*Source: DTN News / Defense News
(NSI News Source Info) NEWPORT NEWS, Va., - July 14, 2009: A bulletin was issued July 10 to inspect all older-model U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters for possible cracks in an internal support fitting, a U.S. Navy official said July 13. 
The aging fleet of F/A-18 Hornets is in worse shape than Navy experts previously thought, two admirals told Congress on recently. The analysis comes after dozens of fighter jets have begun to reach their 8,000th flight hour and gone into the depot for a “high flight-hour” inspection.
Some 38 Hornets have started that inspection process. So far, nine have finished and been approved to fly an additional 600 hours to reach a total of 8,600 total lifetime flight hours, said Rear Adm. Allen Myers, the Navy’s director of warfare integration. Inspectors have found about 60 new “hot spots” — or areas of concern that need close inspection — in addition to the 159 they had originally planned for, Myers told the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Air-Land subcommittee.
"Cracks were discovered in horizontal stabilator actuator support fittings known as bootstraps," Navy spokesman Lt. Clay Doss said in an e-mail to Defense News.
"No mishaps have occurred," Doss said in the e-mail. "We issued the inspection bulletin as a precautionary, risk-reduction measure to ensure our aircraft are structurally sound and safe for operational flight."
The bootstraps are internal fittings and not visible from outside the aircraft, Doss explained.
"Because the bootstrap is a critical safety item, its failure could result in loss of control to the horizontal stabilator, which is the primary flight control surface responsible for maneuvering the aircraft."
Stabilators are the smaller, horizontal fins at the back of the aircraft that help control the aircraft's direction, pitch and attitude. The entire stabilator moves, as compared with horizontal stabilizers, which are fixed in place and have elevator flaps that move up or down.
The aircraft affected by the inspection bulletin are the 622 Hornet F/A-18-A, B, C and D models in service with the Navy and Marine Corps. Ten early model aircraft do not have the straps and are not being inspected.
Newer F/A-18 E and D Super Hornets and similar EA-18G Growler aircraft are not affected by the bulletin, Doss said.
All the Hornets were built by McDonnell Douglas, now a subsidiary of Boeing. The aircraft vary widely in age and accumulated flying hours.
Hornets must be examined within the next 25 flight hours, Doss said. As of July 13, 40 deployed Hornets have been inspected with no failures. Overall, inspection of 93 aircraft has been completed; of those, three were discovered with missing fasteners, and two of those had cracked bootstraps requiring replacement.
Each inspection takes about three hours, Doss said. The estimated bootstrap replacement time is two weeks, while repair time will be on a case-by-case basis. Bootstraps can be replaced in the field by a depot field team, he added.
The issue is not related to another inspection issued last October for A-D Hornets. In that instance, aircraft were inspected for possible cracks in a wing flap hinge.
The aging fleet of F/A-18 Hornets is in worse shape than Navy experts previously thought, two admirals told Congress on recently. The analysis comes after dozens of fighter jets have begun to reach their 8,000th flight hour and gone into the depot for a “high flight-hour” inspection.
Some 38 Hornets have started that inspection process. So far, nine have finished and been approved to fly an additional 600 hours to reach a total of 8,600 total lifetime flight hours, said Rear Adm. Allen Myers, the Navy’s director of warfare integration. Inspectors have found about 60 new “hot spots” — or areas of concern that need close inspection — in addition to the 159 they had originally planned for, Myers told the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Air-Land subcommittee.
"Cracks were discovered in horizontal stabilator actuator support fittings known as bootstraps," Navy spokesman Lt. Clay Doss said in an e-mail to Defense News.
"No mishaps have occurred," Doss said in the e-mail. "We issued the inspection bulletin as a precautionary, risk-reduction measure to ensure our aircraft are structurally sound and safe for operational flight."
The bootstraps are internal fittings and not visible from outside the aircraft, Doss explained.
"Because the bootstrap is a critical safety item, its failure could result in loss of control to the horizontal stabilator, which is the primary flight control surface responsible for maneuvering the aircraft."
Stabilators are the smaller, horizontal fins at the back of the aircraft that help control the aircraft's direction, pitch and attitude. The entire stabilator moves, as compared with horizontal stabilizers, which are fixed in place and have elevator flaps that move up or down.
The aircraft affected by the inspection bulletin are the 622 Hornet F/A-18-A, B, C and D models in service with the Navy and Marine Corps. Ten early model aircraft do not have the straps and are not being inspected.
Newer F/A-18 E and D Super Hornets and similar EA-18G Growler aircraft are not affected by the bulletin, Doss said.
All the Hornets were built by McDonnell Douglas, now a subsidiary of Boeing. The aircraft vary widely in age and accumulated flying hours.
Hornets must be examined within the next 25 flight hours, Doss said. As of July 13, 40 deployed Hornets have been inspected with no failures. Overall, inspection of 93 aircraft has been completed; of those, three were discovered with missing fasteners, and two of those had cracked bootstraps requiring replacement.
Each inspection takes about three hours, Doss said. The estimated bootstrap replacement time is two weeks, while repair time will be on a case-by-case basis. Bootstraps can be replaced in the field by a depot field team, he added.
The issue is not related to another inspection issued last October for A-D Hornets. In that instance, aircraft were inspected for possible cracks in a wing flap hinge.
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