NATO E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System planes ready for operation after safety repairs

An E3 Airborne Warning and Control System plane in flight May 17. The E-3As operational altitude is above 30,000ft. (Department of Defense photo)

Related Topics

MONS, Belgium — After completing the repair of corrosion damage and successful ground tests, all NATO E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System planes have returned to the skies to resume flight operations all over Alliance airspace as of May 17.

The first flight to support the counter-terrorism Operation Active Endeavour over the Mediterranean started May 17.

The entire NATO AWACS fleet operating out of Geilenkirchen, Germany was inspected April 29 after corrosion was found on the nose wheel landing gear door mechanism on one of the planes. The extent of the corrosion damage might have had the potential to prevent proper deployment of the landing gear.

Except for the planes undergoing regular maintenance, all available aircraft have now been repaired.

As applies to other parts of Europe, volcano ash may continue to cause flight cancellations or scheduling irregularities.
 

Find more articles tagged with:

Comments: 0

Your comment: