NNS020606-14. Navy Temporarily Suspends Carrier Ops for F-14 Tomcat Fleet
From the Navy News Service
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy suspended carrier operatons for its 156 F-14 Tomcats Tuesday, pending a corrosion inspection of the jets' nose landing gear (NLG) components.
All Tomcats will remain grounded until investigators check a key strut in each plane's nose wheel assembly -- specifically, the outer NLG cylinder, which was the apparent cause of a March 2, 2002, F-14 training accident in the Mediterranean which killed the pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Blaschum.
An engineering investigation of the mishap discovered corrosion on the outer cylinder at the site where the failure occurred.
Any F-14 aircraft NLG cylinder strut found to have corrosion pits greater than .005 inches deep will be prohibited from carrier launch until the nose landing gear strut is replaced.
Aircraft with corrosion pits less than .005 inches deep will be placed on a recurring 50 catapult inspection requirement to make certain the corrosion does not exceed acceptable levels. Inspection procedures are estimated to require 15 man-hours per aircraft.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is working with the type commanders (TYCOMs) to minimize the impact on deployed squadrons, and with the parts supplier, BF Goodrich, to assure a supply of replacement parts to meet the fleet needs as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The Navy expects to have all F-14s inspected within two weeks.
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