'The Eagles are released from the cage'

by Airman 1st Class Chase Skylar DeMayo
1st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

1/8/2008 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- After a month-long stand-down, the 71st Fighter Squadron launched the first of their F-15C fleet Jan. 9 at 9:30 a.m.

Eagle pilots and maintainers quickly responded to the announcement by Gen. John D.W. Corley, commander of ACC, that the Eagle was ready to soar again.

Lt. Col. Robert Garland, 71st FS commander, led the six-ship Eagle formation on its first flight in more than a month, reinstating the Ironmen as a lethal weapon for the United States.

"The Eagles are released from the cage," said Colonel Garland. "The 1st Fighter Wing will once again have three combat mission ready fighter squadrons to utilize at a moment's notice. We have been waiting 44 days for this announcement - we're ready to get right back in the game."

The pilots who lost currency due to not flying for several weeks will be expected to launch and land their jet with an instructor pilot in order to continue missions they flew prior to the stand-down. Although certain qualifications were lost, the Ironmen were able to spend more time on training - in and out of the classroom.

"Our pilots were able to work on academics during the stand-down, ensuring the most senior pilot and the newest pilot are on the same page to better our flying operations," said Colonel Garland. "Although we weren't able to fly, our squadron was able to maintain the same standards we always have."

During the stand-down, maintainers were able to keep up with all of their training and requirements. The long weeks and hours maintainers put into the more than 20-year-old jets leaves little time for ancillary training or keeping up with their career development courses.

"It's been an interesting month," said Senior Airman Michael McCann, 1st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief. "We were willing to do whatever it took to launch our jets again."

Since 1976, the Ironmen have led the way for other Air Combat Command F-15 bases, taking an active role in Operation Desert Storm and most recently Operation Noble Eagle.

"We knew it was important to maintain all of our standards here and launch as soon as we could," said Airman McCann. "We want people to say, 'If the Ironmen are launching, then the other F-15 bases are ready.'"

Source: http://www.langley.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123081458

Scores of F-15s Likely to Stay Grounded
By Julian E. Barnes | January 09, 2008

The Air Force is likely to order dozens of its F-15 fighter jets permanently grounded because of critical structural flaws, significantly reducing the number of planes available to protect the United States, officials said Tuesday.

After one of the fighters broke apart during a simulated dogfight in November, Air Force officials grounded the entire F-15 fleet, nearly 700 planes, fearing such a defect. The newest versions of the fighter jets were allowed to resume flying shortly afterward, but 440 of the older model F-15s have remained out of service.

The Air Force plans to allow about 260 of the remaining grounded planes to return to duty today. About 180 will remain idle because of suspected structural flaws.

"Many of them may never fly again," said a senior Air Force officer. The officer, like others interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity because results of the investigation were not to be made public until today.

Many of the F-15s, long the nation's most sophisticated front- line fighters, have been around for 30 years, and the fleet is being replaced gradually. The Air Force still relies on F-15s to protect the continental United States and to fly combat missions abroad. Newer model F-15Es are used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and were the first of the planes to resume flying after the mishap in November.

The problems with the F-15, Air Force officials argue, have increased the need to buy additional F-22s, a swift and stealthy but expensive new fighter plane.

"This is grave," said a senior Air Force official. "Two hundred of our air superiority aircraft are on the ground, and we are acting like it is business as usual."

An investigation of the Nov. 2 crash shows the F-15 that broke apart in midair had a fault in a crucial support component called a longeron, a structural beam that serves as part of the spine of the aircraft. F-15s have four longerons around the cockpit.

Air Force officials have not yet learned how a defective beam came to be installed in the plane when it was manufactured in 1980. But Air Force officials emphasized that the age of the airframe, combined with the faulty part, put the older F-15s at risk.

There is one squadron of about 20 F-15s based at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. Langley spokeswoman Lt. Georganne Schultz said Tuesday night that the base has not received any word that its jets will be among those permanently grounded.

Source: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1 ... html?wh=wh

Vt. Air Guard Prepares For New Mission

POSTED: 7:21 pm EST January 8, 2008
UPDATED: 7:38 pm EST January 8, 2008

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The Vermont Air National Guard will begin a new mission at midnight on Tuesday.

The F-16 fighters and the crews that maintain and fly them will now be on 24-hour alert, ready to patrol the skies over the northeast, NewsChannel 5 reported.

Protecting the region is not a new role for Vermont's 158th Fighter Wing -- they stood ready during the Cold War, after the events of Sept. 11, and over the last few months, had their F-16s standing by at Virginia's Langley Air Force Base.

"We're excited," said Maj. Brian Waters. "We're just going to continue the mission up here. So, instead of protecting the capital, we're protecting the East Coast, Boston and obviously our home front."

The new mission officially begins on Wednesday, but the wing has been on alert for the last few weeks after another unit's F-15s were grounded.

"We've stepped up the pace with everyone on base. We took it in stride with a smile on our faces and a great attitude. We're ready to do it," said Waters.

Burlington International Airport needs to be ready to support the new mission as well. Airport Manager Brian Searles said if it is snowing they'll add overnight crews to clear runways which could mean more maintenance costs. But he said he is more concerned with requirements for the new mission.

"We're hosting this alert mission with a closed tower between midnight and 5:30 a.m., and although the FAA has put safeguards in place we certainly would feel better if our tower was open," said Searles.

The Air Guard said they will be standing ready but they don't anticipate being called out for real missions very often.

The wing commander said there also shouldn't be any added noise during the night.

Source (video included): http://www.wptz.com/news/15007092/detai ... a&psp=news

Is that really non-related to grounded F-15s?

One of the associated photos:

Look at the BRAC list J.J.

Many of the new ASA assignments are set to begin this year. Some moving from base to base, others from airframe to airframe. All are ANG.

Hawaii F-15 fighter jets checked, 13 clear to fly

By Dave Dondoneau
Advertiser Staff Writer

Thirteen of 20 Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets stationed at Hickam Air Force Base returned to the air yesterday without limitations, the commander of the 154th Wing said.

The wing's remaining F-15 Eagles remain grounded and are awaiting clearance from Air Combat Command on the Mainland.

"Every one of our F-15s went through intense maintenance checks to get back in the air," said Brig. Gen. Peter S. Pawling of the Hawai'i Air National Guard. "All 13 that were cleared were given full-up status, meaning they can perform without limitation. No repairs were needed for any. The other seven we haven't heard back on yet."

F-15s around the world have been grounded since Nov. 3, the day after an Air National Guard F-15C in Missouri experienced catastrophic structural failure and broke apart in flight during basic maneuver training.

Air Force officials in Virginia said yesterday that inspections of all F-15s are 90 percent completed and that 60 percent have been given return to fly orders. The inspections led to discovering nine more F-15s with fatigue cracks along the structure that failed in the Missouri crash.

Hawai'i Air National Guard Tech Sgt. David Heulitt and Master Sgt. Jason Koga were on maintenance crews that inspected Hickam's 20 jets over the past two months.

Heulitt said none of Hickam's planes had cracks, but an ultrasonic test used to check structures for their thickness revealed dimensions differing from the Air Force's blueprint specifications in several spots on the seven grounded planes.

"We here don't know what that exactly means," Heulitt said. "We were given four tests, very in-depth, to perform on each plane and then we sent the information gathered to a team in Georgia. We were not told if the specs we collect pass or fail. They were just different from what we were given. We conducted the tests, collected the data and sent it to them to review. We haven't heard back yet, but that could be because they haven't looked at those planes yet."

Pawling calls the F-15 series the "last of the dogfighting" planes, and said all the ones stationed in Hawai'i were built in the mid-1970s.

Since the fighter jets have been grounded, an F-16 squadron from Duluth, Minn., has been at Hickam covering the wing's F-15 assignments. Pawling estimates the F-15 pilots missed more than 600 sorties the past two months.

"We have 27 F-15 pilots here who've been itching to get out flying again," Pawling said. "They've been training in simulators, but nothing replaces the experience of flying. Skills like taking off and landing don't deteriorate, but we find that what a pilot loses fairly rapidly is combat skills after a month or so. (Yesterday), we got all 13 F-15s into the air and went through some very basic training maneuvers."

Capt. Phillip Malloy has been flying F-15s since 2000 and after two months of using simulators, he said getting back into the air yesterday was "incredible."

"We were all concerned after what happened in Missouri," Malloy said. "It was the best thing for us to get the maintenance checks and make sure we had no cracks ... but nothing replaces flying."

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/ ... 018/NEWS08

F-15 Eagle accident report released

1/10/2008 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- A failure of the upper right longeron, a critical support structure in the F-15C Eagle, caused the accident of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C, four miles south-southeast of Boss, Missouri, Nov 2.

According to the Air Combat Command Accident Investigation Board report released Jan. 10, a technical analysis of the recovered F-15C wreckage determined that the longeron didn't meet blueprint specifications. This defect led to a series of fatigue cracks in the right upper longeron. These cracks expanded under life cycle stress, causing the longeron to fail, which initiated a catastrophic failure of the remaining support structures and led to the aircraft breaking apart in flight.

The pilot received injuries to his left shoulder and arm prior to ejecting from the aircraft. The $41.7 million aircraft, assigned to the Missouri Air National Guard's 131st Fighter Wing, was destroyed on impact. There were no fatalities. The pilot was the only person aboard the single-seat F-15C. The crash caused minimal damage to private property.

The board president, Col. William Wignall, a senior F-15 pilot, noted the pilot's actions during the mishap sequence were focused, precise and appropriate. The pilot's actions did not contribute to the mishap, said Colonel Wignall. In addition, a thorough review of local maintenance procedures revealed no problems or adverse trends which could have contributed to the accident.

For more information, contact the ACC Public Affairs office at (757) 764-5007 or e-mail accpa.operations@langley.af.mil. To download the report's executive summary, statement of facts and statement of opinion, visit: http://www.acc.af.mil/aibreports/.

Source (including video "Accident Investigation"): http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123081718

I'll have to look it up but I'm almost positive that FCF isn't required after only 30 days. I believe that's at the 90 day mark. Will be interesting, thats for sure.

According to the 21-101, FCF's are only required for situations where the Group deems it necessary.

Air Force leaders discuss F-15 accident, future

by Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

1/10/2008 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Senior Air Force leaders gathered for a press conference here Jan. 10 to share findings from the accident investigation board currently examining the Nov. 2 crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C Eagle.

The upper right longeron -- one of four metal beams that help hold the cockpit to the main fuselage -- was found to have manufacturing defects, said Col. William Wignall, the head of the accident investigation.

The one longeron, already not up to design specifications, cracked apart under the stress of a 7G turn, the colonel said. This led to the other longerons failing as well, which then caused the cockpit to separate from the rest of the fuselage. The pilot was able to eject, but suffered a broken arm when the canopy snapped off.

The incident led to the grounding of the Air Force's F-15 fleet. As of Jan. 9, the Air Force approved 60 percent of F-15 A through D models to return to service with no flight restrictions.

"We've had great involvement from Boeing during the investigation," Colonel Wignall said. "In fact, they're the ones who determined the longeron was the problem. This was then confirmed by the Air Force Research Laboratory."

During the fleet's grounding, every F-15 base conducted a series of detailed inspections. During that timeframe, nine other F-15s have been found to have similar cracks in their longerons.

The difficulty is that issues have been found with F-15s built between 1978 and 1985, across A through D models at several bases, so no one source of the problem can be isolated, said Gen. John D.W. Corley, the commander of Air Combat Command.

"This isn't just about one pilot in one aircraft with one bad part," General Corley said. "I have a fleet that is 100 percent fatigued, and 40 percent of that has bad parts. The long-term future of the F-15 is in question."

In the meantime, F-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15E Strike Eagle pilots have picked up the F-15s usual mission of patrolling and defending American airspace and interests.

That has had a ripple effect among those pilots' missions, General Corley said.

"We don't have a full and healthy fleet, so we've gotten behind on training missions, instructor certifications, classes and exercises," he said. "And in the meantime, our pilots have to be ready to deploy."

For some of the nine F-15s that have longeron cracks, it may be cost prohibited to repair them, General Corley said. The Air Force is scheduled to retire some of these aircraft in the next fiscal year.

"We're going over each and every aircraft to make a determination," he said. "We will take some F-15s out of the inventory. It just doesn't make sense to spend the time and money if it won't be worth it for some aircraft."

The Air Force first began flying the F-15 in 1972 and has 665 F-15s and F-15Es in its inventory. Its replacement, the fifth generation F-22, is currently in production with active squadrons at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

Source: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123081759

D.C. Guard helps protect Louisiana skies

By Patrick Winn - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2008 12:33:37 EST

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. — F-16s from the District of Columbia Air National Guard are in Louisiana to defend a region typically manned by grounded F-15s.

In early January, airmen from the 113th maintenance, mission support and operations groups of the D.C. Air National Guard deployed to Naval Air Station New Orleans to prop up the region’s Air Sovereignty Alert mission. Many F-15s that traditionally defend those skies remain grounded.

A nonfatal Missouri Air National Guard F-15 crash in November prompted Air Force leaders to ground early-model F-15s and evaluate their structural integrity. A decision on the return to flight of 191 grounded F-15 Eagles will be made on a “plane-by-plane basis,” the head of Air Combat Command, Gen. John Corley said last week at the Pentagon.

Read full coverage of the f-15 groundings

Corley OK’d the return to flight of 254 F-15s, roughly 60 percent of the Air Force’s F-15A through D models. Those jets passed the inspections.

The 113th Wing, known as the Capital Guardians, will continue defending the airspace over Washington, D.C., as only some of the squadron’s airmen and aircraft are deployed.

Source: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/ ... 6_080115w/