15 F-35s grounded due to supplier mistake

a reply to: aholic

Add in the Depot and it's a miracle our fleets aren't in worse shape.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It is a little concerning that given the high profile failures on this new project that someone didn't spot this earlier.

Quality control is always mind numbing but in these cases it's absolutely vital.

a reply to: TheBogmonster

With where the line is they're only going to find it after it's been soaked in fuel for awhile. That requires either going into fuel cell, or, as in this case, a Depot check. Short of it causing a blockage it's not the kind of problem you'll usually find in a casual check. You might find evidence of something in a JOAP check but that's about it. Especially with it only affecting the A's.

Corner cutting usually goes hand in hand with planned obsolescence in my experience.
Sounds almost culpable though unless there were notices that clearly disclosed the expiration life.
Then again it might have been a small contractor outside the loop brought in at the last moment to do a custom installation.

a reply to: Cauliflower

They have three contractors producing the lines, and there have been some odd small companies involved in big programs lately, so it may have been.

We had a Chinese company replace Coconut Husk Fibres (food stuff and biodegradable) with asbestos Fibres (toxic, pollutant).

The certificates were fine, we would never have known but some plucky customs guy had the stuff tested.

Could it be that the product had gone past its shelf life or stored incorrectly or was it completely incorrect material? Suppose it will come out in the investigation, there is a reason aircraft parts are so expensive, part of which is traceability and testing.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The government is always wanting small (women, minority or disabled veteran) owned businesses bidding on or subcontracting on contracts.

It could be an inexperienced vendor made a mistake or an unscrupulous vendor doing shoddy work.

a reply to: grey580

The government is always wanting small (women, minority or disabled veteran) owned businesses bidding on or subcontracting on contracts.

It's interesting the way that works. In essence, in some cases, a certain percentage is shaved off the bid price of such subcontractors. But only for bid analysis purposes. The contract is executed at the full bid amount. In other cases, only those subcontractors are considered as eligible bidders.

I'm not sure how it would work in this case.

Heres an interesting article about the F35 from Aussie aviation..www.ausairpower.net...

Lockheed will pay for the fix. Both the Air Force and Lockheed have sent quality control people to the supplier to assist with fixing the lines on their end. The supplier in question is a small scale supplier brought on to assist with production ramp up.

The Air Force is doing a risk assessment and may start flying the grounded aircraft again. They said the lines are in the leading edge and getting from there to the back of the wing is difficult.

www.flightglobal.com...

Lockheed is testing a fix next week. It involves opening the wing, replacing the line and cleaning the tank out, then closing the wing up.

aviationweek.com...

The first aircraft are expected to be returned to service by next month. Norway expects to have both their aircraft flying by the end of November. The insulation is being removed, and filters are being added to stop anything they miss.

Work on the first four aircraft began October 7th, and was expected to take 3 weeks. All 15 aircraft are expected to fly before the end of the year.

m.aviationweek.com...

The first two aircraft returned to flight October 24th, at Hill AFB, with another three scheduled to be completed November 4th. The repair consists of AF techs defuel the aircraft and remove the panels on the wings. A contract team then cuts into the wing at specific points in the fuel tank. They are removing the insulation, and placing a screen in place to prevent anything from blocking the fuel siphon tubes.

aviationweek.com...

The first Norwegian aircraft flew at Luke AFB on Friday, and the third US aircraft flew at Hill, with two more US aircraft scheduled to be completed by the end of Friday, and flying this week. The last aircraft is expected to be completed by April of 2017. There were 57 total aircraft affected between the production line, and flying.

All 13 US aircraft that are operational have been repaired and are back in service. Lockheed has 7 completed on the production line, and four more in the process of being completed.