#f-15e1

[boeingspotter]

R.I.P. F-15E1

The first production F-15E Strike Eagle (serial 86-0183) departed Boeing St. Louis in December for her final resting place at AMARG. She spent 11 years at Edwards AFB and another 17 as Boeing's corporate test bed. 

May a museum snatch her up at the last minute. "What a Waste".

The actual fleet of Strike Eagles are due to serve the USAF until the late 2030's! Every month, a new export Eagle is rolled off the St. Louis production line. 

A visual of her life:

[boeingspotter]

Today I Spotted...

(X2)

Happy Spring!

[boeingspotter]

F-15SA Makes First Flight!

I can finally write this!

The USAF has confirmed before Boeing that the first F-15SA for Saudi Arabia made it's first flight on February 20th, 2013 just before noon. Flown by veteran Boeing pilot Joe Felock, the flight lasted around 45 minutes before returning to the production facility. I was lucky enough to watch this historic moment as he slowly took the bird up; followed along by F-15E1 as it's chase. This is the first fly-by-wire F-15 and also includes newly activated weapon stations and a fully colored cockpit display. F-15SA 12-1002 is the first of three F-15SA's that will take part in a testing program at St. Louis and Palmdale, California (the second SA has already gone up over the last few weeks). Production airframes will begin flight testing in 2014 with deliveries planned from 2015 until early 2019. The Kingdom of Suadi Arabia has thus far ordered 84 F-15SA airframes, along with upgrades to it's entire original F-15S fleet.

The F-15SA's first flight comes less than a year after the initial start of the program. Congrats to Boeing!

[boeingspotter]

Boeing Phantom Works F-15E1 (AKA the FIRST F-15E and Silent Eagle prototype) recovers after a one hour test flight over Missouri. I'm not sure what he was testing it could have just been a regular systems check. Boeing owns this F-15 meaning they have to pay for everything when it fly's; with that said it fly's very rarely.