Staying Grounded

The 83 F-16s grounded in early August due to the discovery of cockpit cracks will remain grounded until the Air Force develops and implements a permanent fix, Inside the Air Force reports today:

A service spokeswoman told Inside the Air Force in a Sept. 4 email that a near-term solution that would have installed a high-strength fastener on the aircraft to allow them to return to flight while a more permanent repair is developed was deemed too risky. One aircraft based at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, received the temporary fix, but it has not yet flown. The service expects the parts associated with the repair will cost approximately $6,000 per aircraft, not including the associated manpower costs.

ITAF reported last month that the problem was brought to light in late July by a foreign F-16 customer who discovered the cracks while performing an unrelated inspection:

On Aug. 1, the service issued an immediate action time compliance technical order (TCTO) to inspect all F-16D aircraft. At that time, all of the service's 157 F-16Ds were grounded as the service conducted inspections. Unaffected aircraft, 75 in total, returned to flight between Aug. 3 and 15 as they were cleared.

"No cracked USAF aircraft have been released for flight," Cassidy said. "Aircraft that have passed the immediate action TCTO with no evidence of cracks have been returned to operational status."

The Air Force announced the grounding in an Aug. 19 press release in which Lt. Col. Steve Grotjohn, deputy chief of the weapon system division of the F-16 systems program office, noted that structural cracks often develop on an aircraft as a result of years of heavy use.

"As aircraft accumulate flight hours, cracks develop due to fatigue from sustained operations," Grotjohn said. "Fortunately, we have a robust maintenance, inspection and structural integrity program to discover and repair deficiencies as they occur."