ESTADOS UNIDOS PARALIZA 104 F-18 HORNET/U.S. Grounds 104 Hornets After More Cracks Discovered

Ha ocurrido el pasado 12 de marzo. Ciento cuatro Hornet de la US Navy y el Marine Corps han sido paralizados despues de que inspecciones revelaran impactos en la célula mucho antes de lo planeado. Las variantes afectadas van desde la A a la D, y suponen el 16% de la flota del modelo en la Navy y Marines; 77 están volando actualmente, y el resto están en mantenimiento. La paralización no afecta a aeronaves desplegadas en apoyo a operaciones en Iraq y Afganistán.

U.S. Naval Air Systems Command grounded 104 U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets March 12 after inspectors discovered the airframes were developing cracks much earlier than engineers had thought.
The grounding order affects the first four varieties of Hornet - models A through D (16 percent of the Navy-Marine A through D fleet).
Of the 104 grounded jets, 77 are in flight status. Of those, 23 are in Navy and Marine Corps fleet squadrons; five are forward-deployed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan; five belong to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team; and 44 are in fleet replacement squadrons. The other 27 Hornets are in a maintenance status.