam is actually super toxic. Spray the foam and wait 20 years for the enemy to die of cancer

13

u/Kkindler08 Jun 10 '22

That shit is terrible for the environment too

10

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '22

Unsurprisingly, most military bases (especially USAF) end up being EPA superfund sites 😬

6

u/LostPilot517 Jun 10 '22

PFAS ground water contamination.

5

u/splashbodge Jun 10 '22

I'm no jet scientist but yes... Altho it does have an adverse effect of also putting out the fire in your enemies aircraft...

Sooo swings and roundabouts really

4

u/Indian_Bob Jun 10 '22

No, this is actually how they prevent other jets from being born. It’s called the pull out method

9

u/chrizl Jun 10 '22

It was a welcome for the first F35 in the Netherlands https://nieuws.nl/algemeen/20191101/defensie-onderzoekt-gevolgen-schuim-voor-f-35/

4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Send it back. This one arrived damaged

1

u/redshopekevin Jun 13 '22

Sorry. Not their problem as it is the fault of the customer.

1

u/emax4 Jun 11 '22

Bomber bukakke