[Zhang Fei]

[A few years back a Missouri ANG F-15C literally snapped in half while in the air. So while that kind of catastrophic failure is rare, it does suggest that the high-time air frames are done for.]

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Thanks. You’d think ground crew inspections would catch stuff like that.

[Tallguy]

A lot of that stuff is deeply hidden and it’s depot level maintenance where the non-destructive maintenance takes place, like X-Ray or Magnaflux tests looking for micro-cracks in the wing box and wing spars. That failure over St. Louis was extraordinary.