F-14 Officially Put Out to Pasture Today

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
One thing to note, I've seen the F-18E versions lately at airshows, and the first thing that sticks out is just how big the F-18 has become. It used to be a medium sized aircraft, in between the F-16 and F-15 in size, but now it's quite large, about the size of the F-15.

The F-18E (Super Bug) is a large aircraft. It shares very little with the F/A-18 other than a name. It isn't replacing the Hornet, and shouldn't really be called an F-18 at all, except for Pentagon budget politics.

 

[EGGO]

I thought the F-14s were out long ago? In either case, they were definately cool. Especially when they were piloted by t-rex.

 

[Googer]

http://www.phnx-international.com/Pictu...20ROV%20Operations/F14%20-%20Crete.JPG

 

[slsmnaz]

Originally posted by: Kenazo

Originally posted by: SSP
One of, if not, THE coolest looking figher ever.

boo ya

This thread makes me want to bust out Ace Combat 4 and give it a go.

ROFL!

:laugh:

 

[Slickone]

Hate to see it go, but as far as looks, I've always thought the F-14 looked a just a little bit bulky and liked the F-15's looks better.

I've seen pilots on TV shows that flew both F-14's & F-18's say the F-14 is a handful to fly and that they'd rather fly F-18's.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
F/A-18? What about the god damn F-22 and F-35 they spent billions developing?

Uh, F-22 is for the Air Force.
Navy didn't want a swing-wing version offered to them.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: Slickone
Hate to see it go, but as far as looks, I've always thought the F-14 looked a just a little bit bulky and liked the F-15's looks better.

I've seen pilots on TV shows that flew both F-14's & F-18's say the F-14 is a handful to fly and that they'd rather fly F-18's.

No F-14 pilot would ever say that he would rather be in an F-18. Ever. In the history of time.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: Savij

Originally posted by: Slickone
Hate to see it go, but as far as looks, I've always thought the F-14 looked a just a little bit bulky and liked the F-15's looks better.

I've seen pilots on TV shows that flew both F-14's & F-18's say the F-14 is a handful to fly and that they'd rather fly F-18's.

No F-14 pilot would ever say that he would rather be in an F-18. Ever. In the history of time.

Wow I knew that would come, but not that fast. Nice! Anyway I know what I saw.

 

[abc]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: Nyati13

One of the primary reasons the F-14 became too expensive to maintain is that the main jigs and tooling at Grumman were ordered to be completely destroyed by a Congressional bill some 10 years ago or so.

No it was expensive before that.. as a Navy tech I know exactly why they were expensive to maintain..

#1 Downing gripe.. Wing Sweep Actuators.. these went down more than monica lewisnski in the whitehouse..

#2 Hydrolic nightmares... these aircraft leaked more fluid than is humanly possible.. they were Airframe nightmares..

#3 Radar the Avionics in general in this aircraft were very old tech.. but the radar while being powerful was also a very weak point in design.. Tomcats suffered alot of downing gripes related to the radar system. (and these peices were VERY expensive)

Every day while the other squadrons had mostly up birds the Tomcat squadrons always had at least 4 down birds per squadron out of 10 usually..

geee.... if Grumman had set it up that only a mass of unionized, Overtime collecting Grumman certified Employees were to be deployed to maintain these 'JD Power Associates unfriendly' devices, they'd make more a killing.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: abc

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: Nyati13

One of the primary reasons the F-14 became too expensive to maintain is that the main jigs and tooling at Grumman were ordered to be completely destroyed by a Congressional bill some 10 years ago or so.

No it was expensive before that.. as a Navy tech I know exactly why they were expensive to maintain..

#1 Downing gripe.. Wing Sweep Actuators.. these went down more than monica lewisnski in the whitehouse..

#2 Hydrolic nightmares... these aircraft leaked more fluid than is humanly possible.. they were Airframe nightmares..

#3 Radar the Avionics in general in this aircraft were very old tech.. but the radar while being powerful was also a very weak point in design.. Tomcats suffered alot of downing gripes related to the radar system. (and these peices were VERY expensive)

Every day while the other squadrons had mostly up birds the Tomcat squadrons always had at least 4 down birds per squadron out of 10 usually..

geee.... if Grumman had set it up that only a mass of unionized, Overtime collecting Grumman certified Employees were to be deployed to maintain these 'JD Power Associates unfriendly' devices, they'd make more a killing.

LOL you have NO idea the manhours we put into these... a paid worker with overtime.. wow id have been rich..

 

[Slickone]

I remember when an F-14 crashed into a neighborhood just after takeoff here in Nashville, killing 5 people. The pilot was "Hot-dogging to show off for his parents".
Reports also said the F-14 was prone to problems and had a lot of mishaps.

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[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: abc

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: Nyati13

One of the primary reasons the F-14 became too expensive to maintain is that the main jigs and tooling at Grumman were ordered to be completely destroyed by a Congressional bill some 10 years ago or so.

No it was expensive before that.. as a Navy tech I know exactly why they were expensive to maintain..

#1 Downing gripe.. Wing Sweep Actuators.. these went down more than monica lewisnski in the whitehouse..

#2 Hydrolic nightmares... these aircraft leaked more fluid than is humanly possible.. they were Airframe nightmares..

#3 Radar the Avionics in general in this aircraft were very old tech.. but the radar while being powerful was also a very weak point in design.. Tomcats suffered alot of downing gripes related to the radar system. (and these peices were VERY expensive)

Every day while the other squadrons had mostly up birds the Tomcat squadrons always had at least 4 down birds per squadron out of 10 usually..

geee.... if Grumman had set it up that only a mass of unionized, Overtime collecting Grumman certified Employees were to be deployed to maintain these 'JD Power Associates unfriendly' devices, they'd make more a killing.

LOL you have NO idea the manhours we put into these... a paid worker with overtime.. wow id have been rich..

According to some sources (I'm too lazy to google right now), F-14s require up to 60 hours of maintenance per hour of flight, while an FA18 requires 10 or less. So, crazy as it sounds, you might actually be understating the problem?

edit: to phrase it better, are those numbers in line with your experience?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: abc
geee.... if Grumman had set it up that only a mass of unionized, Overtime collecting Grumman certified Employees were to be deployed to maintain these 'JD Power Associates unfriendly' devices, they'd make more a killing.

Incredible plane

Growing up on Long Island, my neighbor put his life into that plane (RIP Mike)

 

[kingtas]

It is amazing how many of our fighter jets, and others, were designed in the sixties and seventies and still reign supreme.

 

[LeadMagnet]

Well today is the day I would be retiring out of the Navy if I had stayed in for 20 years. And in MY honor the Navy is officially retiring the plane I worked on (F14) today from the base I was stationed on Oceana. Odd it seems they forgot to send me an invitation.

http://www.ecanadanow.com/us/2006/09/21/us-navy-retires-the-f-14-tomcat/