F-35 passes cumulative 10,000 flight hour mark

The F-35 flight testing program just marked it's 10,000th flight hour:

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program continues its operational maturation, surpassing 10,000 flight hours in September.

More than half of the total hours were accumulated in just the past 11 months. Through September, F-35s flew 6,492 times for a total of 10,077 flight hours. The new milestone effectively doubles the safe flight operations of the F-35 in a year, compared to reaching 5,000 flight hours in six years.

The last paragraph is significant.  It shows not only marked progress with the program and testing, but it points to a very reliable and safe aircraft - 5,000 combined flight hours in 11 months.

Say what they will, but critics are going to continue to have a tough time dissing this aircraft as a probable "hanger queen" and they're certainly going to have a tough time claiming that it isn't making progress.

Graff