The 4 reasons why the F-14 Tomcat won't fly again (in the USA!) 

Or the ones in Iran lol

Why were they so cruel to the F-14?

@@ragnarokstravius2074 To keep them from getting into the hands of Iran.

I guess in a way it's a twisted testament to how good they were - it became strategically important to destroy anything that would keep them flying.

I always said if the jet was so outdated and needed to be retired why destroy them all so parts do not get out to Iran? I know that is a real threat with them getting spare parts to keep theirs up but they destroyed them all and got rid of that "outdated" technology in a hurry.

I think every example, or nearly every example, on display has been rendered structurally incapable of flying. The wing boxes have been cut. Believe me, I would love to see them fly.

It will fly again, just wait all those Persian Cats be out of service and all bans will fall.

@@DerekFischer There are maybe a couple Tomcats left on museum hold. I don't know if their wing boxes have been cut. I can't imagine those airframes will ever fly on their own again. The rest are scrapped, gone, or on display and incapable of flight. Edit: I was mistaken. I just checked, there are 10 Tomcats left at AMARC. Including 3 F-14Ds. No idea on how many hours each has, or anything like that. It would take an act of Congress to get one flying. Literally. While aviation enthusiasts and Tomcat fans the world over would love to see a D flying, I give it a snowballs chance of happening. If someone knows different, please let me know.

I went to the Cradle of aviation museum 2 days ago and they had a f-14

@@CSXrailfanAndNS I thought they had a few, 2 or 3

Damn that's romantic Neo. Specially when u wrote "I memorized its shape "😁

Few weeks ago one of the remaining tomcats crashed. Probably either due to compressor stall or lack of parts. That's heartbreaking to loosing this aircraft's in crashes.

still illegal to reproduce the parts sadly. Maybe once Iran finally retires their f14s, then maybe some foundations can get one flying again.

Best get booking that ticket to Iran then!

m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Augh0sXJqoY.html

And in DCS.

@@mattthacker9120 Yeah, as well as in War Thunder, MSFS, Ace Combat and many other games. Luckily we got it there.

Glad to see it again in top gun maverick. Looks good in the rouge nation colors when he flew it to escape the enemy base.

m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Augh0sXJqoY.html

it proves how durable these planes are.

As a matter of fact, that plane on the museum has the tail design of Roy Fokker's VF-0 🤓

Same! Plus when I went to VA Beach I would see them fly overhead all day long back in the early 00s and I took it for granted like she would always be around :( What a sight to see! RIP Big CAT.

*Aircraft. There's no such word as "aircrafts". It's a singular plural.

@@Aeronaut1975 ok thanks, now I know, and I'll even go find out why. English is my second language by the way.

Yes. F-14 Tomcat is the design they used for the fighter mode of the Valkyries.

out of service in 2005

@@killkreethlockjaw8146 Actually the last one was retired on Spt. 22 2006.

If uncle willie wants to make a few bucks flying some wannabe RIO's let us know!!

He'll no. She must fly forever.

The days of surplus are basically over beyond clothing and personal gear and even some of that is regulated. Pretty damn lame.

😂

the "very last line of defence"

it's an extremely specialized aircraft and extremely expensive to operate. it also has to do with the fact it's not a normal plane; no pilot will be able to pick it up over an expected stretch of time. there are no people left to train mechanics or pilots on this machine. for military reasons, satellites are far safer, cheaper, and have become advanced enough to outright replace spy planes. air defense missiles have also become advanced enough to the point no matter how high you fly a jet, even at the limits, it's probably going to be able to be shot down.

Tl;Dr it's an insanely complex machine to operate and mantain. Just the fact that it needs a fuel made especially for it should tell you something

Adding to what others have said -- the vast majority of them have been rendered structurally useless for flight, as they had their wings removed for transport and their engines dropped out and spread to other museums. I think only two or three Blackbirds remain with their guts and wing structure intact. And among those few, the pure amount of parts, money, time, and resources needed to get such a complex air frame off the ground again is monumental. Like the Tomcat, the tooling and most support for it is destroyed or unavailable. The Vulcan's return to flight was far more straightforward than getting an SR or the F-14 in the air could ever be - and it sure wasn't easy.

She goes the way of the F-4, as an air supremacy fighter

Fuck the unnecessary parts. Her fuselage and mechanicals can be reproduced. She just needs to be flying. Shit if Iran can do it with an embargo of parts, someone here can too.

@@noe616 While it's true you can make nearly anything, have you seen how the titanium wing boxes were designed and fabricated? The quality and engineering is jaw dropping. Reproducing that would be monumental.

@@v8packard high quality work done with pride by highly paid professionals is gone nowadays!!

@@rearspeaker6364 Sad but true!

Lmao hell no

@@MrSwccguy Reason? "LoL TruSt me bRo"

@@BigBossIvan there's a reason why it got retired keyboard warrior. The F18 platforms are superior. It's what happens when better tech is available

@@MrSwccguy Oh, I guess my time in the Air Force is irrelevant then. New stuff is totally superior, just like the F35, the JMR, the Osprey, and clearly the slower, lower flying, lower ordinance, shorter range radar, and much more expensive Hornet. Lmao "kEyBoArd wArRioR" from the professional shill in his mom's house. Quiet boy.

@@BigBossIvan lmao Flight Line pog then 🤣 , ahh yes you and your 4 years of infinite wisdom know that a outdated plane is superior to a F35 lmao okay kid go sit down

He didn't help, sure. But he was lead to his conclusion by a large group with an agenda.

Nah biggest reason is Iran

@@ghostcreeper243 #1 and #2 right above me, Chaney made 50 million from killing the tomcat.

wonder what the f-15, f-18, and f-35 maintenance per hr. of flight time is.......F-35...... that has to be about 2 days per hr. of flight time.

@@rearspeaker6364 officially it's 3.8 for the F-35A, for 1 flight hour, 7.7 for the F-35B, and 6.5 for the F-35C

WORTH. IT.

A gun was at the top of the list of requirements from the Navy for the design.

watch the new topgun movie

It's a cannon, not machine gun. Cannon rounds are explosive.

@@Aeronaut1975 machine cannon actually

Trump!F

The better question is who let a close ally like Iran be overthrown by radicals? But, this isn't the place.

@@OoIRANoO Trump was the President in the 1970s???

@@ghost307 yea before Jimmy Carter 🤪

@@OoIRANoO Wasn't that Ford before Carter?