WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy has grounded 39 of its surveillance, anti-submarine planes — the same kind used at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station — because of concerns about possible structural failures in the wings.
Ten of the four-engine propeller planes are currently deployed overseas, and Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis said they will return to the U.S. for repairs and it has not yet been determined how or if they will be replaced.
“We are acting early, based upon engineering analysis and fleet inspections, to ground these aircraft before a problem arises,” said Davis.
One wing of these aircraft is at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, although no Whidbey planes are affected, base spokeswoman Kimberly Martin said Monday. It’s possible that some of the 10 deployed planes may have originated at Whidbey, but a Pentagon spokeswoman Monday night could not confirm that.
Whidbey is the home for Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10.
The Navy has a total of 161 of the P-3C Orions, and their average age is 28. It will take 18 to 24 months to repair each of the planes, for a total of about three years to complete the process. Those that cannot be repaired will be pulled from service.
The Orions are some of the oldest aircraft the Navy has, and they are set to be replaced in coming years by the new P-8A Poseidon jet. The Poseidon are expected to be operational in the Navy fleet in 2019.
Davis said it is not clear yet whether the rest of the Orions will also have to eventually be taken out of service for repairs.
The 39 were chosen based on their age, the number of hours flown and other computer analyses that showed they had exceeded the amount of fatigue on the wings that the Navy considered a concern.
The Naval Air Systems Command issued a bulletin announcing the grounding Monday, saying it was determined that the 39 aircraft were “beyond known structural limits on the lower section” of the wing.
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