Posts Tagged ‘F-15 plane’
F-15s extend deployment in Hawaii
The 120th Fighter Wing of the Montana Air National Guard will extend its current air combat alert mission at Joint Base Pearl-Hickam, Hawaii until September 2012.
The extension is a result of a recent decision to leave the F-15 mission at MANG longer than originally anticipated. MANG is performing the 24-hour alert mission in Hawaii while that base converts from the F-15 to the newer, more high-tech F-22 Raptor. Approximately 30 pilots, maintainers and logistics personnel, in addition to six F-15s, from MANG have been deployed to Hawaii since August of last year. They were originally scheduled to return in January 2012.
When the personnel were fist deployed, a MANG spokesman said many of those making the trip had sold their homes or rented them out in anticipation of a long deployment.
An alert-status mission means the F-15s must be ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week to fly at a moment’s notice if an aircraft is in trouble or an unidentified plane enters restricted airspace or acts erratically, according to MANG officials.
Source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com
Israeli F-15 had bird strike
Posted by Jobelle in F15 News, F15 Trivia on October 7th, 2011
example of a Bird Strike
An IAF F-15 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday after one of its engines caught fire during a routine training flight. Initial details suggest the F-15′s engine caught fire due to a bird-strike. The jet landed safely at the Tel Nof Air Base. The pilots were unharmed.
A military source confirmed the incident, adding: “Around 11:20am, an F-15 on a training flight was hit by a bird. The pilot and copilot followed procedure and immediately aborted the flight landing safely.
“The jet is currently undergoing a mechanical and technical inspection to determine whether it sustained any damage.”
Bird strikes, or BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) are considered a significant threat to both civilian and military flight safety. In most cases, a bird hits the windscreen or flies into the engines, causing them to fail.
Luckily the majority of BASH incident do not cause human fatalities.
Source: ynetnews.com
Is there a delay of F-15s for Saudi?
There are rumblings that the Boeing F-15 deal with Saudi Arabia is delayed. There are also speculation the Saudis are upset with President Obama’s support of Arab Spring demonstrations or his opposition to Palestine becoming a state through U.N. approval.
“We hear the same rumblings, but to narrow it down or be able to pinpoint it, we’re up in the air about that right now. We don’t know,” said Aerospace Machinists president Gordon King.
“They are keeping it pretty close chested of what the reasons might be”
King feels the Saudis are still interested with the F-15s, but admits there has been a hold-up in the transfer of money.
Source: stlouis.cbslocal.com, foxnews.com
Trucker hauled F-15 wings to Chico drew excitement
Posted by Jobelle in F-15 Model, F15 News on August 10th, 2011
When Oroville trucker Brian Walker’s was sent him to Virginia a couple of weeks ago to haul back wings of an F-15 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to Chico.
“He didn’t tell me what kind of wings,” said Walker in an interview Friday in Oroville. “He just told me airplane wings. I had no idea it was an F-15 jet.”
Walker drove one of two farm semis carrying the wings, nose, burn cans and a huge green box filled with parts and panels to put the F-15 back together.
Although they were ready to roll July 22, the group had to wait because they couldn’t travel during the weekend through the Virginia city of Hampton, where Langley’s located. The group finally left around the base around 2 p.m. EDT July 25, but they only traveled about 240 miles the first day, partly due to permits.
The trip became known as the Freedom Eagle project and took five days through eight states. They arrived in Chico July 31.Walker said the best part of the trip was seeing the reactions of people along the way. Some motorists whizzed past and slowed down once they realized what he was hauling, or they would ride up beside Walker’s truck and make gestures or point.
The F-15 aircraft also drew people when the truckers stopped. At times, the convoy was able to stop at empty parking lots, but within minutes, the lots would have 15 or more cars “with people taking pictures, talking to us, and wanting their pictures taken with (the plane).”
“It was an experience I will never forget,” Walker said somberly. “It’s an honor that I got to do it.”
Source: ChicoER.com
F-15 lands in Tri-Cities for air show
Posted by Jobelle in F15 News, F15 Trivia on July 27th, 2011
Two F-15 fighter jets performing at this weekend’s air show during the Columbia Cup land in the Tri-Cities Tuesday morning. The Air Force F-15 fighter planes will perform tricks and spins over the Columbia River for tens of thousands of hydroplane fans.
Since this is the first time these premiere planes have been involved in the annual show, pilots say they plan to show off the full aerobatic capabilities of their planes.
“We’ll get it low, we’ll get it on the deck, going almost the speed of sound, we’ll be doing the rolls and the loops, showing off the maneuverability of the airplane,” says Major Mike Maeder. “We’re gonna climb it. It’s got a max climb that’ll go 3 miles high in less than 20 seconds. Just lots of after burner, lots of noise, lots of fighter jets up close and personal.”
The F-15 planes are set to perform on Saturday and Sunday.
Source: kvewtv.com
Boeing to manufacture F-15 variants until 2020
Boeing could continue manufacturing variants of its F-15 Eagle — a fighter first flown in 1972 — all the way until the 2020s, the president of its military aircraft division confirmed Tuesday.
If Boeing can lock in deals with the air forces of Saudi Arabia and South Korea, it could make new investments “for the long term,” Chris Chadwick told reporters, to make its Eagles or Silent Eagles as cheap and easy to produce as they’ve ever been.
At stake are a total of about 144 aircraft — the potential for around 84 for the Saudis and some 60 for the South Koreans — and Chadwick said Boeing is making a pitch very similar to the one it makes for its F/A-18 Super Hornet: The Eagle may not be the newest bird in the sky, but customers can get a familiar fighter for predictable costs, and both the Saudis and the South Koreans will get the convenience of commonality with their existing, older fleets of F-15s.
Boeing is at war with Lockheed over the South Korean fighter deal, but it could have the edge with the Saudis, who are said to like the Silent Eagle. Chadwick said he had no information about that, but he did say the discussions he’s seen between the Saudis and the U.S. government, which would be the go-between on a sale, “have been very positive.”
So does that mean that Boeing could sell Eagles to the U.S. Air Force? If it asked for them, sure, Chadwick said, but he acknowledged the Air Force is locked in to the F-35 and he didn’t expect more American sales of F-15s. However, he said there is the possibility that the Air National Guard may want to replace some of its F-15s, but it hasn’t asked for any new jets yet.
Source: dodbuzz.com
F-15 fly-over at Reedsport event
A few raindrops were not enough to keep a hearty crowd from turning-out in downtown Reedsport on Monday to take part in Memorial Day festivities, including a pair of F-15 fly-overs.
A pair of F15′s from the U.S. Air Force 142nd Fighter Wing performed a fly-over. As did a Stearman Bi-Plane piloted by Sam Spayed.
Following a mid-day parade, a throng gathered at Hahn Memorial Park for a Memorial Day Service. It included a speech from Co-Speaker of the Oregon House Arnie Roblan, members of the World War II Oregon L.S.T. organization, the Color Guard from the U.S. Coast Guard Station Umpqua River, and a special appearance by the 29 Palms Marine Corps Band.
The day was all about honoring and remembering those who have served, and those who have given all, for their country.
F-15Es made emergency landing in Canada
Two USAF F-15Es had to make an emergency landing at St. John’s International Airport, Canada on Wednesday after one of the jets had a hydraulic problem.
The landing was accomplished without incident, but emergency vehicles were on standby. One of the pilots told VOCM News that the problem was a minor hydraulic issue.
The Americans are from a base in the United Kingdom. There were 4 people travelling in both fighter jets. The pilot says they anticipate being in St. John’s for a couple of days until the problem is fixed.
The F-15E Strike Eagle is an all-weather multirole fighter, derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic warfare aircraft. United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles can be distinguished from other U.S. Eagle variants by darker camouflage and conformal fuel tanksmounted along the engine intakes.
It has been deployed in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Allied Force and Operation Odyssey Dawn carrying out deep strikes against high-value targets, combat air patrols, and providing close air support for coalition troops. It has also seen action in later conflicts and has been exported to several countries.
USAF stops funding for F-15 IRST Upgrade
The U.S. Air Force has terminated funding for an infrared search and track (IRST) upgrade for its F-15C/D fleet as part of the service’s push last year to produce savings for the Pentagon’s fiscal 2012 budget.
Air Force officials say that the effort was designed to provide “the only USAF search and targeting capability in the infrared spectrum designed specifically for air-to-air, providing air-to-air attack capability in a radar-denied environment on the F-15C/D.”
The system could be useful for air-to-air fighter engagements as well as cruise missile targeting and ballistic missile early warning. Lockheed Martin provides the sensor for the pod.
However, the service opted to remove research and development funding for the program in fiscal 2012 and beyond, according to Air Force officials. In the budget, they propose pulling $34.9 million in fiscal 2012 and a total of $345 million across the future year defense plan (including 2012).
Boeing, which is the prime contractor for the F-15, says that it continues to work with the Air Force to “explore options” for the program.
Air Force officials cite “technical challenges” with the F-15 version as their rationale.
Navy officials, however, say that the effort is proceeding as planned.
“The Navy’s F/A-18 IRST program is meeting program cost and schedule requirements,” says Marcia Hart-Wise, a spokeswoman for the service’s Super Hornet program.
The Navy version is ahead of that planned for the F-15 in its programmatic schedule.
Because the Navy’s deliveries of F-35s come later than the Air Force’s and because its fleet of Super Hornets must remain operationally relevant longer than some Air Force legacy fighters, the service is spending money on its F/A-18E/Fs to keep them in the fight. One industry official notes that the use of an IRST is required because radars run the risk of being jammed at critical moments. The Navy is still buying Super Hornets and plans to buy an additional 41 aircraft owing to delays in the F-35 schedule.
- Aviationweek
NASA hopes to quiet sonic booms with F-15 Testbed plane
NASA experiments with F-15 Testbed Plane for silencing sonic booms
The quest for a supersonic airplane that can quietly fly passengers over populated areas isn’t always about exotic airframes and developing futuristic shapes. Supersonic aircraft have been flying for more than 60 years, but much of the work to lessen the boom of supersonic flying is still focused on learning more about the shock waves that cause the window rattling noise.
The current research being done at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is to develop probes that could be flown on an airplane flying in the supersonic wake of another airplane. Right now testing is being done with the probes on the belly of the F-15 testbed airplane, but in the future they would be mounted in clean air on the nose.
“Using these probes can be a real benefit in understanding and modeling the generation of shock waves and their associated sonic booms,” said Dryden research engineer Dan Banks. “They could allow us to accurately define the near-instantaneous flight conditions of the aircraft being probed, while defining that airplane’s flow field.”
In the same skies where the first supersonic flight took place back in 1947, NASA’s recent efforts are focused on developing the technology needed to get real time data of how shock waves are generated and their behavior during flight.
Flying at supersonic speeds is nothing new, but it is only permitted in restricted areas or over the ocean because of the sonic booms created when the shock waves from the aircraft reach the surface. In order for supersonic flight to be allowed over more populated areas, researchers in recent years have been investigating ways to lessen the shock waves emanating from the aircraft.
Eventually the NASA researchers hope to increase their understanding of the shock waves so the noise on the ground can be lessened and supersonic flight can become more routine.
- wired.com
