The Boeing team preparing for the F/A-18E-F Super Hornet service life modification (SLM) program has begun tearing into one of the fleet’s most-used aircraft and found the plane does not have as much age-related damage as predicted, the company’s service life modification program director told USNI News. When Boeing and the Navy sought to extend the life of the legacy F/A-18A-D Hornets past the original 6,000 hours of flight time to 9,000 or 10,000 hours, major structural damage was found in many of the planes and the life-extension work took longer than anticipated, as the Boeing team had to wait … Continue reading Boeing Examining High-Use Super Hornets to Validate Life-Extension Plans; Already Buying Material, Setting Up Facility