F-22 Raptor Returns to the Skies, 5 Years After Extreme Injury from Botched Takeoff

An Air Drive F-22 Raptor flew as soon as once more Might 4, 5 years after it suffered intensive injury from a botched takeoff on April 13, 2018.

With solely 186 Raptors in your entire Air Drive stock, getting simply one of many formidable air-to-air fighters again to operations represents a major achievement for the third Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, the place the F-22 is assigned.

“There are solely so many F-22s within the stock,” Chief Grasp Sgt. Adam Willeford, the third Plane Upkeep Squadron senior enlisted chief, mentioned in a press launch. “Each plane within the fleet is extremely helpful for mission success, so returning this one to operational standing is a giant win for the workforce.”

An Accident Investigation Board blamed the 2018 crash on incorrect takeoff and touchdown knowledge, an insufficient flight temporary, and the pilot prematurely retracting the touchdown gear. The pilot was taking off from Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., for a TOPGUN commencement train when the mishap occurred. The pilot rotated the plane—bringing the nostril up—at 120 knots, and because the plane indicated its wheels have been leaving the bottom, the pilot retracted the touchdown gear. Instantly after the touchdown gear retracted, the plane “settled” again on the runway with the doorways absolutely closed.

The Raptor slid about 6,500 toes down the runway earlier than coming to a cease, at which level the unhurt pilot bought out of the cockpit. The investigation board later discovered the pilot ought to have achieved a better pace earlier than rotation, however that aviators throughout the F-22 group tended to be overconfident that the jet’s excessive thrust may “overcome deviations from [takeoff and landing data]. This notion has led to a decreased emphasis on the takeoff knowledge.”

The board didn’t specify the precise value of the mishap, however the restoration course of was intensive, with the fighter having to be partially rebuilt so as to reenter service. Maintainers began by disassembling the jet and transport it again to Alaska aboard a C-5 Galaxy transport jet—disassembly alone took a month.

“We took off all the things that was broken and all the things that wouldn’t match dimensionally,” Employees Sgt. Ethan Rentz, a crew chief with the third Plane Upkeep Unit (AMU), mentioned in a 2021 press launch. “We eliminated the wings and vertical stabilizers, and the entire stomach of the F-22 as a result of these panels have been broken and burnt. We couldn’t have these panels flapping round or breaking off throughout transit.”

When the plane returned to Alaska, the Air Drive first needed to decide if it was even value restoring. The simulations recommended it was, mentioned Tech. Sgt. Kevin Fitch, one other crew chief with the third AMU. In January 2020, the Raptor was mounted on stands in a hangar and stripped of its wire harnesses, struts, and bulkheads.

“It was right down to the bones of the fuselage at that time,” Fitch mentioned in a launch.

It took 16 months for contractors, engineers, and constructions consultants to interchange your entire backside of the plane, the fuselage stations, and greater than 40 wire harnesses. It was not till June 2021 that Lively-Responsibility Airmen lastly bought concerned within the rebuild. Fitch stored stock lists and spreadsheets to trace the big variety of alternative elements the broken jet required.

“Sgt. Fitch picked this up from nothing,” Rentz mentioned within the launch. “He’s working at a grasp or senior grasp sergeant degree as a result of he’s not simply dealing with crew chief duties, he’s coordinating with a number of completely different backshops and businesses. He’s basically operating a one-man plane squadron.”

Gathering elements was the most important problem for repairing the Raptor, for the reason that jet and its alternative elements are not manufactured. The restoration course of might have taken even longer if one other F-22 had not crashed at Eglin Air Drive Base, Fla., in 2022, when its touchdown gear collapsed. Maintainers from the JBER-based ninetieth Plane Upkeep Unit journeyed to Eglin to cannibalize elements from the downed Raptor, together with the vanguard, two flaps, and a seat.

Although the cannibalizing will lengthen the restoration time for the Eglin F-22, it helped the JBER Raptor return to responsibility earlier—making certain a minimum of one jet is flying.

On Might 4, Lt. Col. Philip Johnson, a functional-check-flight pilot assigned to the 514th Flight Take a look at Squadron at Hill Air Drive Base, Utah, flew a check flight of the F-22.

“They did a fantastic job on the airplane,” he mentioned within the press launch. “There have been some minor upkeep notes discovered throughout the sortie, however these will likely be dealt with by upkeep. It’s good to return to operational flying.”

The return of the F-22 to operational standing is one among many minor miracles army plane maintainers accomplish regularly. Air Drive maintainers restored an A-10 “Warthog” 4 years after belly-landing in Michigan, whereas Navy sailors as soon as introduced again an EA-18G Growler that had been thought-about past restore 5 years after struggling a mid-air collision. 

“5 months in the past it had no struts, no wings, no flight controls, no hydraulics, no stabilizers,” Fitch mentioned in December 2021. “Seeing the progress and doing one thing out of the odd has been actually rewarding. … It’s going to be very satisfying when it flies.”