F-15s return to Bay skies
Tyndall Air Force Base F-15 pilots have been waiting two months to get the all-clear from Air Combat Command. It came Wednesday.
Most of the Air Force’s F-15s have been grounded since Nov. 2, after a Missouri National Guard crash caused by mid-flight structural failure. The initial grounding order was lifted Nov. 23, only to be reinstated Dec. 3.
At 10:08 a.m. Wednesday, Capt. Dave Christensen became the first of 20 Tyndall F-15 pilots to put horizontal distance between themselves and the tarmac.
“With the extended down-time, our pilots are anxious to get back in the air and perform their mission training Air Dominance Warriors for the nation,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Huyck, 95th Fighter Squadron commander.
Air Combat Command’s decision for “limited return to flight for Air Force units worldwide” came Tuesday.
“The priority in resuming operations for a portion of the F-15 fleet is the defense of our nation. America deserves nothing less,” Gen. John D.W. Corley, Air Combat Command commander, said in an Air Force news release. “Aircraft inspection results and counsel from both military and industry experts have made me confident in the safety of a portion of the fleet. As a result, I have cleared those F-15s to return to fly.”
Roughly 60 percent of the F-15 variants A through D have been cleared to fly. Aircraft cleared have undergone inspection to ensure longerons, the metal framing that holds together the cockpit and the fuselage and caused the Nov. 2 crash, met manufacturing specifications.
Air Force-wide inspections revealed nine aircraft with longeron cracks and 40 percent of aircraft “have at least one longeron that does not meet blueprint specifications,” according to the news release.
One of the nine aircraft with a cracked longeron was located at Tyndall Air Force Base. Tyndall has 55 F-15s, a mix of the C and D variants, split between two squadrons. About 30 had been cleared to fly as of Wednesday.
The 95th Fighter Squadron has 13 fighters cleared to fly and the 2nd Fighter Squadron has 16, but Lt. Col. Huyck said additional fighters have finished inspections and should soon be returning to duty.
“Our planes that are flying right now have been cleared to fly because they meet all the specifications for the F-15,” he said. “Specifically, the F-15s were put through some time compliance inspections where the maintenance crews looked at the airplanes for structural cracks, structural beam thicknesses, and they basically measured the airplanes to make sure they were safe to return to flight.”
Planes with cracks or other structural concerns related to the crash will remain grounded pending further analysis and testing, which might take an additional four weeks.
As a training base, Huyck said the primary goal at the moment is to bring instructors back up to speed and then students. The interim time has been spent with simulators, academics and doctrine, he said.
“Our focus is on the instructors first, to regain currency, and to regain, more importantly, instructor proficiency before we start instructing the students,” he said.
But after several months of down time, Huyck said there was no lack of motivation among the pilots to begin sharpening their skills.
“The pilots love to fly, and we were very excited once we got the release to fly,” he said. “It was like kids in a candy store.”
The official report on the Nov. 2 crash is due for release by the Air Force today.