YF-23 DEM/VAL Presentation by Test Pilots Paul Metz and Jim Sandberg
Why Aviation Stack Exchange recommends it
Aviation Stack Exchange answerers point people to it for first-hand test pilot accounts of the YF-23 program and why it lost the ATF competition to the YF-22.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2015 to 2023.
What it is
A nearly hour-long presentation by YF-23 test pilots Paul Metz and Jim Sandberg, marking the 25th anniversary of the aircraft's first flight. They describe the Demonstration/Validation phase of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program and the YF-23's test flying. It was recorded for Peninsula Seniors and posted in 2015.
Cited in 4 Wikipedia articles, including Northrop YF-23, Advanced Tactical Fighter, General Electric YF120.
What people said
Cites Brinn Belyea · 2015-10 · Aviation Stack Exchange · on “Why did the YF-23 never enter service?”
The Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition was different than some of the other fighter competitions. The planes never squared off in any kind of mock combat. The pilots who flew the YF-22 never flew the YF-23 so there was no way to directly compare the 2 in that way. The competition focused on whether or not the planes met the requirements. Both aircraft met the requirements so the decision is said to have come down to assessments of the ability of the competing contractors to deliver the aircraft. Northrop was busy with the B-2 and the YF-22 was thought to be more fully developed and more ready to turn into the F-22. Some have claimed [this video] that Lockheed made a better sales pitch. I
Cites Hephaestus Aetnaean · 2017-10 · Aviation Stack Exchange · on “Were RCS tests performed on the ATF YF-22/YF-23 prototypes?”
Also, here's the YF-23 DEM/VAL presentation by Paul Metz and Jim Sandberg [this video] . It's been too long since I've watched it to recall whether they touched on pole testing.
Cites Krishty · 2020-02 · Aviation Stack Exchange · on “Why did the YF-23 never enter service?”
The decision was non-technical You can hear it from the test pilots themselves: The rating was actually based on stop lights. Individual requirements (e.g. supercruise) could be rated red, yellow, or green. At the end of the test program, both planes rated green on all requirements. This was all Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice had been given to decide. So the decision had to be made on a non-technical base. Rice had more confidence in the project management of Lockheed (this is consistent with the Global Security quote in Schwern’s answer [LINK] ). He was probably strongly influenced by the fact that the YF-22 demonstrated missile launches and the YF-23 did not (even though it had
Cites Jim In Texas · 2023-02 · Aviation Stack Exchange · on “Were RCS tests performed on the ATF YF-22/YF-23 prototypes?”
Low radar cross section [LINK] (RCS) was a principal 1986 requirement for the Advanced Tactical Fighter [LINK] (ATF) selection program that selected the YF-22 and YF-23 prototypes for a fly-off competition. I am certain that both prototypes, or at least accurate models, were pole-tested during the evaluation period. Remember, this was in 1986, when computer modeling of RCS was in its very early stages of development. This testing was probably done at either the Area 51 RCS test range [LINK] , or Lockheed's Helendale RCS test range [LINK] . For more first hand information about the YF-23, see this YouTube video [this video] .