Shadowing Practice: Flying the Marine Corps’ $100M F-35B Stealth Fighter Jet - Learn English Speaking with Video

For me, as soon as I slammed that throttle forward, a lot of those worries and fears just kind of washed away.

The F-35 Bravo, a fifth-generation supersonic stealth fighter jet flown by the United States Marine Corps.

It also just so happens to be one of only two U.S fighter jets in history with the ability to hover.

The aircraft was designed for short takeoff and vertical landing, something you'll hear referred to as Stovall.

With the help of a vertical lifting fan that functions like a miniature helicopter, the F-35B can take off from small amphibious assault ships and return to land vertically.

We can bring that aircraft from a touchdown to a full stop in a few hundred feet.

It's a fascinating design and one that I've never fully understood.

Until today.

I'm here on the coast of South Carolina at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, where we'll have the opportunity to sit down with an F-35 pilot one-on-one

and witness something I've been looking forward to seeing for a long time.

The F-35 Bravo putting on a full flight demonstration, including a first-hand look at what this aircraft is known for, its iconic hover.

So you've been flying the F-35 for over seven years now.

take us back to your very first time flying the F-35B, strapping in, taking off, what was that like?

Currently today in the syllabus that we teach our students, there's a significant amount of sims that you do first.

So that first day is obviously going to be some nerves, but when you strap into the jet you've already started it before, so that stress is gone.

You get on the runway, you advance the throttle, and although now you're in your gear, a little hot, the carryover from the sim is actually

pretty good and it as soon as i mean for me as soon as i slammed

that throttle forward a lot of those worries

and fears just kind of like washed away do you ever just

when you're flying turn around look over your shoulders see this alien spacecraft looking airplane behind you

and be like this is the coolest job in the world

i had a leader a few years back who gave me a sound piece of advice

because we don't have mirrors like some aircraft do yeah he

said hey man like every time you fly try to take

a moment at some point just to kind of think about what you're doing

and realize what a gift it is and how lucky you are to do it.

Is there one thing about this airplane that every time you see it or get to use it, it just blows your mind?

A lot of the workings of it and how we do the thing, we've been trained to do that.

And I'm not going to say that it's become commonplace, but you don't necessarily focus on that as much.

For me, it's just the fifth generation fighters, they look so futuristic on the flight line that every time you walk to one, every time you're in one, I always just feel that,

especially when we've got our fourth generation, your F-18s on the flight line, it always kind of jumps out at you what you're flying.

Now for those unfamiliar with the F-35, the aircraft comes in three different variants, each one designed for a unique role.

The F-35 Alpha is designed for air-to-air combat, taking off and landing on conventional runways.

The F-35 Charlie is optimized for aircraft carriers and features a larger overall wing design needed for slower approach speeds.

And finally, the F-35 Bravo, with its massive lifting fan installed just behind the cockpit, allows the aircraft to perform short takeoffs and vertical landings,

which include the iconic hover.

We can take an aircraft that weighs about 33,500 pounds and we can bring that aircraft to a dead hover.

Additionally, we can take off and a shorter distance is approximately fully loaded, let's call it 800 to 1000 feet, depending on combat load environmentals.

And we can one, land vertically.

And then two, we talk about expeditionary ops, flying off of roads, hastily constructed landing mats designed for military aircraft.

We can bring that aircraft from a touchdown to a full stop in a few hundred feet.

So really gives us a unique capability that the other variants do not have.

So does the Bravo variant that you guys fly in the Marine Corps, does that have less maneuverability from the Alpha and the Charlie?

biggest hit we take is in our load limits.

Due to the lift fans positioning within the aircraft and our CG, we're only able to go up to that 7G limit.

Even if you're dogfighting, the amount of time you live in

that load limited regime at the maximum of your G that you're able to sustain, you're going to be bleeding energy so quickly

that it's not where you're going to spend the preponderance of your time in the dogfight.

So short answer, yes, we do take a hit.

I don't think it's necessarily as severe of a hit as folks consider it to be.

Well, I didn't know until I was researching this is that the Bravo variant and the Charlie variant, they don't have an internal gun installed, right?

Only the Air Force version does.

Why is that?

With the F-35B, the reason we don't have a gun is due to the lift fan,

due to the extra space we required for our fuel tanks and for the lift fan that sits right behind the pilot.

What we have instead is we have a gun pod.

So the gun pod was both derived from the Harrier's gun pod, which which means it's a 25 millimeter cannon.

It's a four barrel weapon system.

It straps on to the center line of the aircraft.

We don't have it always on our side, don't have it always coming with us, but it means that should the mission require it, then we can pretty quickly put it on the aircraft,

load it up and take it with us downrange.

So something I always thought was cool, I mean you guys can launch off of ships less than a thousand feet long, what's that like?

When it comes to the way that we operate off ships, believe it or not, we actually use some of the advanced functionality of the F-35B

and from our landing signals officer we will calculate exactly how much roll you need on the flight deck of that ship

and we will set ourselves up at these lines built into

the deck of the ship to launch in the exact amount of distance we need we calculate

that exact number we need to launch from put it into the aircraft

and we conduct an automatic stow

so the aircraft itself we get everything primed up ready to go hands on the controls

but once you let your feet off the brakes and push the throttle forward, the jet itself is calculating that distance down and then it executes the rotation for you.

Ultimately, you've learned to trust that aircraft.

That aircraft is the only way you're going to leave

that ship and it's the only way you're going to land on it.

Now, I mentioned earlier

that the F-35 Bravo is one of only two U.S fighter jets in history with the ability to hover.

The other, the iconic AV-8B Harrier.

The Marine Corps has been flying the Harrier since 1985, and while it's still flying today, its days are numbered, and in the coming years,

the Marine Corps will fully transition over to the F-35 Bravo.

Now, with two aircraft of completely different generations, yet overlapping mission sets, I was curious to learn about their similarities and differences,

and lucky enough, I was able to catch up with a former Harrier pilot, now stationed here at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort flying F-35s, to ask him just that.

So to set the scene in the simplest way possible, Can you sort of explain how the hovering system works on the F-35 Bravo?

Yeah, sure thing.

So at the heart of it, we've got the lift fan system, right?

So the lift fan is right behind the cockpit there, right behind the pilot.

And that lift fan is physically connected via drive shaft and clutch to the actual fuel burning engine.

So when I hit the button in the jet, the hook Stobel button, and I convert into mode four, which is Stobel, that all the doors open up on the top and bottom,

that clutch engages and the main engine energizes the lift fan.

So that provides lift at the forward edge of the aircraft.

On the rear edge of the aircraft, we've got the 3BSN, three bearing swivel nozzle, and that allows the exhaust from the engine to pivot down and point at the ground.

So you have two points of lift, one in the front, one in the back, and that provides the lift capabilities for the aircraft.

Additionally, on the wingtips, or about halfway out on the wings, you have two roll posts, and that provides that lateral stability left and right for maintaining balance in Stovall.

So starting off flying a platform like the Harrier and then moving on to something like the F-35, What are some of the main differences that stick out to you?

Sure.

So it's a world of difference.

So the Harrier, everything in that aircraft is mechanically linked.

So everything I'm touching in the aircraft, throttle, the nozzle lever, the stick, and the pedals, is mechanically linked to those actuators.

So when we're in the hover in the Harrier, you have RCS ducts, a reactionary control system ducts, that vent air from the engine to the wingtips,

nose, and tail, and that provides my lateral and yaw and pitch while in the hover.

And again, like I said, that's directly connected to my stick in the Harrier.

100

and there's a little bit of stability augmentation that helps me maintain a smooth hover,

101

but for the most part it is 100% pilot actuation in the Harrier to maintain hover, so it's a lot more pilot workload intensive.

102

Whereas in the F-35 we talked about the heart, the lift fan, the mind, you have the VMCs, the computers, the fly-by-wire that are sitting behind the chair there,

103

and those take account for all the dynamics going on with the aircraft and pretty much control it for me.

104

So in the F-35, like I said, I hit the hook stubble, go into mode four, go into hover mode, and then I tell the jet to slow down, and it'll come down to a stable hover,

105

and I can take my hands off the stick and throttle at that point, and it is 100% stable, very easy to fly in the hover.

106

Now, I know most people have seen the crazy helmet you guys wear as F-35 pilots, and one of those awesome features is that, you know, you can look through the bottom of the jet.

107

Now, for you guys, kind of hovering, landing vertically, does that feature like help you out more, would you say, or no?

108

To be honest, don't use that a whole lot for when I'm using the hover because I'm looking outside, kind of those Harrier habit patterns that I have over years of flying the Harrier, looking outside at where my landing point is.

109

But then I can also back myself up with those same cameras.

110

I can project onto the screen inside the cockpit

111

and see a top-down view from my seat where the aircraft is hovering over to optimize my landing point.

112

Now, when it comes to the conditions of the runway or tarmac to land vertically, what does it have to be?

113

Because I imagine that lifting system, the engine, that could tear the ground up.

114

What requirements are you looking for?

115

Yeah, so if we try to do a hover to a vertical landing over just normal concrete or asphalt, we run the risk of tearing it up due to the immense amount of heat and thrust coming out of this engine.

116

So it's specially treated concrete, reinforced concrete, pads that are specifically designated for the F-35.

117

Here, we've got five pads that are available to us, and then we've got other pads around different Marine Corps air stations.

118

So I'm here with Gunnery Sergeant Weiss, who is a maintainer on this incredible airplane.

119

I'm just curious, can you sort of describe what it's like to fix and maintain an aircraft as advanced as this?

120

It could be a pretty daunting task.

121

With this aircraft and all of its computers that it does have, it leads us down a lot of rabbit holes sometimes that, you know, we think it's one thing and it actually wants to be another thing that fixes it.

122

So at the end of the day, getting to the root cause and actually getting this jet back up in the sky is a great time.

123

And one of the coolest things I always love to see is you guys marshal them out, salute them, and then they're on their way.

124

That is like the most fun.

125

I met a couple 18 year olds, 19 year olds who are out here working on over a hundred million dollar aircraft.

126

How do you sort of tell them about that responsibility?

127

How do they take that at such a young age?

128

I mean, pretty much the way I do it personally is, you know, I put it in their hands like, hey, would you put your mom or dad in that cockpit?

129

Would you let your brother or sister fly this aircraft that you just worked on?

130

When you make it that personal and you really break it down to that level, I think they take a lot more pride

131

and they respect the process a lot more and make sure

132

that they hit all the wickets to make sure that we are providing safe aircraft.

133

Now I want to take a second to thank our sponsor Honeywell Aerospace Technologies for helping make this video possible.

134

Honeywell products can be found all across the F-35, and each one is designed with the latest technological innovations that play a vital role in the F-35's capabilities.

135

When you have an aircraft as advanced as the F-35, a question you might not think about is how you cool down the aircraft's internal avionics.

136

Without an efficient and reliable cooling system, the F-35 wouldn't be able to get off the ground.

137

That's where Honeywell's innovative and groundbreaking Power and Thermal Management System, or PTMS, comes into play.

138

Meticulously integrated into the aircraft, the system works by absorbing, moving, and venting heat from the aircraft

139

while also managing the electrical loads to ensure

140

that the right amount of power is delivered to the right place at the right time.

141

Honeywell's technology optimizes energy usage, provides redundancy for improved reliability, and ensures the proper cooling for the aircraft's advanced systems all in one.

142

As the supplier of the F-35's PTMS for the past two decades, Honeywell is also focused on the future

143

and is constantly innovating their systems to ensure that they both meet

144

and exceed the demands of the U.S military and allied partners.

145

Once again, a huge thanks to Honeywell Aerospace for helping make this video possible.

146

So at this point, I want to do a little bit of a speed round.

147

So I put a pullout on Instagram.

148

I asked the audience, what do you guys want to know about the F-35B?

149

And this is the list they submitted.

150

Now, I'll warn you, there's a lot of questions about hovering.

151

so I hope you're prepared, but ready to go?

152

Let's hit it.

153

Okay.

154

What is the highest altitude the F-35 can hover at?

155

We depend a lot on the environmentals, but a few thousand feet.

156

So then follow up, what would happen if you turned on the hover mode at 15,000 feet?

157

Well, with our limit being 10, the system won't let you, but let's say you did.

158

With the air being that thin and the performance margins being what they are, I think you would start to drop out of the sky very quickly.

159

Have you ever flown with the canopy open while hovering?

160

Absolutely not.

161

What's the furthest you've ever flown while hovering?

162

That's an interesting question.

163

Probably a few hundred feet of lateral movement.

164

Can the F-35 take off vertically as well?

165

It can take off vertically, but you have to be at about 25% of your fuel loading with a slick airplane in order to do it.

166

So we call it an airship maneuver only.

167

Can the hovering capability be used in a dogfight?

168

I wish we could hit that button and they would fly right past you, but no. How fast can you fly while hovering?

169

Under the loading of the wings is going to be limited by, let's call it about 45 to 55 knots calibrated.

170

Compared to other aircraft, would you say the F-35 is easy to fly?

171

Yes, I don't have experience with other aircraft, but I do train transition pilots and they all admit

172

that this aircraft has a lot of functionality that make it very easy to fly.

173

How quickly do you run out of fuel while hovering and how long could you hover if needed?

174

When you're establishing a full hover, you're burning about, let's call it 300 to 400 pounds per minute.

175

So in order to establish yourself in a hover, you'll potentially be as heavy as a 3.8.

176

So you could potentially hover, I mean, quick math in public, nine and change minutes.

177

What's the coolest or weirdest design feature on the F-35 that, you know, many people might not know about?

178

maybe people don't really know about it, it's probably the voice recognition feature.

179

You can actually hold down a button and you can speak to the aircraft

180

and have it try to change some things for you, like the frequency you're on, the current nav point you're using in your system.

181

It doesn't work well for a lot of people and that's certainly not something that many people are used to, so it doesn't receive a lot of attention.

182

So you're saying this is like a built-in Siri on your iPhone?

183

Realistically, you can get it to do some very rudimentary things for you by talking to it, but it's pretty persnickety on whose voice is talking to it.

184

Some guys can't use it at all, some guys can use it.

185

I don't know anyone who uses it regularly.

186

What is your favorite maneuver to perform when flying the F-35?

187

It's gonna be the square loop that you see in our demo.

188

We're the only aircraft in the Marine Corps Navy inventory

189

that has you pointed directly at the ground nose low and maximum afterburner.

190

Pretty cool maneuver because that's not something you usually like to find yourself doing in a fighter aircraft

191

that low to the ground.

192

Well I know you got a demo you're about to get ready to fly for.

193

We can't wait to to watch it from the ground, see those maneuvers you talked about, watch this thing in action.

194

So we'll be out there.

195

Can't wait though.

196

Looking forward to it.

197

It's going to be awesome.

198

So we are out here on the ramp, just a few minutes out from takeoff.

199

Now I am here with Major Cricket Ybarra, who's going to sort of be our play-by-play announcer for this, something like that at least, right?

200

Yeah, that's right.

201

Well, we can't wait.

202

We've been waiting for it.

203

It's been hyped.

204

Here we go.

205

The F-35 Bravo.

206

32 cleared forward, take off.

207

32 safety, copy, have a good one.

208

All right, let's get this show going.

209

Conversion complete, power up, off brakes.

210

Let's go!

211

3, 2, 1, roll.

212

All right, now he's going to set up from right to left for the min radius turn high alpha loop.

213

What the min radius turn is really going to demonstrate is the the degrees per second

214

that this jet can turn as well as the minimal radius which is going to be useful for BFM engagement, ACM engagement.

215

All right next he's going to reposition setup for the Mach Bren.

216

So max speed of the aircraft 630 knots, Mach 1.6.

217

He's going to be hitting show center at about 620 knots, about Mach 0.92, just below supersonic.

218

So as fast as we are legally allowed to go out here.

219

Just about, yeah.

220

Thanks and copies.

221

Just keep running to the speed of sound.

222

Alright, from left to right, now he's setting up for the square loop.

223

Again, demonstrate the high nose authority, high-alpha turn performance that this jet offers.

224

He's setting up from left to right at 350 knots, and he's going to pull into the pure vertical.

225

5,000, 10, 20.

226

All right, next up, he's gonna do the slow speed pass into the half Cuban 8.

227

So what this is gonna show is the high alpha.

228

So slow speed, high alpha, high AOA, angle of attack.

229

32, safety.

230

Let's slow it down for the slow speed pass.

231

All right, next up, he's going to start from right to left, setting up our weapon bay door pass.

232

From right to left, he's going to enter the vertical.

233

At 4,500 feet, he's going to hold onto his back inverted.

234

As his nose crosses through the horizon, he's gonna execute a pedal turn or mark- Morkshire mechanics.

235

Alright, next up he's gonna be executing the tactical pitch from right to left.

236

He's gonna go max AB, roll 45 degrees of right wing down, and then max reform the jet.

237

So what this is gonna do is allow, he's gonna essentially squat the jet to rapidly reorient his nose and lift vector.

238

Yeah, so in a dogfight you're saying this is something you guys would do?

239

Potentially, yeah.

240

All righty.

241

Tickets.

242

At about 0.6, 0.7 miles, he's going to go idle with his left hand, and the jet is going to smoothly transition to the hover.

243

I feel like this has to be like the crowd favorite, right?

244

This is what everybody wants to see.

245

They always ask, are you guys going to hover, right?

246

This is the hover.

247

Everyone's wanted to see it.

248

Let's show them how slow we can really go.

249

Bring it to a stop.

250

Show center.

251

We'll do it.

252

Well, a huge thanks to the warlords of VMFAT 501 here

253

at Marine Corps Air Station Buford for giving us the chance to check out the F-35 Bravo in action.

254

If any of you have any more questions about this aircraft, leave them down in the comments below and we'll see what we can do to answer them.

255

One small favor to ask, don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

256

We are on a journey to 1 million subscribers and we're getting close.

257

I think that's a wrap though.

258

So we're signing out and I'll catch you next time.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Flying the Marine Corps’ $100M F-35B Stealth Fighter Jet - Learn English Speaking with Video

About This Lesson

What is the Shadowing Technique?