My question is why are these pilots going to 60 minutes? For one thing, they'll be probably be fired and they may never work in commercial aviation as a result. That means the substantial reward of having their prerequisites for high paying aviation jobs as, say, 747 captains, will be lost. Second, when there are problems during a flight and the pilot reports it, doesn't anybody listen? One would think so considering the cost of these machines and the high cost of training pilots that can fly them.
I know the f22 is a political hot potato because it's generally regarded as needlessly complex and expensive for today's fighter plane needs. How much does politics have to do with this?
I have a hard time understanding how they could legitimately be allowed to get as expensive as they are. The value per dollar seems very very low.
Finally, have the pilots gotten out of touch with the risks of their jobs? They are, after all, working in very complex machines, of which only a few have been made, so there are bound to be bugs.
Cost per unit ranges between 200 million per plane and 350 million dollars per plane, depending on how you calculate it. This includes development costs for the approximately 180 planes that have been produced. Pretty pricey for what John McCain calls "a plane without a mission". Lockheed says that the best weapon is the one that is never used. Total cost of the program was about $80 billiion, which, to me, may not be excessive if a lot of value is derived from the project. It appears that the value is the most questionable aspect of this plane.
My take on it is that this may just be an expensive way of upgrading plane technology, and that the technology will essentially be given for free to our potential enemies by the next president with sensibilities like Clinton, who gave away so much submarine technology.
