Rhino vs Lightning II

While I was at the Abbotsford Airshow I managed to meet and briefly talk to both manufacturers of the two planes Canada is trying to choose one of to replace its aging CF-18 Hornets.   Both planes were in attendance, although only the Rhino flew.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs flew in as part of an recently made operational USAF squadron.  They parked one in the static display area and kept the other tucked away.  Representatives from Lockheed-Martin set up a booth tent behind the F-35 on display and were there to talk to the folks about the Lightning II.  There was a US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet (or "Rhino") on display and one Navy plane flying a demo while the Boeing Company had one of their own Rhinos there to also fly a demo!  The Boeing folks narrated their own demo.  Their Rhino was loaded up with all sorts of ordinance and still flew a complete demo.   The US Navy demo Rhino was unloaded and had just enough fuel to do the demo.  It's demo was impressive too!

I would have liked to see the F-35 fly but I think I did get a pretty good idea what each aircraft is capable of and how it could work for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

So what do I think of this competition now I've seen each aircraft?  In my opinion I think this whole competition thing is a ridiculous waste of time, money and energy!

Talk about comparing apples and oranges, these two planes are completely different!  Yes, they will do each other's job and quite well, but in a totally different way.  For you World War II air power fans, which plane was better; the Spitfire or the Mosquito?  How about the B-25 Mitchell or the P-51 Mustang?  Each plane was important in their own right.  Each could do the others job.  But you can't choose!  The same goes for these two fantastic planes.

The F-35 is light and small while the Rhino is huge and quite heavy in comparison.  The F-35 has one engine (albeit a very powerful one at 40,000 lbs thrust) the Rhino has two!  In my opinion the F-35 appears to be unable to carry the weight of ordinance of the Rhino.  Both rely on their stealth capabilities but the F-35 appears to count on those capabilities more than the F-18!   Most  F-18 Super Hornets seem to be set up for a two-crew while to my knowledge all of the F-35s are set up for a single pilot.  The F-35 is a much prettier little plane than the brutish F-18.

And the differences go on and on.  In my opinion there is only one solution; we buy enough of both planes to equip up to three squadrons of each over the next five to ten years!  Both planes will have a service life well into the 2040s.  That way each aircraft can be assigned the missions to which it was purposefully designed and succeed, all the while keeping our Canadian pilots as safe as they can be in air combat.

I am not an aeronautical engineer!  I am a retired teacher and school administrator.  But I am certified as "Plane Crazy"! I've read and studied this issue in great detail!  There's my opinion!

CF-18 Replacement and the Alberta Carbon Levy

I have an opinion on almost everything going on in the world around me.  Here are a couple:

YES; I think the Canadian government should buy the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet (or Rhino as their pilots call them) to update it's fleet of CF-18 Hornets. 

The country has sunk a lot of dollars into the development of a new airplane, the F-35 Lightning, but that aircraft is so far behind in its development and testing phase it is unlikely it could become totally operational when the Hornets have to be retired.  When talking to Canadian F-35 test pilots, I have heard that the F-35 is a magnificent airplane.  It is beautiful to fly and to maneuver, but I think it is just more airplane than we need as a small nation. 

I have always supported the F-35 program but more and more problems (and higher costs) with it keep surfacing.  Its single engine configuration might be an issue while patrolling Canada's vast empty northlands and so far it has proven to be a very high maintenance bird!

The F-18 Rhino is already flying, and its operational around the world.  It has appeared at the Abbotsford Air Show many times and puts on quite a display! It is about 30% bigger and much more powerful than our CF-18 Hornets but the transition over to it should be relatively easy for our CF-18 pilots. 

The Royal Canadian Air Force has, in my opinion, the best trained and skilled military aviators in the world!  They need the best equipment for their very difficult job!  I say lets buy the Rhinos and wait to see what happens with the F-35.  Maybe in the future we'll see Canadian Rhinos and Lightnings flying in RCAF colors, each with a different job.

NO;  I do not believe that Premier Notley's Carbon Levy is a good idea.  It's a sales tax on energy.  It's going to cost us more to drive our cars and heat and light our homes, and for what?  The money will go into a fund to promote the development of renewable energy sources.  I should think the province should be helping the energy sector develop these sources instead of taxing them.

 The energy industry has billions of dollars invested here in Alberta in energy production.  They know that the oil and gas won't last forever and they know that there are environmental issues at hand, too.  They need help in finding realistic and economical ways to replace them while reducing the environmental impact of using them.

 I heard one estimate that said it would take over six thousand wind turbines to replace the power from our coal fired generators. That's just not realistic!  Let's help them find more realistic solutions to this problem!

Unfair but Required Anonymity

I watched on the news tonight as members of our Royal Canadian Air Force took off from CFB Cold Lake in their CF-18 Hornets heading for Kuwait.  Their support team arrived in Kuwait a couple of days ago, and will greet the Hornets as they arrive there in the next while. There they will participate in a force trying to stop a radical terrorist group trying to take over parts of Iraq. 

What bothered me about it was that the media had to "fuzz" out the faces of these brave young men and women, to hide their identity.  This was done to protect them and their families from attacks from "home grown" terrorists!   In times now long past, soldiers leaving for missions overseas were proudly paraded down Canada's Main Streets where the rest of us could gather to wave Canadian flags, and thank them for their service to our country.  Now they have to leave almost clandestinely!

I know it has to be done this way.  We must protect these folks and their families.

I hope that the 600 Canadian Forces personnel now in Kuwait and preparing those CF-18s know that there are millions of us here at home who support them.  We wish them all well and a safe return home.  We are proud Canadians and we are proud of you!  Godspeed.