SPECIAL REPORT// F-117A
WHY IS THE F-117A STILL FLYING?
The recent spate of sightings of F-117A Nighthawks flying over the western US, 11 years after the type’s formal retirement, has led to a great deal of speculation as to why the aircraft might still be flying. Combat Aircraft looks at some of the possible reasons.
IT’S NOT OFTEN that a military aircraft type that has been completely retired returns from the grave. The Lockheed SR-71 did so, albeit briefly, in 1995 and now there is indisputable proof that the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk remains active, some 11 years after its formal retirement. The remarkable sightings during February, detailed in Combat Aircraft’s May issue, proved to be among the biggest aviation stories of the year so far, and more sightings have continued in March and April. But why is the US Air Force still flying its ‘stealth fighters’?
The simplest explanation is that the aircraft are flying solely in order to confirm the effectiveness of their flyable storage program, with a handful of aircraft being maintained in airworthy condition to allow a small pool of pilots to retain sufficient currency to be able to one day fly them to the boneyard. However, the intensity of recent fl…
