GROUNDED
Sorry if that brought back flashbacks of high school. I wish I had a nickel for every I heard that word, but the application is aeronautical this time, as in "grounded airplanes". And these aren't just any airplanes, these are the fleet of aging F-15's that protect the airspace of the United States. An AP story just a few weeks ago reveals an incident in November, that's last year now, in which an F-15 came apart in flight during a training flight in Missouri. An Air Force investigation revealed "possible fleet-wide airworthiness problems". Those "problems" are with the metal rails that hold the airframe together. Anyone who has ever seen a Thunderbirds demonstration or even watched Top Gun has some understanding of the enormous stresses that these airplanes undergo. G-forces that are off the chart, that would disintegrate an airliner, are a practical constant when these planes fly. They are, even at their current age of 30-40 years, engineering marvels.
This story is unsettling in a few ways. First, by virtue of its absence. I found this on page 18, not a headline. Isn't that odd? This is Post-911 America, still quivering under the protection of what is almost undoubtedly an inept Homeland Security Agency. We're talking 450 airplanes grounded "indefinitely" while they are slowly replaced by the new-generation fighter the F-22 Raptor, which don't exactly fly off the assembly line. Making the problem worse, most our F-16's are in Iraq, previously used for air defense here. The situation has quietly left our Guard bases stretched thin and chain-smoking, hoping nothing happens and assuring, however faintly, that everything is "covered".
Oh, it's covered all. Alaska is "covered" by the Canadian Military. With the F-15's in Massachusetts out of commission, the Vermont Air National Guard is covering the entire Northeast. The Minnesota Air National Guard is covering sites in Hawaii. Illinois is "covering" Louisiana. I think they are counting on people having a distorted idea, probably from too many movies, that these jets streak across the sky like shooting stars, saturated with high-tech fighting equipment. True, they're fast and well-equipped, but when something goes wrong in the air, it usually involves a target that is already moving at a pretty good clip. Sept. 11 did not involve a hovering helicopter, they were hijacked airliners already being flown overspeed by suicidal pilots, speeds in excess of 600 mph. Also, these F-15's have to be scrambled, that is, get a pilot in it, get it spooled up and off the runway. After that, at a little better than the speed of sound, they can get around, but we're talking about a handful of planes guarding the country.
With Oregon's fighters grounded, the California Guard is, for the first time in history, standing guard over the entire West Coast. An area of more than 300,00 square miles and home to over 46 million people in California, Washington, Oregon and pieces of Arizona and Nevada. Says Col. Gary Taylor, "as a unit we're kind of stressed, but everyone's accepting it as kind of a challenge." Yeah, like "Twister" after a couple of Vodka and Tonics.
I'm not trying to make anyone nervous, I just thought you'd want to know. We're all in this together, you know. Remember, it's not really any different than if your local fire station closed and they said, "don't worry, there's a firetruck in Manitoba if you have any problems..." Maybe it's not that bad, but I can't help but think that probably about 45 seconds after this story went to print, a phone rang on an editor's desk somewhere..."Sir, it's the Pentagon..." I hope no one who wants to take over the free world is reading this column.
\>
|