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my son flys the A-10 and loves it.... see http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123050961
he's flying #979. What do you guys think of the article from USA today that I have posted below? I hate this quote from it...\"I don't want to write a letter, or have my successor write a letter, 'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your son or daughter are dead because the wing fell off on takeoff. We knew it was going to fall off, we just didn't know when.' That's kind of what we're getting down to,\" Keys said.



Link....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... PageReturn

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — The Air Force's fleet of warplanes is older than ever and wearing out faster because of heavy use in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the service's top combat commander.
Gen. Ronald Keys, who leads the Air Combat Command, points to cracked wings on A-10 attack planes and frayed electrical cables on U-2 spy planes.

Compared to 1996, the Air Force now spends 87% more on maintenance for a warplane fleet that is less ready to fly, Air Force records show.

They also show that as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, Air Force and other military aircraft are flying more missions in harsh environments.

Keys said he's concerned that policymakers will only pay attention when a plane either crashes on takeoff or over a city \"because a wing falls off.\"

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Iraq | Afghanistan | Air Force | AIRCRAFT | US Air Force | Christopher Bolkcom | Gen. Ronald Keys

\"I don't want to write a letter, or have my successor write a letter, 'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your son or daughter are dead because the wing fell off on takeoff. We knew it was going to fall off, we just didn't know when.' That's kind of what we're getting down to,\" Keys said.

Arcing wires near fuel tanks recently forced the Air Force to ground its fleet of 33 U-2 spy planes in March for at least a day, Keys said.

The average Air Force warplane is 23.5 years old compared with 8.5 years in 1967. In 2001, the average plane was 22 years old.

The Air Force says it wants to buy new planes to lower the average age of its fleet to 15 years over the next two decades. That will cost an estimated $400 billion.

There are 356 A-10s in service. The plane is often used to support ground forces in close combat. The A-10 carries missiles and bombs, but its cannon is particularly effective in strafing.

The Air Force recently bought replacement wings for 132 of its workhorse A-10s at $7 million per plane. The Air Force wants another $34 million for more replacement wings this year.

In the past week, A-10s have attacked enemy forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The planes shot at and bombed Taliban rebels in Afghanistan; in Iraq, A-10s performed a variety of reconnaissance missions to find and stop insurgents from burying roadside bombs.

Aircraft age is misleading, said Christopher Bolkcom, a national security analyst at the Congressional Research Service. Some aircraft may have been lightly used for years and have safe flying hours left. Maintaining old planes may be expensive but often cheaper than buying a new aircraft, he said.

\"Chronological age is only one measure of aircraft health,\" Bolkcom said. \"Age is not a safety issue.\"

While refurbished planes often fly as well as new ones, they may also require more crewmembers to fly and maintain them, said James Jay Carafano, a military analyst at the Heritage Foundation. \"These life-cycle costs really matter,\" he said.

What an article. But everybody knows you keep working on the planes. We all know also that the planes of the US (and in the most countries) are getting older and older. So they need extra attention. Safety first!!!

Nice pictures on the AF.MIL. You can see your son sitting in his plane.
Let him next time wave to us

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73-1664

First let me say congratulations on having such a great son, and congratulations to him for being one of the few selected to fly one of the greatest aircraft to ever prowl the skys.

As for the article, I'll be the first to admit that the fleet is getting older and nothing lasts forever. However, to think that the maintenance folks would knowingly allow an aircraft to leave the gound if it were unfit for flight, is a real slap in the face. I don't even work on them anymore and it pisses me off.

Granted, wings have fallen off before, and pilots have died in the process, but those instances are increadibly rare, and they've never happened on Take Off. Usually during a high speed pull out when releasing a major payload. That happened to a single A-7D back in the mid 80's, and the AF immeadiately grounded the entire fleet of A-7's until all of them could have the wing spars improved. It took several months, but that's what they did.

I believe that if enough problems are encountered, the airframes would be retired, much like the F-14 was resently retired.

My 2 cents anyway.

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

All the more reason to start production back up and build us some new hawgs!!!

Hey, I can dream, can't I??

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\"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a GAU-8/A at your side, kid.\"--Hawg Solo

The idea of a wing “falling off on take-off” comes from the fact the A-10 was originally designed to fly 6,000 flight hours (later upped to 8,000 hours). In 1999 the fleet was rapidly reaching the 8,000 hour mark and cracks were expected to start appearing in the main wing attachment points….enter the Hog-up, or what’s know today as, The Service Life Extension Program, or SLEP1. This program inspected, repaired, and beefed-up (which ever was needed) the wing attachment points and other critical airframe areas to insure the A-10 could fly safely pass the 8,000 mark.

Today some new wings are funded (as stated in the article) and the others are flying with the Hog-up/SLEP wings. Hopefully all the Hawgs will get new wings and I believe the is the reason behind this piece, to get the wings, and other needed maintenance, funded. If you say wings are going to fall off you get people attention very quickly.

As the A-10 gets older it will require more parts, maintenance, and money to keep them flying safely, no if ands or buts about that. It’s also no if, ands, or buts about the fact they are being used a lot in the war On terror and this will cause them to reach the end of their life sooner but, that’s what they were built for and they are doing their job wonderfully.

Are wings going to fall off, no. Is more money needed to keep them flying safely, yes. Will the A-10 reach the end of it’s life sooner because of the GWOT, yes. Is this a bad thing, no, not when it’s pounding the hell out of the enemy and keeping our boys on the ground safer, just what she was designed to do!

I will not get on my soapbox about what is needed in the future because that path is already charted, whether I like it or not….enter the JSF.