BUFF 8 Posted February 19, 2008 By Bruce Rolfsen - brolfsen@militarytimes.com Posted : Tuesday Feb 19, 2008 15:04:52 EST All but a handful of the Air Force’s F-15 Eagles can return to flight, Air Combat Command has decided. The 149 Eagles grounded because key structural parts didn’t meet the original design specifications can fly again once each jet has passed an additional set of inspections, an ACC spokesman said. With the inspections taking six to eight hours for each jet, most of the F-15s should be back in the air in two to three weeks. The decision to allow the 149 jets to begin operating again will give the service 429 flying A through D-model Eagles. Nine F-15s will remain grounded because inspections turned up cracks in the metal beams reinforce the jet’s fuselage. Air Combat Command boss Gen. John Corley reached the return to flight decision on Feb. 15 after his Air Force Materiel Command counterpart, Gen. Bruce Carlson approved a new inspection regime for the jets. While ACC operates most of the Air Force’s F-15s, AFMC has overall responsibility for the jets’ long-term health and sustainment. The F-15s were first grounded on Nov. 3, the day after a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C broke apart in flight while in a nearly 8-G turn. The pilot survived ejecting from the tumbling cockpit. A two-month-long investigation determined that the F-15C broke apart because one of the support beams, called a longeron, had cracked apart because the beam was too thin to handle high-stress of combat maneuvering. A fleet-wide check of other F-15s discovered that nine had similar cracks and another 149 had thin or rough surfaced longerons but no cracks. At first, F-15E Strike Eagles were also grounded but once they passed inspections in November, the bomber version of the F-15 was put back in the air. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
