Three Times Down

Air Combat Command boss, Gen. John Corley, has now said that the Air Force's fleet of A, B, C, and D model F-15s will not fly "until further notice." He issued the new order on Dec. 3 after technicians—Air Force and Boeing—investigating the remains of the F-15C that crashed Nov. 2 found additional cracks, this time in the longerons near the rear of the cockpit area. These cracks were in addition to those found in the earlier investigation that prompted ACC to order the second stand-down of the service's 442 F-15s. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia had issued specific inspection procedures to be followed by each F-15 unit based on the earlier finding. Besides the aircraft that crashed, officials now have found suspicious cracks in at least four other F-15s. Reportedly the ALC had begun to suspect the problems might be limited to the C model, but, so far, ACC plans to have inspections done on all the older models. The newer and structurally reinforced F-15Es returned to flight on Nov. 11.

Age is an Issue

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, speaking at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in D.C. on Dec. 4, said the service has found new age-related issues with the oldest of the C-5 fleet, the A models, that make modernization questionable,...

Boeing’s Round Two on CSAR-X

In just over a month, the Air Force will be mulling over three fresh proposals for the rebooted combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program—and according to Boeing’s Rick Lemaster, the company remains confident that their HH-47 will retain the...

Next Force-Shaping Board in March

The Air Force plans to hold a board on March 31 to winnow out lieutenants in the 2005 year group that are serving in overage career fields. Exempt from this force-shaping effort are officers in the civil engineer, intelligence, public...

And on the Enlisted Side

There are 1,512 active duty enlisted airmen that the Air Force has marked for involuntary retraining in Fiscal 2008. Once on this list, the airmen must formally certify by Dec. 17 their willingness to retrain, and they must then apply...

Surge Pilots

Four F-16 fighter pilots from the 13th Fighter Squadron at Misawa AB, Japan, were among the airmen deployed to support operations in Iraq during the surge in US military forces. Capt. Eric Freienmuth, Capt. Kevin Hicok, Capt. Thomas Tauer, and...

A Medic-Plus

SrA. Neil Murray has been serving as a lone medic at a forward operating base in Afghanistan, where he has no physician assistant or doctor to work with. As if that weren’t enough, he also serves as eyes and ears...

Mission Support Officer Receives Bronze

The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star medal to Lt. Col. Daryl Cunningham for his achievements while in command of an expeditionary logistics readiness squadron in Kuwait. His unit executed 250 combat convoys into Iraq, covering one million miles...

An ILS in a Backpack:

According to a Dec. 3 release from the Air Force Flight Standards Agency, the agency participated in testing of a new joint precision approach and landing system, which can provide landing guidance similar to the current instrument landing system—but JPALS...

How They’ve Grown:

Air Force Research Lab’s Human Effectiveness Directorate plans to measure 3,000 current aircrew members for the first large-scale anthropometric survey it has conducted on USAF fliers in about 40 years. Now, though, the researchers will be employing techniques that include...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Dec. 3, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 26 8 34 CAS/Armed Recon 49 39 88 Airlift 130 130 Air refueling 38 38 Total 75 47 168 290 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...