F-15s from Langley return to the skies this morning
BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE - At 9:22 a.m. Wednesday morning, six F-15 Eagles took off from Langley Air Force Base, marking the first time in 44 days the planes have flown since a C model plane from Missouri broke apart in mid-air during a simulated dogfight.

That's good news for national security.

Residents around the Hampton base, though, may notice some extra planes in the air and additional noise.

Returning the Eagles to flying status returns all three of Langley's fighter squadrons, two F-22A Raptor squadrons and one Eagle squadron, to the skies.

Also, because the Eagles were grounded for so long, pilots lost their flying qualifications.

While the pilots spent time in a flight simulator and in the classroom during the grounding, a Langley spokesman said, renewing flight qualifications has to be done in the air.

The Eagle fleet was grounded in November after an Air National Guard's C model F-15 "experienced catastrophic structural failure" and broke apart in flight during a simulated dogfight in Missouri, the Air Force said.

Newer Eagle models resumed flying shortly after the accident. But it wasn't until Tuesday that Air Combat Command cleared 60 percent of the F-15 A - D model planes to fly. Ten of Langley's 20 Eagles are scheduled to fly Wednesday. The remaining planes are still being inspected.

The command, which is headquartered at Langley and oversees the service's fighters and bombers, "recommended a limited return to flight for Air Force units worldwide following engineering risk assessments and…multiple fleet wide inspections, " according to a press release.

"The priority in resuming operations for a portion of the F-15 fleet is the defense of our nation - America deserves nothing less," said Air Force Gen. John D.W. Corley, head of Air Combat Command.

Corley made the decision to return the planes to flying status following a detailed briefing he received late last week on the investigation results of the Missouri incident and fleet maintenance inspections.

The investigation showed that the National Guard plane broke apart in mid-air as a result of a fault in a support beam, called a longeron. "Inspections have discovered nine other aircraft with longeron failure cracks," according to the Air Force. "Approximately 40 percent of inspected aircraft have at least one longeron that does not meet blueprint specifications

Its too bad for such a great plane to suffer serious problems..what about the eagles from the other countries?

Great, glad to hear the Eagle is still performing well. It's one of my favorite planes and can still take on just about anything in the sky. It'd be a shame to ground her, still being relatively young. When will we see the pics Gregg?

The Eagles put on a great show all though they did not tear up the pattern like they usually do.
It seemed to me maybe they were kind of taking it easy on them. They didn't seem to be using burner
in the turns, thereby reducing the G forces on the aircraft. The F-15E Strike Eagle Demo was full
out as normal, that is one of my favorite demos the USAF has. Hopefully I can get some photos up
next month Ray. We are going down to Pensacola Beach for the Blues on the Beach show in July. If it
is anything like last year, it will be awesome, we are hoping for some good weather for sure.

Gregg