Air Force OKs most older F-15s for flight

Airman Ronald Smith, 21, of Philadelphia, inspects an F-15 Wednesday afternoon on RAF Lakenheath, England.


Air Force OKs most older F-15s for flight
By Bryan Mitchell, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 10, 2008

RAF LAKENHEATH, England — The Air Force on Wednesday rescinded an order grounding most of its older model F-15 aircraft, allowing “limited return to flight” for aircraft worldwide after several fleetwide inspections, according to an Air Combat Command release.

About 60 percent of the Air Force’s 441 older model F-15s returned to flight Wednesday after clearing a series of intensive inspections and meeting longeron manufacturing specifications, according to the release.

The older models are flown by the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, and the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Newer models F-15Es are flown for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Inspections uncovered at least nine other aircraft with longeron fatigue issues, the release states.

Maj. Tom Crosson, an ACC spokesman, said that the Air Force is still determining whether the nine F-15s with cracked longerons will be permanently grounded; each is being evaluated, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51519

piece if crap will never fly...