When They Said "Scrapped," They Meant "Trashed"

When ANN reported last week the entire fleet of Air Force Slingsby T-3A Firefly training airplanes would be scrapped by September 25, it was widely assumed that while the airframes would be destroyed, the Air Force would certainly salvage valuable component parts of the plane that had nothing to do with the controversy.

After all, that's what they do with just about every military aircraft that has ever been sent to the boneyard.

Well, assume nothing when it comes to liability issues, embarrassment, and the military. Besides the airplanes, ANN has learned that TOTALL Metal Recycling Company in Hondo, TX has also been scrapping avionics, radios... even torching holes into brand-new engines, still strapped on their pallets.

All of the spare parts inventory -- including tires, wheels and all of the tools used to work on the aircraft -- are also being destroyed.  Not one of the radios, propellers, or other aviation-related (and therefore expensive) parts are being recovered.

Any piece of equipment, evidently, that was even remotely associated with the T-3A is being systematically eliminated  from the aviation universe. None of these parts share serial numbers with the doomed airplanes, so no liability exposure for the Air Force would seem possible... leaving many in the aero-community to question the "slash and burn" approach the USAF is taking.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, it takes approximately 30 minutes to reduce the aircraft to a mass of unrecoverable fiberglass and other non-recyclable materials. One of the dismantlers told the paper he thought the holed engines might bring about $100 in scrap value.

One person who witnessed the scrapping (aero-cide?) being perpetrated told the EAA, "It seems quite apparent that the Air Force is embarrassed by this awful action. Guards are in place around the clock to keep everyone away, especially the press. The destruction contractor has been told to put up a vision-proof barricade so that the actual mangling cannot be observed." 

(Editor's Note -- In a correction to our earlier story, we must report that the recycling company did not pay $12,000 for the airplanes. Rather, the  Air Force paid them $12,000 to get four Fireflys the heck out of Edwards AFB.)

 FMI: www.af.mil