Posted on 01/08/2005 5:48:14 PM PST by iso
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE -- (AP) -- Five more F/A-22 Raptors landed Friday at this Florida Panhandle base where Gen. John P. Jumper, Air Force chief of staff, is among the first pilots being trained to fly the new stealth fighter.
The five Raptors arrived from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. plant in Marietta, Ga., a day after all F/A-22s were cleared to resume flying for the first time since a Dec. 20 crash at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
The additional planes increased the number of Raptors at Tyndall to 18, more than half of the 33 now in the Air Force inventory. A 34th plane had been scheduled to arrive but its flight was postponed due to mechanical problems, said Capt. Susan A. Romano, a Tyndall spokeswoman.
Jumper is scheduled to make his final F/A-22 qualification flight here Wednesday.
The planes were grounded as a precaution after the Nellis crash. Safety and accident investigation boards have not disclosed a cause, but Air Force officials said they were confident the jets could be flown safely based on preliminary findings. The pilot suffered scrapes but was otherwise unharmed.
Eight F/A-22s are stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and seven at Nellis for testing and evaluation. All pilot training is done at Tyndall. Langley Air Force Base, Va., is expected to receive the first operational Raptors this year.
<< 5 new F/A-22 Raptors land at base
What a relief. Can you imagine the s+++storm if somebody left them up in the air? >>
As one of my instructors once observed, "Don't worry, Son, we haven't had one stuck up there, yet."
<< Why is a general being trained to fly this plane, besides ego gratification? >>
No other excuse.
Waste of bloody kerosene!
Must be a KKKling Tong-era left-over perfumed prince.
I live in the flight path for Langley AFB. I hear the F22 is bit louder. Can't wait to see them flying around here. We always have interesting aircraft over the house, it was one of the selling points for me.
Don't forget the F-80 !
SR-71 = THE sexiest aircraft to date, bar none.
B2, F22, f16 don't come close.
P-38s - there is still at least one flying. It's got a web site somewhere (I don't recall where). It was dug out of the Greenland icecap and restored a few years back.
The Black Birds are constructed almost entirely of titanium, bought from Brazil. The Brazilians bought the ore from Russia...
Is she single??? LOL
(Not the habu!!)
Married and the Mother of my first Grandson.
I didn't get to attend the 2004 "Salute To Veterans" airshow in Columbia, MO,
but I think the famed P-38 "Glacier Girl" flew there.
I did manage to dredge this our of the 2004 show highlights:
http://www.salute.org/Images/2004Highlights/Saturday/pages/PICT0165_JPG.htm
The (slightly balky) site of the show is at
http://www.salute.org
I gotta go with the F-18. Any Navy out there want to pipe in?
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/f-18ef_11.jpg
Anybody have a link to a story about the Dec 20th crash at Nellis?
"Thanks. Found this a bit ago, they have some serious defense people there: http://www.strategypage.com/messageboards/messages/6-8139.asp"
Thanks, I'll check the site out. No response needed this late in the post.
My favorite remains the F4 Phantom II series.
I think it is actually undergoing repairs after a crash, but I'm not sure.
>> In case you didn't know, the original name for the F-22 was the Lighning II in honor of the original.<<
And they should have kept calling it the Lightning II. Raptor isn't bad, but people think they're talking about dinosaurs.
If true, that's too bad, but hopefully it will fly again. I remember being in the pit area at one of the Phoenix 500 air races and ducking out of a rare rain storm under that plane. It was a religious experience.
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