Cracks in Two F/A-18s Lead to Fleet Inspection

July 16, 2009
Cracks in "bootstraps" weren't enough to ground fleet.

ARLINGTON, VA — Navy maintenance crews found cracks in two Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet aircraft last week, and on Friday the Navy ordered quick inspections of nearly its entire fleet, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

Navy officials said the cracks could affect control of the aircraft and called them "a safety-in-flight risk," Lt. Clay Doss said.

The aircraft models affected were ordered to undergo maintenance within 25 flight hours, but Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD, did not ground the planes.

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