비행시간 15,000시간을 기록한 미 공군의 F-15E 'LUCKY'

[위종민]

걸프전 당시 LGB를 투하해 이륙중이던 헬기를 격추해 스트라이클 최초의 공대공 전과를 기록했던 F-15E #80-0487 'LUCKY'가 1989년 이후 비행시간 15,000시간을 돌파했다고 7월 9일 알려졌네요. 1년 8개월 2주 2일 16시간이라고... 

지난 5월 중동에 배치돼 전투출격을 실시하던 중 이를 기록했습니다. 통상 비행시간인 8천 시간의 두 배에 가까운 시간이네요. 이 기체는 12년 전인 2012년에도 바그람 공군기지에 배치돼 전투출격 중 1만 시간을 최초로 넘었다고 합니다.

2023년 7월 기준 53대의 스트라이크 이글이 비행시간 1만시간 이상을 기록했다고 합니다. 작년부터 중동의 긴장이 고조돼 F-15E가 바쁘게 움직였고, 특히 지난 4월 494 전투비행대대 및 335 전투비행대대의 F-15E가 이란제 드론 70대 이상을 격추했었지요.  

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-f-15e-15000-flight-hours

An F-15E Strike Eagle aircrew exits the cockpit at an undisclosed location in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 17, 2024. The jet had surpassed 15,000 flight hours. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Expand Photo

SHARE ARTICLE

LUCKY Strike: The F-15E That Downed a Helo With a Bomb Just Hit 15,000 Flight Hours

July 10, 2024 | By David Roza

One year, eight months, two weeks, two days, 16 hours. That is how much time F-15E tail number #89-0487 has spent in flight since it first entered service in 1989. The 35-year-old fighter jet logged its 15,000th flight hour in May during a combat sortie while deployed to the Middle East, according to a press release published July 9. 

The milestone is largely a tribute to the maintainers who shepherded the aircraft nearly twice the length of its original service life of about 8,000 flight hours. 

“Lots of maintenance, long hours, and many upgrades are needed to ensure jets are ready at a moment’s notice,” one anonymous maintainer said in the release. “Literal blood, sweat and tears went into achieving this milestone.”

A spokesperson for Air Force Life Cycle Management Center confirmed for Air & Space Forces Magazine that tail number #89-0487, also known as “LUCKY” has more flight hours than any of the other 217 Strike Eagles in service. As one Airman cited in the press release said, the milestone “is unheard of.”

“All of the crew chiefs, both past and present, paved the way for the standard needed to maintain this jet,” the Airman said. “There are people all over the world who know her story and constantly ask me about how it’s doing.”

A U.S. Air Force 335th Expeditionary Fighter Generation Squadron crew chief places a “15,000” sticker on an F-15E Strike Eagle, at an undisclosed location in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 17, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo)

LUCKY’s achievement comes 12 years after it became the first F-15 of any type to break 10,000 hours, according to a 2012 press release. At the time, the jet was flying a packed schedule of combat sorties out of Bagram airfield, Afghanistan. 

“When we got here, it was at 8,800 hours,” Staff Sgt. Ryan Forsse, a crew chief assigned to #487, said at the time. “We put 1,200 hours on it in the past three months. During that time, this aircraft dropped 15 percent of all bombs deployed in our fleet.”

But LUCKY’s habit of trailblazing goes back even further to 1991 when, during Operation Desert Storm, #487 became the first Strike Eagle to record an air-to-air combat kill after Capts. Tim Bennett and Dan Bakke dropped a laser-guided bomb on an Iraqi Mi-24 helicopter. The crew thought the helicopter was on the ground when they released the weapon, but it had actually reached about 800 to 1,000 feet by the time it impacted, Bakke and Bennett said in the book “Strike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War.”

“If you’ve ever seen a James Bond movie where the helicopter—the model they film—just vaporizes and disappears, that is exactly what happened,” Bakke recalled.

LUCKY, also known as ‘America’s Jet,’ seems to have a knack for being a fighter jet, the lead production superintendent for the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance squadron said in 2016, after the jet surpassed 12,000 flying hours.

“All of our aircraft have different temperaments, so to speak, but America’s Jet consistently outperforms all of our other jets,” the superintendent said. “That’s why we call her America’s Jet; because she is full of grit and fortitude, the embodiment of the American spirit, and has demonstrated this in every major conflict since Desert Storm.”

F-15E Strike Eagle #89-0487 lands after completing the mission that brought its flying hours up to 10,000 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 13, 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ericka Engblom)

The rest of the F-15E fleet likely isn’t too far behind LUCKY: in July 2023, 53 Strike Eagles had achieved the 10,000 flight hour mark, according to the 48th Fighter Wing based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom. The past year has been a busy one for the Strike fleet, which has deployed multiple times in response to growing tensions in the Middle East. 

In April, F-15Es from the Lakenheath-based 494th Fighter Squadron and the Seymour Johnson-based 335th Fighter Squadron shot down more than 70 Iranian drones before they could reach targets in Israel. President Joe Biden spoke with members of the F-15 squadrons to “commend them for their exceptional airmanship and skill in defending Israel from an unprecedented aerial attack by Iran,” the White House said at the time.

Though it was not immediately clear if LUCKY took part in that mission, the jet may have many flight hours ahead to achieve more historic firsts. In May, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), a key member of the House Armed Services Committee, proposed blocking the Air Force’s plan to retire any Strike Eagles in the foreseeable future. The Air Force had asked to retire 26 jets next year as the start of a gradual draw down. 

380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chiefs complete post-flight checks on F-15E Strike Eagle #89-0487 at an undisclosed location, Aug. 16, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samantha Mathison)

In the meantime, the Air Force hopes to gradually replace the older F-15C model with the new F-15EX variant, but the exact size of the future EX fleet remains unclear. Until then, the F-15E likely will continue serving as the Air Force’s heavyweight multirole air-to-air and air-to-ground fighter of choice. While pilots will fly the jet, maintainers will keep it ready to fly. After all, LUCKY may have spent nearly two years in flight, but most of its 33 years were on the ground being prepared for the next sortie.

“LUCKY has been an honor to crew,” said the anonymous maintenance Airman. 

[김용우]

지금 미군들이 가자고 있는 15E 플릿들 같은 경우는 테러와의 전쟁초기에 보면 아프칸에서 피스톤 운용되면서 사우디에서 떠서 아프칸에 갔다오며 소티당 공중급유 8~10번까지 꼽으면서 12시간정도의 거의 민항기같은 운용을 했었던 얘들이니 누적비행시간이 무지막지하겠지요.

[백선호]

이 때 사우디에서 떠 인도양, 파키스탄 지나 아프가니스탄으로 갔겠죠?

[위종민]

프린스 술탄 공군기지에서 UAE - 오만만 - 파키스탄 남부 - 카불까지 거리를 찍어보니 편도만 2800km가 넘네요 ㄷㄷㄷ