oriol
Well-Known Member
Hi!
I was wondering how, the Iranians have been able to keep their fleet of F14's in flying condition, despite the embargo? I assume that it is possible, with obviously sufficient resources, to reverse engineer all the necessary parts, to extend the life of an aircraft. Perhaps sometimes it might be more convenient to design a new, hopefully upgraded, part that can replace the old one.
Once as a maintenace technician student we visited an AFB. We were given as present each one a F18 blade. Of course, I still keep mine, it is the picture below. The blades are impressive, a masterpiece by itself, it is a total different league from homebuilding. I understand that the refrigeration holes are made by laser. How can one replicate such a critical part?! I guess that the F14's blades are similar to those.
Extending the life of an ageing fleet, is an issue that not only the Iranians face. Like North Korea, there are other countries which are still flying cold war era aircrafts, but even air museums, who keep old but still very sophisticated airplanes in flying conditions.
Cheers,
Oriol
I was wondering how, the Iranians have been able to keep their fleet of F14's in flying condition, despite the embargo? I assume that it is possible, with obviously sufficient resources, to reverse engineer all the necessary parts, to extend the life of an aircraft. Perhaps sometimes it might be more convenient to design a new, hopefully upgraded, part that can replace the old one.
Once as a maintenace technician student we visited an AFB. We were given as present each one a F18 blade. Of course, I still keep mine, it is the picture below. The blades are impressive, a masterpiece by itself, it is a total different league from homebuilding. I understand that the refrigeration holes are made by laser. How can one replicate such a critical part?! I guess that the F14's blades are similar to those.
Extending the life of an ageing fleet, is an issue that not only the Iranians face. Like North Korea, there are other countries which are still flying cold war era aircrafts, but even air museums, who keep old but still very sophisticated airplanes in flying conditions.
Cheers,
Oriol
