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Reliability and Maintainability Improvements for F-15 Aircraft Structures and Systems

Period of Performance:  August 2000 – September 2001

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Principal Investigator: Daniel Bowman
University of Dayton Research Institute
300 College Park
Dayton, OH 45469-0110
Phone: 937-229-3052
Fax: 937-229-4251
Email: bowman@udri.udayton.edu


UDRI provides engineering staff at Robins AFB, GA to support F-15 SPO Engineering activities (WR-ALC/LFEFS). UDRI engineers perform day-to-day activities required F-15 aircraft repair to support depot level repair and refurbishment as well as support for fielded F-15 aircraft worldwide. This support includes addressing Engineering Assistance Requests (TO 00-25-107), Nonconforming Technical Assistance Requests (AFMC Form 202), and other engineering tasks. Typical work includes development of non-standard repairs and solutions to problems with aircraft structure, with the majority of the work being focused on the vertical stabilizers, flaps, rudders, ailerons, horizontals, wing tips, and skins. The UDRI engineering staff works with AF engineers to design and develop repairs and procedures as well as requisite modifications to T.O.s that document new repair processes and procedures so that all maintainers will have access to the new and proven repair technologies.

UDRI staff also is working on development and implementation of the Operational Safety, Suitability, and Effectiveness OSS&E program for the F-15. The OSS&E Failed left landing gear Program grew from the need to reduce or eliminate the increase in mishaps of some of the Air Force weapon systems observed during the nineties. The program has the objectives of improving safety by reducing the loss of life, equipment or mission capability, reducing cost of use by decreasing the field/depot/deployment costs, and maintaining system effectiveness by periodically validating equipment performance. UDRI is developing the OSS&E Process Requirements and Processes.

Also under this task order, UDRI Dayton based personnel supported an effort with WR-ALC to investigate the causes of a landing gear link failure on the F-15 aircraft. Instrumented landing gear link UDRI personnel traveled to Mountain Home AFB to participate in an accident investigation. As part of this investigation, UDRI personnel had the unique experience of conducting testing with the subject aircraft. UDRI also participated in a ground and flight test program at Nellis AFB. UDRI instrumented a landing gear link with strain gages and placed a data acquisition system on an F-15 aircraft. The aircraft was placed on jacks and the landing gear was cycled to collect load data. Flight-testing was also conducted to obtain load data during takeoff, flight, and landing. While initially, the landing gear link was suspected as a primary cause of the failure, UDRI’s efforts revealed that a number of other problems with the landing gear system were causing overloads in this link.

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This website is maintained by: Gloria Hardy
Last Update: July 25, 2003