F-15's grounded again

[LEH]

This was front page news in today's Daily Press (covers the Peninsula area of southeastern VA and Langley AFB). Not that I am surprised. The planes are reaching 30 plus years in age.

Guess I'll turn on the maintenance nets today. Anyone else who lives near an Air Force base (or reserve or guard base) with F-15's may hear some above normal activity on the maintenance nets.

 

[tbnmaster]

They've actually been grounded for over two weeks now. They grounded the entire fleet Air Force wide. The E models are back up in the air (at least here) but the C/D models are still down.

 

[LEH]

Well if we can believe the article in the paper (sic, believe the PRESS?????), they were all grounded in early Nov and released. This is another grounding from the way it sounds.

Quoting the DP article. "It was the second time this month that F-15s were grounded. The entire fleet was grounded following a Nov. 2 Missouri Air National Guard training exercise in which a pilot safely ejected before the aircraft crashed. The Air Force subsequently returned the F-15s to flight status on Nov. 21."

 

[tbnmaster]

Well if we can believe the article in the paper (sic, believe the PRESS?????), they were all grounded in early Nov and released. This is another grounding from the way it sounds.

Quoting the DP article. "It was the second time this month that F-15s were grounded. The entire fleet was grounded following a Nov. 2 Missouri Air National Guard training exercise in which a pilot safely ejected before the aircraft crashed. The Air Force subsequently returned the F-15s to flight status on Nov. 21."

That actually may be correct. The 15's here flew briefly at the beginning of this week and they are down again, although I'm not sure that it's a second grounding (being other than what they were originally grounded for).

 

[Viper43]

Well they were up yesterday and are up again in Indiana today.

V

 

[fmon]

This is from Lynn's link in DP.
"The Air Force said Wednesday that 452 of its oldest F-15s, or more than 60 percent of the fleet, will remain grounded until each one is inspected, and possibly repaired."

Guess that would mean 40% are still flying.

 

[tbnmaster]

A/B/C/D models are grounded. E model "Strike" aircraft are not.

 

[N1508J]

Expert contractors

A/B/C/D models are grounded. E model "Strike" aircraft are not.

In keeping with the DOD's love affair with outsourcing, the Pentagon has announced that it has entered into a contract with China for F-15 maintenance. Pot bellied Air Force generals dizzy from smoking too many Cuban cigars no longer trust Air Force maintenance since F-15’s have been falling out of the sky like rain drops. The contract specifies there will be no U.S. oversight similar to that of the FDA and CPSC regarding polluted food and poisonous toys from China. The Air Force generals announced if the FDA and CPSC can get away with it, so can the Air Force! China, overjoyed with its new allies in the Pentagon, has promised to funnel ten percent of the one billon dollar contract back to the generals as an incentive for more contracts. Asked by reporters if they seriously believe China will do a better job of maintenance than American technicians, one general said, “Yes, China has the best technicians from Iran, Mexico, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela that oil can buy”. When asked how they got this contract through congress one general took out his cigar and said, “Nancy Pelosi jammed it through with the help of Senator Hillary Clinton.

 

[tbnmaster]

...Nancy Pelosi jammed it through with the help of Senator Hillary Clinton.

Good one!