BY : Bruce Rolfsen For Army Times Publishing
For the second time in just over two years, an F-22A Raptor suffered extensive engine damage after the jet power plant sucked in debris.
On Nov. 1, maintainers at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., discovered damage to the jet’s F119 engine during a post-flight inspection. Officials concluded the right-side engine had sucked in a foreign object.
There was no indication what the object was, or when the engine sucked it in.
The Raptor is assigned to Air Combat Command’s 53rd Wing.
Preliminary estimates of repair costs put the bill at $1 million or more and the mishap continues to be investigated.
In October 2005, an F-22A deployed to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va., suffered $6.8 million in damage to an engine after sucking in a 5-inch-long landing gear pin while the jet was on the ground with its two engines running.
A crew chief was holding the pin and its attached fabric streamer when he lost grip of the pin and the flow of air drew the pin into the engine, an investigation concluded. Because there were no technical orders telling airmen how to remove the pin while the F-22A’s engines are running, the inquiry didn’t fault the crew chief.
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