Spotlight Once Again On Aging Fighters

The downing of a Hawaii Air National Guard F-15D Eagle Friday once again raises questions about the nation's fleet of aging fighter aircraft.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports the pilot ejected safely from the stricken plane 60 miles south of Oahu Friday afternoon, and was quickly recovered by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The pilot, whose name hasn't been released, is in good condition at a local hospital, reportedly only suffering a cut during the ejection.

"He's a tough guy," said Hawaii ANG leader Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee. "He was up, walking around, smiling, had his family there — so we're all happy that he's in good shape."

The fighter -- and its reputation -- weren't so lucky. Friday's loss was the fifth crash of an F-15 since May 2007... and once again casts a pall on the nation's aging fleet of Eagles, only weeks after a portion of that fleet was returned to duty following inspections for structural problems.

As ANN reported, a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C broke apart during a training flight in early November, forcing its pilot to bail out as his plane disintegrated around him.

The accident led to the immediate grounding of the oldest F-15s, while inspections were conducted. Many of those planes returned to service November 21... but it wouldn't last. The Air Force regrounded 452 model A-through-D Eagles on November 28... and again in early December, after inspections found another aircraft with potential defects to the structural longerons that hold the F-15 fuselage together.

Last month, the Air Force confirmed defects inthe longerons on the Missouri ANG F-15 were to blame for the inflight breakup. Inspections revealed another nine planes with evidence of cracking, similar to what was found in the wreckage of the accident plane; inspections of other F-15s throughout the USAF fleet uncovered a wide range of other issues with the parts, including longerons that were too thin, or had surface imperfections that may place too much stress on the structure.

Approximately 260 Eagles were once again returned to duty January 10, but 180 planes may be grounded forever due to those issues.

It is not yet known what led the Hawaii ANG fighter to go down Friday. According to Lee, the pilot was flying solo in the twin-seat trainer, on a routine "air-to-air" training exercise with a second F-15 when he experienced difficulty in controlling the plane, and started to lose altitude.

The pilot "was getting to the point where he said, 'Hey, I'm getting kind of low, if I can't control it, I better punch out,'" Lee said, adding the pilot was "at the low end" of the minimum safe altitude for ejecting.

Fortunately, everything worked properly, and rescuers found the man in surprisingly good shape. "He seemed OK for having just crashed," Coast Guard rescue swimmer Dave Burns said. "It just seemed like he was ready to get out of there. He wasn't injured. He wasn't disoriented."

The pilot was even able to walk off the helicopter unassisted once it landed, Burns added.

FMI: www.af.mil