F-15s back in the sky

Two-plus  weeks after  restricting flights of  its entire F-15 fleet, the Air Force Wednesday cleared the fighter jets to return to the sky.

In a statement to F-15 pilots and personnel, Gen. John Corley, commander of the Air Combat Command, said each of the Air Force’s nearly 700 F-15s could return to normal duty after a detailed inspection.

The Air Force suspended all non-essential F-15 flights  on Nov. 3, the day after a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C crashed in Dent County due to a “catastrophic structural failure.” Analysts and some Air Force officials blamed the advancing age of the older F-15s, which were built by McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and heavy use they’ve received in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the exact cause of that crash is still under investigation, Air Force structural engineers have reviewed technical data and feel confident enough to put F-15 “A” through “D” models back in the air if they pass a rigorous inspection. A similar decision was made last week regarding newer-model F-15 “E”s. As of Wednesday,  219 out of 224  E-models were cleared for flight and 294 out of 442 A through D models were OK’d.

Corley acknowledged that there is some risk in putting the planes back in the air without knowing exactly what happened in the crash.

“We accept this risk because of our overriding duty to provide unrivaled combat air power for the defense of our country,” he said.