Tyndall AFB suffers massive damage; including irreplaceable F-22s

a reply to: BigDave-AR

a reply to: RadioRobert

It's not "supposed to" have 30% of the fleet unflyable

I never worked on lawn darts, but on heavies throw a dart at a calendar and on any given month you will have a base with 30% or more of the planes down for extended maintenance.

Sometimes its bad choices by maintenance supervision, sometimes its supply issues, and other times its just everything broke every time it flew.

Throw in the randomness of a strong nearly cat 5 hurricane and you get this situation.

ETA: forgot to mention another key thing, Chief Cody and Gen Welsh absolutely gutted the Maintenance ranks over their tenure shoving E-5s and E-6s out the door for any conceivable reason while continuing to bring in ops as fast as possible severely damaging the ability of the USAF to turn jets at the speed needed.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

I always wondered about that: Why there hasn't been a drive for single or small batch aircraft production.
The technology probably doesn't exist yet, but that's because no one invented it yet. LoL

It doesnt make sense to me beyond a point. Think in terms of baking a cake. Recipe calls for 4 eggs and you have 3. So buy the dozen or get a chicken for the next couple years worth of cakes...

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: BigDave-AR

I always wondered about that: Why there hasn't been a drive for single or small batch aircraft production.
The technology probably doesn't exist yet, but that's because no one invented it yet. LoL

It doesnt make sense to me beyond a point. Think in terms of baking a cake. Recipe calls for 4 eggs and you have 3. So buy the dozen or get a chicken for the next couple years worth of cakes...

Well you have to understand the logistics of production the parts aren’t just made by the prime contractor many of the parts get subbed out and with things like tooling it’s just not viable to tool up to make one or two of a part without having to charge way more to where it’s cheaper just to get a bigger batch of parts. As metal 3D printing and more advanced composites come more and more into play one offs will become more feasible but we’re not their yet IMO.

a reply to: C0bzz
Actually you could but it would be cost prohibitive for the most part. A standard HAS with reinforced doors that was raised well out of the flood line would work. But look at our own situation in Oz C0bzz, do we build a stack of raised and fortified HAS in Darwin as protection against another Cat 5 Cyclone Tracy for every aircraft, or do we fly out everything we can and move whats left to a few cyclone proof hangars? Its been 44 years since Darwin was flattened and counting. Most likely Tyndall will go at least that long before it gets hit again.

Several aircraft have been ferried to Langley. They're setting up temporary hangars on Tyndall to house two aircraft per hangar to inspect the ones that weren't ferried.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Any updates on the condition of the birds?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Based on these images the following F-22A were in Tydall when Hurricane Michael hit and survived it: 01-4022, 02-4031, 02-4040, 03-4044 and 04-4083.

theaviationist.com... el/

a reply to: Bfirez

The ones ferried out had very little damage, and should be fixable at the unit level. The rest will undergo assessment by Lockheed at Tyndall.

m.aviationweek.com...

Despite the severity of the damage caused by the storm, top Air Force officials insist that none of the wreckage from the hangars that fell on the F-22s caused a total loss.

So, now go find the money...

From you know who, but interesting anyway.

USAF Had Faulty Data About Whether Hangars Full of F-22s Could Survive Hurricane Michael

The U.S. Air Force continues to be coy about the extent of the damage to the approximately 17 F-22A Raptor stealth fighters that remained at Tyndall Air Force Base as it suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. But the service has now revealed that the data it had about which hangars were sufficiently hardened against the force of the storm’s winds appears to have been inaccurate, which could have ramifications both for the work of reconstructing Tyndall and for other bases in hurricane- and typhoon-prone areas.


www.thedrive.com...

Non- flying operations are returning to Tyndall. Training operations are being relocated to Eglin AFB. The 95th Fighter Squadron is being split between Langley, Elmendorf, and Hickam.

originally posted by: Bfirez
a reply to: Zaphod58

Any updates on the condition of the birds?

..as of 6 Nov - www.popularmechanics.com... a24750155/f-22-hurricane-michael-repaired/

According to a report yesterday, the base is in much better shape than feared. They've completed about 90% of debris removal and are well into the damage assessment phase. They said almost all of the buildings will need some kind of roof repair, but about 50% of facilities are showing in the green, meaning they can resume at least some operations without requiring major repairs. Somewhere around 20% may require demolition and rebuilding. They're assessing the monetary requirements for the other 30% still.

www.newsherald.com...

The Air Force is now planning to deactivate the two F-22 squadrons at Tyndall and redistribute the surviving aircrafts between operational squadrons at Langley, Elmendorf and Hickam.
Instead they want to station the next three upcoming, yet unassigned F-35 squadrons at Tyndall.
Plan neeeds congressional approval.

www.airforcetimes.com... /

A Program Management Office has been established at Tyndall. They will oversee repairs to the base, which are expected to cost $3B, and take 5 years.

www.upi.com...

To add insult to injury, the base was hit by a tornado this evening.

The Air Force has the funding to rebuild Tyndall and complete repairs to Offutt. Tyndall will be rebuilt to house 72 F-35s, beginning in September 2023, and possibly MQ-9 Reapers at a later date. The rebuild is estimated between $4.3B and $4.9B. Meanwhile Offutt is expected to cost $650M, and could take four years.

www.airforcemag.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

How many new facilities will Tyndall be putting in? Wow.

a reply to: Masisoar

A big chunk of that is ramp work. They're rebuilding to withstand storm surge, and 180 mph winds, as well as the F-35 infrastructure, new training and simulator facilities and more.