RAF F-35 now airworthy after only five weeks.

[MiTasol]

It only took two weeks for a 14 man team of experts to solve the problem and fix it. And this is supposed to be an easy to maintain warplane. If you were Ukraine would you want an aircraft that takes so long to fix?

Aren't you glad that modern airliners have built in test equipment (BITE) that trouble shoots for the AMT's and "radios" ahead using ACAMS so they can have the parts ready and waiting when the aircraft lands and therefore fix most problems on a turn around or, if an MEL item, at the next overnight stop. Imagine if this was an airliner how long the operator would stay in business.

MEL is the Minimum Equipment List which allows airliners to operate for a short time because there are so many redundancies built in to airliners since the 70's.

F-35B in Kerala: UK fighter jet stuck in India ready to fly

The F-35B landed in Kerala on 14 June after running into bad weather, then reported a technical snag.

www.bbc.com

 

[EwenS]

Well firstly we don't know what the problem actually was, let alone the work needed to fix it.

Secondly we have the recent NAO report on the state of the RAF engineering support for it. With 16 of the fleet deployed on PoW on Operation Highmast, probably a fair proportion of the engineers went along to keep them flying on what is a high profile deployment. All that may, I say may because we don't know, explain why it took 3 weeks to get an engineering team from Marham to India. If it had been a quick and easy fix engineers could have been deployed from PoW before she headed for Singapore.

NAO report confirms UK F-35 fleet under-staffed and under-armed - Navy Lookout

The UK’s investment in the F-35 Lightning II fleet represents the most advanced combat air capability ever fielded by the Royal Navy or RAF. In a report published by the National Audit Office today, it is clear, this formidable aircraft risks being undermined by the chronic lack of people and...

www.navylookout.com

Modern military aircraft including the F-35, do have built in test equipment. Further the Wiki article on the F-35 notes:-

"The F-35 is designed to require less maintenance than prior stealth aircraft. Some 95% of all field-replaceable parts are "one deep"—that is, nothing else needs to be removed to reach the desired part;..."

So the problem was obviously more deeply seated than simple replacement of some random unit.

The F-35 had a computerised maintenance management system called ALIS which clearly had problems and is being replaced with a system called ODIN. Summary of what they do is in this article.

Start of F-35 ODIN Software Fielding to Squadrons Delayed Until 2025 - Defense Daily

While the U.S. Air Force's fiscal 2023 and 2024 budget requests said that fielding of Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN) software for the Lockheed

www.defensedaily.com

 

[buffnut453]

It only took two weeks for a 14 man team of experts to solve the problem and fix it. And this is supposed to be an easy to maintain warplane. If you were Ukraine would you want an aircraft that takes so long to fix?

Aren't you glad that modern airliners have built in test equipment (BITE) that trouble shoots for the AMT's and "radios" ahead using ACAMS so they can have the parts ready and waiting when the aircraft lands and therefore fix most problems on a turn around or, if an MEL item, at the next overnight stop. Imagine if this was an airliner how long the operator would stay in business.

MEL is the Minimum Equipment List which allows airliners to operate for a short time because there are so many redundancies built in to airliners since the 70's.

F-35B in Kerala: UK fighter jet stuck in India ready to fly

The F-35B landed in Kerala on 14 June after running into bad weather, then reported a technical snag.

www.bbc.com

'Fraid you're mixing apples and porcupines here (oranges are too close to apples for consideration).

The first key point is that the F-35B made an emergency landing at a civilian airport that's not equipped to handle military jets, let alone something as sensitive as the F-35. Priority #1 as soon as this emergency was declared was getting a team out to the jet to guard it...that's not something that happens with ANY civilian airliners. Just getting that team out to protect the aircraft can take some time, particularly when it's on the other side of the world from your single main operating base (RAF Marham).

As E EwenS notes, we have no clue about the nature of the issue. An awful lot of airliner issues get hidden from the public. A number of years ago, we were flying from the States to the UK when the aircraft made a precautionary landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland. The airline arranged alternative flights from Shannon to get the passengers to their destinations...but we never boarded our original jet again. That model and approach doesn't work for a stranded F-35.

Yes, airlines have a MEL but some issues can't be fixed, even with that list. Airlines have a sufficient number of airframes that they can work around major maintenance issues, albeit with delays for the passengers...but, again, an airline's top priority is getting its paying passengers to their destinations. The military can't do that, particularly with much smaller fleets. I got stuck at Washington National about 10 years ago because of a maintenance issue on our airframe. National wasn't a main hub for this airline so they asked other airlines that used the airport but none had the right part. They ended up flying in a replacement part from Atlanta (which airlines can do because they have regularly-scheduled flights...the military doesn't). The part eventually arrived and we all boarded the aircraft in anticipation. As we all sat there, the maintenance tech walked through the cabin to fit the part...it was a plastic cover for the exit warning lights in the cabin ceiling. He literally walked through the cabin, clicked it in place, and walked off...and for that "maintenance issue", we waited 10 hrs.

"Just in time" spares supply, coupled with small fleet sizes, can also be a major issue for the military. I recall many moons ago the RAF sent a sizeable force to Malaysia to participate in Exercise Flying Fish. Key to the whole force was an E-3D Sentry which brought a sizeable team from RAF Waddington. On the first day, the E-3D taxied out, trundled down the runway and took off only to be hit, almost immediately, on the nose cone by a large bird. Cue an extensive orbit dumping fuel followed by a return back to the airfield. It took weeks just to get a spare radome out to Malaysia because the E-3D fleet operated a "just in time" spares contract...meanwhile, the crew had a paid holiday in Malaysia (lucky buggers!). Again, in a civilian airliner context, an airframe that suffers a serious birdstrike is simply taken out of service and replaced by another airframe...you can't do that with a limited fleet size (the RAF only had 7 E-3Ds).

All that said, 5 weeks is still far too long a time to return the aircraft back to flying condition. However, I suspect the issue has less to do with the F-35's maintainability and more to do with the remote location and the financial limitations of the UK MOD.

 

[SaparotRob]

'Fraid you're mixing apples and porcupines here (oranges are too close to apples for consideration).

The first key point is that the F-35B made an emergency landing at a civilian airport that's not equipped to handle military jets, let alone something as sensitive as the F-35. Priority #1 as soon as this emergency was declared was getting a team out to the jet to guard it...that's not something that happens with ANY civilian airliners. Just getting that team out to protect the aircraft can take some time, particularly when it's on the other side of the world from your single main operating base (RAF Marham).

As E EwenS notes, we have no clue about the nature of the issue. An awful lot of airliner issues get hidden from the public. A number of years ago, we were flying from the States to the UK when the aircraft made a precautionary landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland. The airline arranged alternative flights from Shannon to get the passengers to their destinations...but we never boarded our original jet again. That model and approach doesn't work for a stranded F-35.

Yes, airlines have a MEL but some issues can't be fixed, even with that list. Airlines have a sufficient number of airframes that they can work around major maintenance issues, albeit with delays for the passengers...but, again, an airline's top priority is getting its paying passengers to their destinations. The military can't do that, particularly with much smaller fleets. I got stuck at Washington National about 10 years ago because of a maintenance issue on our airframe. National wasn't a main hub for this airline so they asked other airlines that used the airport but none had the right part. They ended up flying in a replacement part from Atlanta (which airlines can do because they have regularly-scheduled flights...the military doesn't). The part eventually arrived and we all boarded the aircraft in anticipation. As we all sat there, the maintenance tech walked through the cabin to fit the part...it was a plastic cover for the exit warning lights in the cabin ceiling. He literally walked through the cabin, clicked it in place, and walked off...and for that "maintenance issue", we waited 10 hrs.

"Just in time" spares supply, coupled with small fleet sizes, can also be a major issue for the military. I recall many moons ago the RAF sent a sizeable force to Malaysia to participate in Exercise Flying Fish. Key to the whole force was an E-3D Sentry which brought a sizeable team from RAF Waddington. All arrived safely, got settled and then briefed for the first mission. The E-3D taxied out, trundled down the runway and took off only to be hit immediately on the nose cone by a large bird. Cue an extensive orbit dumping fuel followed by a return back to the airfield. It took weeks just to get a spare radome out to Malaysia because the E-3D fleet operated a "just in time" spares contract...meanwhile, the crew had a paid holiday in Malaysia (lucky buggers!). Again, in a civilian airliner context, an airframe that suffers a serious birdstrike is simply taken out of service and replaced by another airframe...you can't do that with a limited fleet size (the RAF only had 7 E-3Ds).

All that said, 5 weeks is still far too long a time to return the aircraft back to flying condition. However, I suspect the issue has less to do with the F-35's maintainability and more to do with the remote location and the financial limitations of the UK MOD.

The winner is for using porcupine instead of groundhog.

 

[Airframes]

It also takes time to find the correct elastic band. Then it has to be fitted properly (and safely), with a lot of time needed to wind it up enough to provide enough "power" for extended flight ................... cough !

 

[cvairwerks]

Regression testing after a repair can be a real b*tch....Certain component replacements drive massive amounts of regression testing, and not everything can be done with onboard systems and small travel tool kits.

 

[EwenS]

And now repaired she rejoined the PoW off Darwin.

F-35 jet stranded in India for 37 days recovered to HMS Prince of Wales off Australia - Navy Lookout

An F-35 from HMS Prince of Wales that made an emergency landing in India on 14th June has been repaired and flown back to the carrier off the north coast of Australia. The aircraft (tail number ZM168, aircraft number BK-034) was diverted to India as it was unsafe to land due very bad weather around

www.navylookout.com

Note the second paragraph:-

"The aircraft (tail number ZM168, aircraft number BK-034) was diverted to India as it was unsafe to land due very bad weather around the carrier. However, the jet subsequently developed a hydraulic and/or engine issue that prevented takeoff. An engineering team was flown initially from the ship aboard a Merlin helicopter but was unable to effect a repair."

 

[GreenKnight121]

I got stuck at Washington National about 10 years ago because of a maintenance issue on our airframe. National wasn't a main hub for this airline so they asked other airlines that used the airport but none had the right part. They ended up flying in a replacement part from Atlanta (which airlines can do because they have regularly-scheduled flights...the military doesn't). The part eventually arrived and we all boarded the aircraft in anticipation. As we all sat there, the maintenance tech walked through the cabin to fit the part...it was a plastic cover for the exit warning lights in the cabin ceiling. He literally walked through the cabin, clicked it in place, and walked off...and for that "maintenance issue", we waited 10 hrs.

That exit light cover was a FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, not Fleet Air Arm) mandatory Safety-Of-Flight item (passenger safety), as soon as the problem was discovered the aircraft was grounded - the airline had NO choice in the matter.

IF there had been no passengers, only aircrew, then National MIGHT have been able to get a "one-time-flight" waiver to get it somewhere a spare cover was in-stock - but getting the waiver would likely have taken as long as flying one from Atlanta did!

 

[buffnut453]

That exit light cover was a FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, not Fleet Air Arm) mandatory Safety-Of-Flight item (passenger safety), as soon as the problem was discovered the aircraft was grounded - the airline had NO choice in the matter.

IF there had been no passengers, only aircrew, then National MIGHT have been able to get a "one-time-flight" waiver to get it somewhere a spare cover was in-stock - but getting the waiver would likely have taken as long as flying one from Atlanta did!

I understand WHY it happened. My point is that a 30 second repair can take, in this case, many hours to effect, and also require parts to be flown from some considerable distance...and all this despite a MEL the airframe being a common commercial type that operates from National literally hundreds of times every day.

I was using this as an example of how complicated things can become even for routine operations. Those kinds of challenges are compounded massively for a highly-sensitive military airframe stuck on the far side of the world with, in this case, only one MOB.