Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

What were the F-16, F-15, F-14, F-4 early days like? ( kinds of teething troubles )

Here is s short piece on the start of the trip from Langley...

http://aviationnow.ecnext.com/free-scri ... =FA2210185

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update on those ACFT. there are now 8 F/A 22's sitting on my ramp

On a side note, I also saw a C-5 taking off from Langley a few days ago. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the deployment, but that is one damn big airplane.

Yeah, but a lot of new aircraft have problems at first, but then they turn out to be superstars.

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 25, 2003 - 10:03 PM Posts: 679

I remember the video of one of the first F-14's crashing just short of the runway. The F-16 made a belly up landing itself. New acft are almost cursed!

The Eagle had some teething troubles. IIRC, they were mostly engine related. My feelings are the Raptors seem to have more enemies, and more friends in congress also. The whole program is higher profile from what I remember the eagles being. The budget troubles seem like a greater threat to the aircraft than any aircraft flying though. Time will tell, though I don't doubt the teething troubles will be worked out. It's designed to have less maintenance hours per flight than the eagle/tomcat and eventually should be a great design.

You also have to compare it to the F117 and B2 though because stealth means more maintenance than regular aircraft generally. I've read it should be easier to keep stealthier than the F117 and B2. Everybody is still learning. We'll see, though my money is on the Raptor if for no other reason than the talent and professionalism of our air force in general, especially the best crew chiefs in the world. Right now we have an incredible talent pool in the Air Force. They could make a 74 pinto with bald tires fly if they had too. Very Happy

there are some nice pics of that deployment on af.mil

Haz

history has been made at Hill AFB.....i saw a F/A 22 shell its motor after sucking up on of its safety pins. the bet is on on how many pints of blood and cups of urine is taken from the guy who lost/dropped the pin

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 25, 2003 - 10:03 PM Posts: 679

No Sierra!!!! Oh well, I guess the saying is true, once an Eagle crew chief, always an eagle crew chief. cc which sq are you in?

cchief16 wrote:

history has been made at Hill AFB.....i saw a F/A 22 shell its motor after sucking up on of its safety pins. the bet is on on how many pints of blood and cups of urine is taken from the guy who lost/dropped the pin

Ahh, so THAT'S what happened! Laughing

That flight of Raptors was supposed to take part in an excercise with our guys at Mtn Home and actually land here to refuel before heading back to Hill. Damn, I wanted to see those birds here!

i'm in the 34th here at hill.

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 25, 2003 - 10:03 PM Posts: 679

If ya see devin schmidt tell em Nicky B said wasssahhhhh.

i live in the dorms and devin lives 3 doors down. ill let him know

Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

F/A-22 at Hill AFB