All F-15s cleared to fly again

F-15 A,B,C and D models returning to flying status


All F-15s cleared to fly again
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 20, 2007 14:55:38 EST

The flight ban on all F-15 Eagles is lifted.

As of Monday, two of the F-15Cs assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., were back in the air, a wing spokesman said.

Across the Air Force, all F-15 A, B, C and D model fighters can return to flying status once each jet has undergone a 15-hour inspection, said Maj. Thomas Crosson, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which has taken the lead. The F-15E Strike Eagles were given the green light on Nov. 11.

All 672 Air Force F-15s were grounded Nov. 3 after an F-15C assigned to the Missouri Air National Guard apparently broke apart while engaged in a mock dog fight the day before. The apparent failure of the airframe prompted Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley to order all F-15s grounded until investigators were able to narrow the cause the accident.

Strike Eagles were cleared to fly once they had gone through a 13-hour-long inspection. The Strike Eagles, first bought in 1988, are newer and structurally stronger than the F-15 A-Ds, some of which began flying in 1975. The jet that crashed was built in 1980.

The F-15 A-Ds will undergo an inspection similar to the F-15E inspection, Crosson said. Details of the F-15 A-D inspection were not immediately available.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/airforce_f15_cleared_071120w/


on edit to add pic from Air Force Times