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How in the world is this possible: "In a testament to just how incredibly tough these aircraft really are, the damaged F-15 was transported to a maintenance fa

How in the world is this possible: "In a testament to just how incredibly tough these aircraft really are, the damaged F-15 was transported to a maintenance facility in Tel Nof, where it was given a new wing and returned to service." Am I reading this correctly? Events were something like: So you rip a wing off a plane in a mid-air collision but you can safely assume that it did not suffer fundamental structural damage, so you can just stick a wing back on it and it is good to go?

baybal2 4y ago
dogma1138 4y ago
Yes, aircraft are designed to be transportable and repairable so the wings and other control surfaces are easily removable. The wings on an F-16 for example are secured by two bolts all you need is to disconnect the avionics remove the bolts and the wing comes off. You can replace a wing on an F-16 within under half an hour without skipping any steps it is like changing tires on a car.
- jlkuester7 4y ago
  I hope that the techs give an extra tug on the wrench "just to be sure" when they are tightening those two bolts back on like I do when putting the lug nuts back on my car wheel...
  - js2 4y ago
    They are undoubtedly using a torque wrench, and so should you. Opinions differ one whether to use anti-seize compound: https://www.rtsauto.com/should-you-put-anti-seize-on-your-lug-nuts-or-wheel-bolts/ https://www.rtsauto.com/should-you-put-anti-seize-on-your-lu...
    - dogma1138 4y ago
      They have a hydraulic jig that does everything the bolts need to be torqued to 600 foot-pounds you aren’t getting that done with hand tools.
      - CobaltFire 4y ago
        We do 600+ foot-pounds by hand on H-60's. It's not fun but it doesn't require a hydraulic jig. It requires a specific (long) wrench and a guy who can brace. If you can deadlift 200lbs you could do it. The jig is likely to speed up the process and prevent fatigue; doing that torque 16 times per wing would get exhausting.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - dogma1138 4y ago
    I was a bit incorrect on the total number of bolts it’s two bolts per strut and there are 8 struts in total. https://media.defense.gov/2013/Nov/27/2000892775/-1/-1/0/131118-F-QI259-008.JPG https://media.defense.gov/2013/Nov/27/2000892775/-1/-1/0/131... “…each wing possesses 16 wing attach bolts.”
  - CobaltFire 4y ago
    This is a common misconception. Once you hit the rated torque you NEVER do an "extra click" or anything else. That increases the applied torque beyond rated, and can (has) had disastrous consequences by weakening the bolts and/or the material the bolts are seated against. Source: career Naval Aviation Maintainer, QA on F/A-18's and H-60's, etc.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  "Easily" by the way does not mean clip one in in 5 minutes :) These things need like 15 hours of maintenance for every flight hour (and this is regular flying with no parts coming off) I have no experience with military planes but I think in this case "easily" means more like "possible in a few months of work". I suppose when an airframe costs hundreds of millions it takes a lot to make it a write-off.
krisoft 4y ago
> you can safely assume that it did not suffer fundamental structural damage I don’t know where you are getting that they assumed anything. Most likely they carefully checked every part of the airplane.

baybal2 4y ago

dogma1138 4y ago

Yes, aircraft are designed to be transportable and repairable so the wings and other control surfaces are easily removable. The wings on an F-16 for example are secured by two bolts all you need is to disconnect the avionics remove the bolts and the wing comes off. You can replace a wing on an F-16 within under half an hour without skipping any steps it is like changing tires on a car.

jlkuester7 4y ago
I hope that the techs give an extra tug on the wrench "just to be sure" when they are tightening those two bolts back on like I do when putting the lug nuts back on my car wheel...
- js2 4y ago
  They are undoubtedly using a torque wrench, and so should you. Opinions differ one whether to use anti-seize compound: https://www.rtsauto.com/should-you-put-anti-seize-on-your-lug-nuts-or-wheel-bolts/ https://www.rtsauto.com/should-you-put-anti-seize-on-your-lu...
  - dogma1138 4y ago
    They have a hydraulic jig that does everything the bolts need to be torqued to 600 foot-pounds you aren’t getting that done with hand tools.
    - CobaltFire 4y ago
      We do 600+ foot-pounds by hand on H-60's. It's not fun but it doesn't require a hydraulic jig. It requires a specific (long) wrench and a guy who can brace. If you can deadlift 200lbs you could do it. The jig is likely to speed up the process and prevent fatigue; doing that torque 16 times per wing would get exhausting.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- dogma1138 4y ago
  I was a bit incorrect on the total number of bolts it’s two bolts per strut and there are 8 struts in total. https://media.defense.gov/2013/Nov/27/2000892775/-1/-1/0/131118-F-QI259-008.JPG https://media.defense.gov/2013/Nov/27/2000892775/-1/-1/0/131... “…each wing possesses 16 wing attach bolts.”
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  This is a common misconception. Once you hit the rated torque you NEVER do an "extra click" or anything else. That increases the applied torque beyond rated, and can (has) had disastrous consequences by weakening the bolts and/or the material the bolts are seated against. Source: career Naval Aviation Maintainer, QA on F/A-18's and H-60's, etc.
GekkePrutser 4y ago
"Easily" by the way does not mean clip one in in 5 minutes :) These things need like 15 hours of maintenance for every flight hour (and this is regular flying with no parts coming off) I have no experience with military planes but I think in this case "easily" means more like "possible in a few months of work". I suppose when an airframe costs hundreds of millions it takes a lot to make it a write-off.

krisoft 4y ago

> you can safely assume that it did not suffer fundamental structural damage I don’t know where you are getting that they assumed anything. Most likely they carefully checked every part of the airplane.