The F-15 grounding

[Baradium]

As many of you likely know already, all the US F-15s, excepting the few F-15E Strike Eagles have been grounded since November after an in flight breakup of an F-15 involved in normal training exercises over the Southeastern US.

I haven't actually seen anything posted on the forum so I figured now would be an opportune time to start a discussion...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071226/ap_on_re_us/grounded_f15s

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 26, 4:00 PM ET
 


FRESNO, Calif. - The grounding of hundreds of F-15s because of dangerous structural defects is straining the nation's air defense network, forcing some states to rely on their neighbors' fighter jets for protection, and Alaska to depend on the Canadian military.
 
The F-15 is the sole fighter at many of the 16 or so "alert" sites around the country, where planes and pilots stand ready to take off at a moment's notice to intercept hijacked airliners, Cessnas that wander into protected airspace, and other threats.

The Air Force grounded about 450 F-15s after one of the fighters began to break apart in the air and crashed Nov. 2 in Missouri. An Air Force investigation found "possible fleet-wide airworthiness problems" because of defects in the metal rails that hold the fuselage together. It is not clear when the F-15s will be allowed to fly again.

Compounding the problem created by the grounding, another fighter jet used for homeland defense, the F-16, is in high demand for Iraq operations. And the next-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor, is only slowly replacing the aging F-15.

Military officials say they moved quickly to patch any holes in the homeland air-defense system, and they report an increase in air defense sorties in the past month, using replacement F-16s. But they acknowledge difficulties.

"When you're filling in, obviously it's going to cause some strain," said Mike Strickler, a spokesman with North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which is operated by the U.S. and Canada. "You're spreading resources a little thinner than we would like."

But air defenses have not been compromised, Strickler said. "We can be anywhere at any time," he said.

With the F-15s in Massachusetts out of commission, the Vermont Air National Guard is covering the whole Northeast. The Minnesota Air National Guard is manning sites in Hawaii. In Louisiana, the Illinois Air National Guard has been filling in.

And with Oregon's fighters grounded, the California Air National Guard is standing watch for the entire West Coast, an area of more than 300,000 square miles that is home to more than 46 million people in California, Oregon, Washington, and slices of Arizona and Nevada.

The California Air National Guard said this is first time in history that a single state's fighter wing is providing coverage for an entire coast.

The California Guard is keeping three alert sites — in Riverside and Fresno, Calif., and Portland, Ore. — equipped and staffed with pilots and mechanics.

"As a unit we're kind of stressed, but everyone's accepting this as a challenge and all the men and women of the unit are acting as professionally as you could ever hope for," said Col. Gary Taylor, operations group commander for the Fresno-based 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard.

The unit has had to borrow F-16s from bases in Indiana and Arizona and trim back training for certain overseas operations.

A relatively small number of F-15s — the model known as the F-15E Strike Eagle — were not found to have the structural problem, and are unaffected by the grounding.

For three weeks in November, Canadian CF-18s filled in for the F-15s over Alaska. Several times, the Canadian fighters scrambled to "do an identification" of Russian bombers flying exercises outside U.S. airspace near Alaska, said Maj. Mike Lagace, a Canadian military spokesman for NORAD.

"We flew up, met with the long-range patrol, basically let them know, `Hi, folks, we're here too,'" Lagace said. Russian warplanes have been flying exercises near Alaska and Canada with increasing frequency in recent months.

Now, a brand-new squadron of F-22s based in Alaska is standing in for the state's grounded F-15s, said Tech. Sgt. Mikal R. Canfield, a spokesman at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

As for the F-15 pilots in Portland who have been largely idled by the no-fly order, they have told the visiting California airmen they are eager to get back in the cockpit.

"They're thankful for our help," said Col. Ryan A. Orian, the 144th Fighter Wing's vice commander. "But they'd love for us to leave."

[BrianGMFS]

Yep, I know all about it.... The Mass Air Guard used to be the primary Northeast Air Defence unit running F-15's from Cape Cod, Now the Green Mountain Boys are covering the Northeast with the F-16's out of Burlington, It's been a little noisier at work than usual

[TheSoccerMom]

Good thing you enjoy that Airplane Noise, right Brian?!?   

Reading that article, I bet a few of those Minnesota Guard folks aren't too heartbroken to get assigned to Hawai'i....  in December....  ha!   

 

[undatc]

Wow, I had heard about it, but thought they resolved the issue.  Guess not. 

[Baradium]

Wow, I had heard about it, but thought they resolved the issue.  Guess not. 

I read another article about the guy in the plane that broke apart.  He was smashed against the side and couldn't move that side, couldn't use it at all trying to eject.  Eventually got it.   He thought he was going to actually lose his arm it was so badly broken.  It sounds like he'll be able to keep it, but no word on how much use he'll have.   He's a civilian pilot for SWA so I hope he can at least keep his FAA medical...

[BrianGMFS]

Good thing you enjoy that Airplane Noise, right Brian?!?  

Pretty much... but if I'm on the ramp without my hearing protection (happen's sometimes) a F-16, 100 yards away in full burner is a tad bit loud

Brian

[Oddball]

Defence
SUBSCRIBEYou are in: Home › Defence › News Article
 
DATE:13/12/07
SOURCE:Flightglobal.com
USAF begins new crack checks as F-15s stay grounded
By Graham Warwick
A fourth wave of inspections has begun on US Air Force Boeing F-15 Eagles, as the service widens the search for fatigue cracking. So far cracks have been found in the fuselage longerons of eight F-15C fighters.
This will be the third time USAF F-15A-D fighters have gone through checks, but even if cleared they will not return flight until after an investigation into the 2 November crash of an F-15C due to structural failure is completed.
F-15E Strike Eagles have been returned to flight, and Air Combat Command says 222 of its 224 E models have been inspected and cleared for operations. The remaining two are in depot maintenance.
 
© US Air Force
Of the USAF's 442 F-15A-D models, 435 have undergone the first inspection (seven are in depot), and 425 of those have undergone a second inspection, called a time compliance technical order (TCTO).
The ACC says these two TCTOs resulted in the discovery of longeron cracks in the area of the canopy on eight F-15Cs: four with the Oregon Air Nation Guard; two at Kadena AB in Japan; one at Tyndall AFB, Florida; and one with the Missouri Air National Guard, which also operated the aircraft that crashed. All the affected aircraft were built between 1978 and 1985.
The latest TCTO check, the third involving the A-D models, began on 11 December and expands the inspection area on the longerons. This comes after additional defects were found during examination of the F-15C that crashed after breaking apart in flight. The new non-destructive inspections will take 18h for single-seaters and 22.5h for two-seaters.

this was taken from flight international
Ian 

[undatc]

There was a story last night on ABC world news that the fleet is grounded indefinitely and may never be returned to service due to the 'faulty support beam'.  To much money and what not.


Looks like the F22/F35 programs are gonna get some more money dumped into them.