ZEEOH6

Off the top of my head. C-130, KC-135, U-2, UH-1, T-38

I was actually just an engine troop at Nellis. I did take the pictures above at Elmo though when we were TDY there.

You are right, the contractor may be wrong about whether or not the warhead detonated. But looking at the damage, there is very little radial damage I would think would be associated with a continous tod warhead (I’ve never seen what that damage would look like). He did say there was no shrapnel of any sort (We have jets with shrapnel damage, not from munitions but from engines shelling out and throwing shrapnel through the fuselage, so I know what that looks like). When we did drone shoots, the missiles did not contain a wathead, just a tocket motor. I’ve been a part way more bombs dropped compared to missiles shot (hundreds of thousands of pounds compared to like 8 missile shots). Duds are really not that uncommon. I know it’s not the same comparison though.

Where is the source that the top of the vertical stab was broken off? The contractor I asked said there was no other damage besides the horizontal stab.

Canopy closes after #1 engine starts. The only time I can think of the canopy being closed while starting is when engines 1/2 are already started, but they have to shutdown #2 to rekey FDL which require opening a door in front of the #2 intake. #2 started, #1 off, ladder removed, canopy open.

Also the crew ladder or built in steps is placed on the left side in front of the #1 inlet. Can only remove canopy strut after engine start if the canopy is flat (lost pressure), because you are not gonna close an inoperable canopy on a pilot in case there is an emergency during engine start and they need to egress. So we start #2 first. Once its idle, the crew chief will pull the nose gear down lock and reset the ASP in the nose gear well, hand pin to B-man, climb ladder and remove strut (if needed on a flat canopy, hand to B-man, climb down and remove or stow ladder, then #1. Has no effect in game. Just real life procedures and the reason it’s done that way.

My unit I was at before had an F-15 that was involved in an A2A collision with another F-15 (you can find the black and white HUD video on youtube). The -15 that got hit had half of its right horizontal stab missing and was able to RTB. That jet was still flying when I left. Doesn’t look like it. The contractor didn’t say anything about shrapnel. I will ask though. ETA: No warhead detonation, all kinetic.

Yes, that was removed from the airfraft that was hit. It’s placed upside down on the dunnage, so the top is actually the bottom.

Was told by the contractor doing the repair.

The Saudi F-15 did not get shot down. Did it get hit? Yes, but it did not crash. It was hit on the right stab.

Lights will not come on until aircraft is started or connected to external power which is not used for start. There’s no battery power. Correct, right engine is started first. IDG’s come on at JFS cutoutat about 48% ish, which is when you would get electrical power. I believe flaps get lowered first and than the pilot checks flight controls (I’ve been off the F-15 for a few years) This is what the USAF does at least

You can hear the switches if you flick them with headsets on and engines running. Heck, I even hear circuit breakers popping 5 feet behind my head. If you gentle with the switch and moving it slowly, you wont hear that. Never heard an audible noise when pushing the F-15's throttle past the mil detent, so the no sound is accurate in that regards. Just my personal real world experience.

IRL, only the lap belt is tight to hold you in the seat. The shoulder harness from the seat that plugs into your flight gear is on a reel to pull you into the seat if you eject. Other than that, your upper body has free range of motion, similar to your cars shoulder belt minus the inertia lock. I can't say I ever felt my upper body being restricted by the shoulder straps during my flight. You have to look through a turn so you don't get sick. It's like riding a motorcycle, you look through the turn. I didn't have a problem looking through the turns when pulling G's.

Mvgas, I worked with a guy that PCS’ed from 117’s back in 2005ish. Where you working 117’s around that time? Akarhu, are you Canadian by any chance? I was up in Cold Lake and their hangars were pretty nice. Probably the nicest one I’ve worked out of. We didn’t use run fences to often on 15’s. If it was a maintenance run for ECS stuff, which was right in front and between the inlets or running in the hush house, those were really the only times I’ve used the run fence. On the B-52’s we have to use a run fence anytime theres maintenance being done on an operating engine. The run fence doesn’t install on the aircraft. It’s just a big home plate shaped fence on casters that we’ll park in front of the pod.

I didn't know how the multi quote on this forum works, so I put it in bold to separate it. But now I see that it quotes them individually rather than having them as a collapsible cascade. How is starting an engine while its snowing damaging it? I know that an ice cube wont destroy an engine. Can it? of course, depending on how big it is and where it strikes. There are repair limits for everything. A majority of blade damage can be blended out, which returns them to service. I can hacksaw off a 2" piece of fan blade in certain areas and it's within limits. While some parts even a 1/8" nick rejects the engine. Even if they are out of limits, we can get waivers for them making it serviceable and not destroyed so it will continue to stay on wing. FOD damage is not the main reason for engine removal. I have changed 0 engines in the past 3 months due to FOD damage, but I've changed 8 engines for other reasons in that time span. Our FOD protection is maintenance practice, tool control, FOD walks, FOD checks, keeping the airfield clean, etc. We don't need mechanical devices to stop FOD. Mechanical devices are inherently man made with nuts and bolts. Those nuts and bolts require safety wires, safety wires break all the time. Now where did that piece of safety wire go? How do you feel about inlet x-rays then? I've personally launched Col. Fornoff's F-15. He was the 422nd TE squadron commander when I was there. Hes the colonel in the youtube video posted by Fri13 about the Indian Su-30MKI coming to Red Flag for the first time. I also got to walk around India's Su-30MKI (heck, I like to think that I'm one of the first USAF maintainers to be able to check out the Su-30MKI with no red tape). While watching them recover the jets, they had a jet taxi in with it's #2 intake ramp stuck in the up position. You know how they fixed it? They beat it down with a mallet. I also noticed during my walkaround that they have have borescope access ports that leads directly to the engine's AP plugs. Why else would they easily accessible AP plugs if their engine was so FOD proof? Unless they feel their engine is gonna grenade ever sortie and requires you to scope it that frequently, or they realize that it is just as prone to FOD as any other fighter, if not more so. :beer: