Grounding order lifted as mishap investigations continue

Two of the US Air Force's top combat systems are back "in the green" after temporary groundings resulting from mishaps. The high-tech F/A-22 Raptor fleet has been parked since a December 20 accident at Nellis AFB destroyed one of the incredibly capable, incredibly expensive planes. And the potent B-1 Lancer fleet spent six days on the ground while a landing gear collapse in a forward area on December 30 was evaluated.

The Raptor crash at Nellis is still under investigation, but an Air Force statement reveals that "enough information is available for Air Force officials to be highly confident in the design, testing and development of the F/A-22s." They cleared the machine for flight on January 6.

The USAF claims about 7,000 hours logged in the type and notes that its safety record is better than many previous aircraft test programs. Indeed, the USAF doesn't note this -- they're probably thinking of more recent ships -- but one thing the prototypes of the B-17 and P-51 have in common is that they both crashed before they went on to be the iconic aircraft of the Second World War.

In the accident, the Raptor pilot ejected safely, proving the efficiency of one item the Air Force wasn't really interested in testing this soon: the escape system.

That raises an interesting question -- if the mishap was pilot error, will he be expected to pay for the Raptor by payroll deduction? If that's the case, it may take a while. The unit price of the F/A-22 is over $133 million, and that was before any of the production cuts now being discussed by the Pentagon and Congress, which are certain to raise the unit price substantially as fewer end items have to carry the staggering R&D cost for the system.

The Air Force needs the Raptor to replace the aging F-15 Eagle, which was developed in the 1960's and first flew in 1972. Most of the airframes were built in the 1970's and 1980's by a company that has since been subsumed in two mergers, although Boeing, the successor, kept production trickling well into the nineties. The high-time examples of the air superiority fighter have logged over 6,000 hours of a design structural life of 16,000. The Eagle's record is so good that many Raptor critics overlook its age and point instead to its 103 to 0 -- plus one shared with F-16s -- air combat record. Of course, the F-15 in its day was considered a waste of money by those who said that the machines it replaced, including the F-4, F-105 and F-111, were perfectly good for the mission.

The B-1B accident was alarming, particularly to the crew of the Bone involved, but not as costly in dollar terms as the Raptor loss. After completing a combat mission on December 30, the aircraft returned to its unnamed forward operating location, landed and taxied in. As the crew shut down the machine, the nosegear collapsed. None of the four officers in the crew, from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB (SD) were injured in the accident. While the initial investigation was underway, the Air Force grounded the rest of the 67 aircraft in the fleet as a precaution.

The B-1 fleet was cleared to return to flight on January 5, and resumed training and combat operations soon thereafter.

FMI: www.af.mil