F15`s grounded again

www.defenseindustrydaily.com...

following the grounding after the crash in missouri , flight status has been resumed for F-15 A-D`s - this has now been revoked and the Eagles are back on the Tarmac following the publishing of the reports early findings.

The aircraft are time life expired.

Japan and Israel have also grounded there aircraft , and the USAF has speed restriccted ALL f-15`s to mach 1.5 or below.


in another thread there was discussion about putting AESA into the C models - im sorry but this won`t be happening - the entire fleet in on the ground as the airframes are shot.


edit:


I can actually see this as a good thing - why waste money putting aesa into an aircraft that might never fly again when they could buy more raptors - the defence of conus is at stake...

[edit on 30/11/07 by Harlequin]

Hmm. This is indeed a problem for the USAF. With the aircraft being grounded, this makes me wonder how far behind the F-16's are. It is, however, a boon for the F-22 and its supporters since the aircraft is basically necessary in order to bring the AF back up to spec.

What makes me really wonder, however, is the comparison to the Rusian Su-27s still in service. If the F-15's are at the end of their lives, what does this mean for the Su-27? We're all well aware that the Flankers don't get nearly the air time as the F-15's, but it also means that Russia is going to have to replace them pretty darn pronto.

Well lets get as much info as we can. Flight global has got a bit more on what the issue is.

www.flightglobal.com...

An ongoing investigation of a 2 November crash is focusing on potential failure of the F-15’s upper longerons near the canopy seal.

Recent inspections found cracks in this same area on two other F-15Cs. A Boeing simulation analysis shows such cracks could lead to “catastrophic failure”, the air force says.

Put simply not a good problem to have.

[edit on 22/08/06 by Canada_EH]

Possible Longeron that is being the issue on the F-15's highlighted in above image.

[edit on 22/08/06 by Canada_EH]

have a star - great research

This is effecting the entire fleet - and a decision will have to be made - fix them and find the money from (very likely) F35 procurement - or the best option is to order more F22`s and be prepared that the F15 A-D will only fly in teh event of a major war.

Eep!

Are they all grounded then, or just airframes of a certain age/ air time?

I guess even if they fix this specific problem, there would still be question marks over the rest of the airframes?

[edit on 2-12-2007 by Stoo]

All A-Ds until the longerons are inspected. These are slightly important as they're what holds the fuselage together, and transfers stress to the frame during maneuvering. The bird that crashed causing the initial grounded had cracked and broken longerons, and it broke apart in flight. During inspections they found two more like that.

Yikes...

How many revisions are there? Is this a massive percentage of the F15 fleet?

That's all of the fighter versions. The E model Strike Eagles are ok to keep flying but all of the fighters version F-15s are sitting on the ground until they are all inspected.

A big thank you to Mira_of_lurk0more! This is a great article I just got sent.

Canadian CF-18 fighter jets helped plug a hole in U.S. air defences for almost two weeks this month after American jets were grounded as part of a crash investigation.

The request to fill in for U.S. F-15s over the Alaskan coast was considered an urgent priority for NORAD, especially in light of the return of Russian strategic bombers to Arctic patrols.

Although not unprecedented, defence officials said the now-concluded operation was one of those "extremely rare" occasions when Canada was able to contribute to the defence of its much larger neighbour.

The aircraft are now back at their home base in Bagotville, Que., and the air force was able to lift what was described as a veil of operational security.

"I can't say precisely how many CF-18s were involved, but certainly there were a few," said Maj. Mike Lagace, a spokesman for Canadian NORAD operations, based in Winnipeg.

"We really don't want to say very much in case they're called on again."

www.cbc.ca...

This took place during the first grounding, because there were not enough F-22s available to cover everywhere, as they hoped. With such a short time between groundings, I guarantee that this is happening again. I know that the Missouri ANG is out in Hawaii sitting alert in their F-16s while the Eagles are on the deck. Again though they won't say how many of them are there, just that it's enough to do the mission.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Got to luv how the the USAF ego has to still take a shot at the CF when they step up and save there butts. Seriously we have been doing just fine intercepting bears for the past 15 years and will keep on doing it. Neat article Zaph thanks for adding one more thing to my ammo of why its stupid for the USAF or NATO to write off the CF.

www.defensetech.org...


the above link reports a 3rd aircraft has been found with cracks in the longerons and the F15 fleet is indefinately grounded.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday it had grounded all its older-model F-15 fighter jets, as many as 450 aircraft, for the third time in four weeks, after finding cracks in a third aircraft under a tightened inspection routine.

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington that the latest F-15 "stand down" underscored the need to extend Lockheed Martin Corp's production line for the F-22 fighter, designed to replace the Cold War-era F-15s.

reply to post by Harlequin

for the third time in four weeks,

I wasn't aware that the airframes where ever released for flight after the 2nd grounding. Is this just another example of a mixed information on the "papers" part? Also the link your provided is to the F-35 and is in reference to another post on another thread. Just watchin out for you lol jks. Thanks for the update.


[edit on 22/08/06 by Canada_EH]

i concur - i also wasn`t aware flight ops had resumed - but since there appears at first glance - 10% of the fleet has longeron issues - can anyone honestly say they will fly again? replacement of such a critical part is no `easy` by any stretch of the imagination.

reply to post by Harlequin


The USAF had talked about the golden Eagle Prgram that would include the avionics updates etc its a matter of would they be willing to follow through with the 150ish planes (A-D) they wanted to keep on and pump out the extra for the structure

or , as mentioned in the reuters article - just use the grounding of the CONUS air defence as a reason to order another 150+ raptors

reply to post by Canada_EH


All F-15s were returned to service after inspections were carried out. The E models were the first to return to service, followed a few days later by the A-D models. Within a week of them being returned to service, the ARB report came out and cited the cracks found during the inspections, and the cracks found on the accident bird as the preliminary cause. This led to ACC grounding all A-D models a second time.

All F-15 A-D models will remain grounded even after completion of inspections, until the accident investigation is completed, and a solution to the cracking longerons is developed.

Well more of the same and a lil different info from the USAF.
www.af.mil...

These findings, based on a metallurgical analysis of the mishap aircraft, continue to focus on the F-15's upper longerons near the canopy of the aircraft....

Computer simulations have indicated a catastrophic structural failure could result from cracks in the longerons. To date, longeron cracks have been discovered in an additional four aircraft. These aircraft are awaiting further engineering instructions before they are returned to operational status.

We are up to 4 aircraft now. That 10% figure is looking pretty close.

More news on the status of the inspections. We are now up to 8 aircraft with cracks, though Langleys 15's are none of them.

Maintainers at Langley have found no cracks or evidence of fatigue in F-15 longerons so far; however, throughout the Air Force, maintainers have found cracks in the upper longerons of eight F-15s (as of Dec. 10). Four of these aircraft are assigned to the Air National Guard's 173rd Fighter Wing, Kingsley Field, Ore.; two are assigned to the 18th Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan; another is assigned to the 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB, Fla.; and one assigned to the ANG 131st Fighter Wing, St. Louis, Mo.

According to Capt. Timothy Blasiman, 71st Aircraft Maintenance Unit officer in charge here, his team and other maintenance back shops are working around the clock to conduct these inspections.
Each of the 20 F-15s assigned to Langley require a minimum inspection time of 12.5 hours. Some F-15 models elsewhere require inspections that take more than 20 hours. The B and D models are more time consuming, said Captain Blasiman, because they have two seats. The rear seat requires removal to access the upper longerons.

Again looks like we where right about the 24/7 thing though I never really doubt how seriously they would take the Time Compliance Technical Order inspections. The addition of the removal of the seat really does add alot of time to the B and D inspections so expect C models to be airworthy first if they are allowed to return to flight.
www.acc.af.mil...



[edit on 22/08/06 by Canada_EH]