NASA SAYS NAVY WOULDN'T FIX FLAW

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100237
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAMPTON                                LENGTH: Medium
NASA SAYS NAVY WOULDN'T FIX FLAW
NASA researchers say the Navy didn't want to buy a design 20 years ago correcting a flaw in the F-14 that caused at least 31 jets to go into an uncontrollable spin and crash, a newspaper reported.
Bill Gilbert and Luat Nguyen, of the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, urged the Navy to adopt their design in the early 1970s, The Virginian-Pilot & Ledger-Star of Norfolk reported Saturday.
But the Navy, which recently implemented the design, refused the offer then because of concerns about costs and delivery delays, the designers told the newspaper.
Spin-related crashes killed six aviators. Damage to the jets, which cost $38 million each, has totaled $1 billion. The Navy said at least 31 of the 131 crashes in the F-14's history have been attributed to the uncontrollable spin.
The researchers said their repair, which involves connecting the wing's ailerons with the tail rudder, would have cost about $30 million for all of the Navy's F-14s.
"We estimated then the cost of putting in the fixed system was the equivalent of one or two planes for the whole fleet," Gilbert said. "We said: `Hey guys! We've shown the system works. . . . Do it for God's sake.'
"They didn't. They chose to do some other things," he said.
Both men said they weren't criticizing the Navy for its delay and acknowledged it frequently takes 15 to 20 years for such a system to be accepted.
Navy officials say the flaw was not pinpointed until 1979. It then took until 1984 for a system to be designed that would fit into the newer F-14D models, said Lt. Mike Tabb, a Navy spokesman in Washington.
"But that fix had to be eliminated because of cost and scheduling problems," Tabb said. The initiative to install the device began as soon as possible after receiving new funding, he said.
The $78 million repair program will start next year on all of the Navy's 436 F-14s.
"I guess I'm just pleased it is finally being used," Nguyen said. "I really think it will pay off."
Until the device is installed, the Navy has instructed its pilots not to put the plane through critical maneuvers and has restricted certain movements of the F-14's tail rudders.
The spin is created when the plane falls while spinning horizontally. It is hard to halt the spin because no air flows across the wings to provide the jet with lift.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB