Oregon's F-15s Back In Sky

GENERAL NEWS 

By Ethan Lindsey

Bend, OR  January 10, 2008 9:20 a.m.

The Oregon Air National Guard is sending its squadron of fighter jets back in the air again.

Two months ago, a Missouri Air National Guard plane crashed - engineers later found a structural crack in it. Ethan Lindsey reports that the country's older F-15s were grounded as a precaution, and inspected for similar cracks.

The Air Force has checked 90 percent of the country's grounded F-15s and cleared them for takeoff.

Captain Lucas Ritter says all of the planes at the state's training center near Klamath Falls have been green-lighted.

Capt. Lucas Ritter: “All of our aircraft, all 25 of them, here have been inspected. 4 are cleared to fly. It's been a long two months for the pilots and the students, You know, their training's been put on hold, so they are now here two months longer.”

The state's Air Guard division in Portland, the squadron that patrols Oregon and Washington, also says its planes are cleared.

But the California planes currently patrolling the Northwest won't leave until sometime next week.

Officials say Oregon's pilots must go through a quick refresher course before they are ready to take military command again.

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© 2008 OPB