Old Aircraft

Dave Radcliffe, Las Vegas, NV

The US Air Force has some really, really old aircraft – some as old as the parents of the pilots who fly them. The data show the average age of the fleet is approaching one-quarter of a century old – older than any time in the history of the Army Air Corps or the US Air Force. The oldest? The venerable KC-135 and the B-52. Both were fielded during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations. Sure they’ve been modified … and modified. But getting parts for them today is, at best, difficult. To keep them maintained, the maintenance experts have to spend more and more man-hours – cannibalizing parts from other aircraft to make a whole one.

The airplanes the AF has are being flown far more flight hours than initially planned. C-17s are flying over 1,300 hours per year when they were programmed for 1,000 hours. F-16s were designed for a lifetime of 6,000 hours. Most are past 9,000 currently and there are being certified to 10,800 hours – the most of any fighter in the history of aviation. A-10s need to be re-skinned and re-engined. Depot times – the time an aircraft is in depot for major repairs – are going up. B-52s are averaging 9 months in depot. The reason – when they are opened, corrosion and cracks are being found; fixes have to be engineered; parts made for which the original manufacturer no long makes (or sometimes the manufacturer is no longer in business).

Sometimes, people like to look back fondly on their old automobiles. They remember the joy they had driving them. What they forget is: gas mileage was in the mid-teens; at best, the sound system had an eight-track in it; even then the car often needed major maintenance; and … if they still owned it today, they would no more think of driving cross-country in it than the man-in-the-moon. Compare cars of the day with the aircraft that were build then and are still flying today in combat: B-52 = Nash Ambassador; C-5 = AMC Gremlin; RC-135 = Dodge Dart; F-15 = Ford Maverick; F-16 = Ford Fairmont.

It’s hard to realize that we a putting our kids in such ancient equipment and asking them to go to war for us. It’s harder even still when one realizes that occasionally one can buy their airplane … or a threat one just like on Ebay. In, fact two months ago, an F-16A was sold by GSA at auction for $5,000. Our pilots deserve better that that. Think about it.