A Missouri National Guard pilot from the 110th Squadron, 131st Fighter Wing is suing Boeing over injuries he sustained when his F-15C Eagle broke apart in mid-air and crashed in southern Missouri. He ejected in time but sustained major injuries.
This crash led the Air Force to temporarily ground hundreds of early to mid-model F-15s until the fleet could be inspected for the sort of catastrophic problem which doomed this particular F-15 model C.
This is one of the reasons why the F-22 Raptor is being developed; most of the F-15s have more than double the service life that the fighter was originally built for. The F-15s were designed to operate for 4,000 hours, though they extended that expectation to 8,000 hours. Many of the F-15s (A through D models) are approaching or have gone through that limit. The F-15E will probably be in service through 2025 as they have a much longer service life--17,000 to 18,000 hours.
The F-15C that broke apart had about 5,600 hours on it.
The day will come when the F-15E Strike Eagles are the only F-15s left in the air. We can only hope that the F-22 Raptor will serve the nation and the Air Force as well as the F-15 has.
No comments:
Post a Comment