$6.7M in Govt Damages

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Irregular News for 03.24.06

 

Hampton, VA -- A metal pin about 6 inches long and an inch thick was sucked into the engine of an F-22A Raptor, causing $6,754,275.36 in damage, an Air Force report said.

 

The incident - called "foreign-object damage" - occurred on Oct. 20, 2005, when the Raptors of the 27th Fighter Squadron were preparing for night operations while deployed at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

 

Many of the pilots were dropping bombs for the first time in any of the airplanes.

 

The Raptors were immediately grounded and an investigation was ordered. The planes remained on the ground the next day while remedial action was taken.

 

"This incident happened during a training mission and our main concern was that no one was injured," said Lt. Dan Goldberg, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which conducted the investigation.

 

The ACC report, issued Wednesday, said the plane's pilot had started the engines, but the crew chief noticed that the pin was still inserted in the landing gear, locking it into place.

 

The chief instructed the pilot to shut down the Raptor's left engine, then scurried under the plane to remove the pin, from which a streamer hangs to make it more accessible.

 

During the removal, the streamer and pin were sucked into the right engine, destroying it.

 

The incident was called a "Class A mishap," because damages were more than $1 million," Goldberg said.

 

The affected Raptor was kept out of training the next week, and it remained at Hill Air Force Base for several more days for repairs while the rest of the 27th Fighter Squadron returned.

 

Squadron members attributed the incident to the newness of the Raptor and its maintenance techniques.

 

The Hill deployment was the first for the airplane and its maintenance group, and much of the time in Utah was spent on lessons learned.

 

"When accidents like this happen, we conduct an Accident Investigation Board (AIB) to find out exactly what occurred, and we take the necessary steps to make sure the same accident doesn't occur again," Goldberg said.

 

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FOD=Murphy's Law