Thread: Inside the Israeli Air Force
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Old 06-23-2008 | 10:53 PM
  #36  
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Adlerdriver
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From: 767 Captain
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Originally Posted by bifff15
Actually that 10% rule applies to 100% of the longerons. It appears only one failed due to faulty manufacturing. Not bad for a jet designed for 5k / 7.3G's originally with slide rules.


I'm not following.

Fact: 40% of the F-15A-D aircraft have longerons that are thinner than the design called for.
Only one failed because it was the thinnest of the sub-standard longerons and it cracked and failed first. Once the accident happened in Nov, the inspections started and at least 6 more cracked longerons were found. Those would have failed "due to faulty manufacturing" too if they'd been allowed to continue flying.

Those that hadn't cracked yet are now on an enhanced inspection schedule to avoid flying cracked and "failing due to faulty manufacturing". The fact that there's only been one catastrophic failure has nothing to do with some inherent design strength of the Eagle, but rather, an aggressive stand down, inspection and ID of the cause for the original failure.

Don't get me wrong, Biff, I’m not bashing the Eagle. I’ve got 2000 hours in it and there’s not another fighter on the planet I’d rather take into combat again. I'm just not sure I agree with the logic of this last post. MD porked away this longeron thing and this accident is on them. The fact that they designed the jet with a slide rule for 5k hours and 7.33G doesn't give them a pass on under spec longerons. If they were all IAW the design specs and all developing cracks, I'd be on the same page as you.
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