AF-4, an F-35A Lightning II conventional takeoff and landing test aircraft that is now equipped with a spin recovery parachute was flown to rapidly expand the type’s high angle of attack, or AOA, test envelope to its fifty degree limit in only four sorties during November 2012 at the US Air Force Test Center at Edward AFB, California. High AOA testing will continue on the F-35A for the next several months and will verify both aerodynamic loading on the aircraft as well as the capabilities of the fighter’s flight control system.
