The Vermont Air National Guard calls the airplane the “Lethal Lady.” It is the oldest F-16C in service. It is aircraft 1165 and has been in service for 25 years. It has more than 7,000 hours of flying time including missions in Iraq. Markings near the cockpit show that it completed 18 missions. It has all new avionics and the Air Guard believes with the right maintenance it could fly for another 3,000 hours. However, the Air Force wants to retire it and later this year plans to take it to the Bone Yard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base where it will be retired or cut up for scrap. The Air Guard unit would like to see sent to a museum or be allowed to keep it at its base in South Burlington where it would be put on display with other obsolete aircraft formerly flown by the unit.
She probably end up some day as a QF-16 if she survives those little demons who pick parts for other aircraft still flying.
As far as the avionic go those will be pulled probably within hours of her arrival at AMARC, packed and shipped back into the supply system. While I was in we were tasked to go around and pack up any viable F-4s to ship them to the German AF. The team would tear down and crate in up in just a few days…I built crates and jigs for major components. Then within a few more days everything was either trucked or airlifted away.
Hopefully your Govenor has low friends in high places that can push the paperwork through so the state can keep it for display purposes. It all boils down to filling out the correct forms…paperwork makes the jet fly or stay where it is. lol
Hopefully they’ll get to keep her! Keep us posted!
Most of the 158FW’s current Vipers will be retired to AMARC in the coming months as the Block 30 replaces the Block 25s. Several jets have already been sent to D-M.
83-1165 is a good jet. I’ve shot it on many occasions. However, it is not even close to being the oldest F-16C still in service. There are a whole bunch of jets between 83-1118, the first production F-16C, and 83-1165. The vast majority of the earlier jets are still flown at Luke with the 56FW (61FS and 62FS) and the 416FLTS at Edwards.
Jake
What I wrote came from the Associated Press whose reporter interviewed the Air Guard unit commander.
I understand. Generally speaking, the media hasn’t the first clue about things such as this. Spend a day out at Luke or Edwards, though, and you’ll see the many, many older airframes still buzzing around.
Jake
And it’s about time too…seems their jets are getting slower and showing up late to formations:
http://www.alert5.com/2008/04/f-16-pilot-grounded-after-maneuver-over.html
Sigh…media…
Not oldest, highest flight time. Over 7000 hours.
But the crowd loved it!
Oh yeah. I mean the only thing he did wrong was be late to the formation…dunno how he pulled that off…and then added flair to cover it up. It really wasn’t an issue. But like everything else in this country, it’s not an issue unless somsone makes an issue out of it…and someone usually does.