Introduction and Recommendation
With our F-15's having the long career of actively flying in the air since 1978, these jets aren't as stable as they used to be. Through the long years these jets have obtained numerous bruises and scars. As a result, we have to deal with problems that are new and complex. Because of these discrepancies our FMC (Fully Mission Capable) rate has hit an all time low of 45%.
Our maintainers need sufficient downtime in order to fix these various malfunctions. By continuing to conduct sorties the way we do, we usually only give the maintainers a matter of hours after post flight operations to trouble shoot the aircraft. Many of the problems we find now are mostly repeat/recurs that we haven't had sufficient time to repair. Many times with these problems our troops spend the majority of the time preparing to locate the problem. Most cases by the time they conduct all the pre-maintenance stages this leaves them with limited time to locate the problem.
Two F-15J Eagle aircraft of the 202nd Tactical Fig...
Capt. Matt Bruckner, an F-15 Eagle pilot assigned ...
Emblem of Pacific Air Forces of the United States ...This has lead to our maintainers working long meaningless hours, spending hours preparing to fix a jet just to wrap it up for the next set of sorties. Many of our troops agree that many of the problems we are dealing with currently are wiring problems and in order to adequately trouble shoot, sometimes it could take days.
To increase reliability and integrity of the jets, I recommend that we schedule an ample amount of down time for our aircraft.
Benefits
While the jets would require more time on the ground, the long-term benefits would benefit not only the pilots, but also the maintainers.
1. The jet's overall FMC rate would rise substantially.
2. We would be able to remain more up to date and have time to complete all our...