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

The Air Zoo is a world-class, Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with over 100 air and space artifacts, inspiring interactive exhibits, full-motion flight simulators, indoor amusement park rides, a theater and over 100 education programs!

[@muskaos]

The military went a lot farther than scrapping the retired airframes, they scrapped _all_ the spare parts, and even went so far as rendering any other gear used on the F-14 unusable as well, like ground support equipment. The only ones left are the ones stuck on pylons or in museums. It makes me sad, because I deployed with F-14s as part of my carrier's air wing three times, 1996, 1999, and 2004.

[@UnsungAces]

Or the ones in Iran lol

[@ragnarokstravius2074]

Why were they so cruel to the F-14?

[@outis7080]

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

[@toastrecon]

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.

[@seancagney8897]

I always said if the jet was so outdated and needed to be retired why destroy them all so parts do not get out to Iran?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that is a real threat with them getting spare parts to keep theirs up but they destroyed them all and got rid of that "outdated" technology in a hurry.

[@Jimmythefish577]

If they can get a Vulcan back in the sky, they can get an F-14 back in the sky.

[@v8packard]

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.

[@DerekFischer]

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

[@v8packard]

@@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.

[@CSXrailfanAndNS]

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

[@v8packard]

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

[@noe616]

This plane must be flown again. I got to see an actual flying example in an airshow in Lemore CA 30 years ago. I appreciated being there and being able to touch this flying aircraft, a plane which I crafted with plastic models. I adored it so much that I memorized its shape.

[@OoIRANoO]

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

[@krakhedd]

As an American, the F-14 represented American dominance on the seas, the F-15 over land. Will always love them and hopefully 3D printing makes flying old craft more economical

[@OoIRANoO]

I have served my military service in the only airbase home to F-14. That thing is gorgeous

[@ninjaraptor0612]

This bad boy will always fly in our memories. After all, it's hard to forget about a masterpiece like this.

[@mattthacker9120]

And in DCS.

[@ninjaraptor0612]

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

[@aaronmiller5012]

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.

[@foxkill7]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6bKmWOpja-kpbs

[@jessiesmoak3380]

i love the fact i saw both of these beautiful birds fly. At an air show back in the 90's.

[@seancagney8897]

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.

[@noe616]

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

[@OoIRANoO]

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.

[@ericgu9036]

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

[@kyloben8537]

I don't care if I have to go through hell 5 times over I am going to see a Tomcat fly AT LEAST one more time. if they can get a Vulcan in the air they can get a Tomcat in the air

[@Aeronaut1975]

Best get booking that ticket to Iran then!

[@foxkill7]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6bKmWOpja-kpbs

[@MrGuru666999]

You can also watch the F-14 design in the Robotech/Macross anime jet fighters (named Valkyries). Many of us grew loving this airplane thanks to that series.

[@MrGuru666999]

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

[@Rogueaviation]

You folks at the Air Zoo do it right! I've been to Wright-Pat and the Smithsonian....you all give them a run for their money! Between the CEO and his pink shoes, and this guy with his spot on assessments of things, the Air Zoo has it all!!! And your volunteers who painstakingly helped my kindergartner craft an orange paper airplane at the Spy-posium weekend, you're all amazing. Amelia and Charles would be proud. Thank you for being awesome. Thank you for helping me teach my kids a love of aviation. Thank you, one and all at the AirZoo.

[@Tomcat71]

I was an Airframer for 6 years on tomcats .

[@DavidFerriday]

It was pure vandalism to shred and destroy such a cultural icon. Pure madness! And all that for what? Iran are still flying them regardless.

[@euanlacey1047]

im going to miss that bird

[@nicksothep8472]

These are the aircrafts that inspired the Valkyries in Robotech right?

[@Aeronaut1975]

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

[@nicksothep8472]

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

[@MrGuru666999]

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

[@dmomintz]

Let the ol' bird rest... She's earned it.

[@noe616]

He'll no. She must fly forever.

[@dw-bn5ex]

Nonsense, my uncle Willie's got one in the barn down in Kansas. He says she's a good runner, gonna use her for crop dustin.

[@rearspeaker6364]

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

[@gureno19]

You can still see the F14s fly.... In ahh....in Iran. Only country to actually use them to their potential as well with alot of kills.

[@rearspeaker6364]

it proves how durable these planes are.

[@nearkolob]

Correction. The US senate armed services commitee lead by John McCain ordered that all but a handful of the F14s be destroyed when they were taken out of service in 2011. The only ones left are stripped down museum displays.

[@killkreethlockjaw8146]

out of service in 2005

[@nearkolob]

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

[@Geosage99]

Love watching your videos! Euan's job is like my dream job! :D

[@RideWithRen]

The real reason is because Iran has the F-14 Tomcat, and the US doesn't want Iran to get any spare parts for their fleet, so all parts were scrapped when the aircraft was retired. The animosity between the US and Iran governments is the real reason you won't see F-14 flying again.

[@xodiaq]

Damn shame. It was an absolute masterpiece of an aircraft.

[@matthewzuber9823]

The f-14 is one of the sexiest jets ever!

[@SuperiorAmericanGuy]

Now how will Tom cruise make a third top gun movie?

[@billymania11]

Even though the citizens of the United States paid for these aircraft, our military has a not very friendly attitude regarding the custody of these now surplus aircraft. The invoke all manner of excuses that the public is not worthy of taking possession. It should not matter to them anymore. Obviously the public would love to see these old birds fly, but until certain selfish attitudes change, that will not happen.

[@s0nnyburnett]

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

[@ethanslattery9465]

Theres 8 in Arizona at the airfield you can tour that have not been put away to rot! And are still intact!! Not one that is there has been taken too the scrap yard since retirement and i do believe in case something very bad happens they will be there to fly once again.

[@gamingwith3033]

the "very last line of defence"

[@shaunohare3004]

May this bird of legend rest in peace😔

[@williammitchell4417]

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

[@nightfall1249]

I will try my best to get ahold of one.

[@BigBossIvan]

She’s still an incredibly dangerous aircraft to this day. The Super Tomcat 21 would’ve dominated above any 4th gen+ fighter aircraft, hands down. Sadly, Grumman fell out of favor and Boeing greased up the right hands all the way up to Cheney. That’s the real reason thr F14 was retired.

[@MrSwccguy]

Lmao hell no

[@BigBossIvan]

@@MrSwccguy Reason? "LoL TruSt me bRo"

[@MrSwccguy]

@@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

[@BigBossIvan]

@@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.

[@MrSwccguy]

@@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

[@alceufernandes3783]

The good news is that no extremely valuable preserved aircraft will crash in flight.

[@williammitchell4417]

I like #200 she was with the Jolly Rogers

[@saschapriyambodo7250]

imagine seeing this vid and years later an f-14 flys again

[@GolddenWaffles]

What are some reasons as to why the SR-71 doesn't fly anymore?

[@jonsalmi2363]

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.

[@DemonLordGamingAC0]

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

[@soggysadboi]

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.

[@hihowareyou-v3s]

I have a question... Can customers sit inside the cockpit of an plane?

[@coreybellamy2175]

Make sense it cost too much fiscally improbable

[@Jetmets_951]

First, and why is it illeagell to sell the parts Edit- I posted this comment at the start of the vid and u answered it at the end lol

[@OoIRANoO]

😂

[@josephschutkin4851]

Sad 😔

[@alceufernandes3783]

Good recommendation! Don't go to Iran to see the F14.

[@ToyotaTacomaOfficial]

I see them here in Iran all the time

[@lukewalker1162]

I srill don't get the details of it, maybe comparing to F/A-18 will make sense.

[@mygaffer]

Is this a video or a short?

[@lenderification]

The still fly in smaller scales in the rc world!!😃👍

[@michelestefanini5466]

I'll spare you the entire video even though I didn't watch it. 1st and only reason: parts

[@noe616]

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.

[@v8packard]

@@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.

[@rearspeaker6364]

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

[@v8packard]

@@rearspeaker6364 Sad but true!

[@alb.1911]

60h of maintenance every 1h 🤯

[@rearspeaker6364]

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.

[@ThePossumDenYT]

@@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

[@gamingwith3033]

WORTH. IT.

[@vincent18]

i really like top gun which uses this plane

[@rogermatheny5512]

Because it would embarrass all the new fly by wire fighters

[@LEAGUE_OF_THNDR]

facts

[@Biden2024_]

What if a billionaire where to buy one from Iran??

[@pvt.potato1943]

God knows what voodoo the Iranians used to keep it flying .

[@tomcatstudios8804]

I've been to Iran since I have family and the airport is not a friendly place to go through especially with American passports

[@vendomnu]

That bad customer service. Almost as bad as Jeep.

[@mrrberger]

Australia purchased F14's, so I'm not sure how you can say Iran was the only customer. Australia would still be flying F14's except for parts availability. Was at an engineering gathering and discussing the supply issue with a fellow engineer, fuel system components were the biggest problem, not the titanium central box. Certified parts were expensive but making one off parts that then need certification were a lot more expensive. The Ranians have the benefit of desperation in keeping their fleet going, part certification can be tailored to ensure flight hours.

[@asqarfarhadi2547]

Nobody told you to "run" as you pronounce Iran like "I-ran". It's pronounced like "E-run".

[@soumyajitsingha9614]

Then hows Iran managing it huh

[@ick423]

It was sold out to future bad guys ....it had to die.

[@brianhaygood183]

So, I wonder how much someone would have to pay Iran to get a flight in one of their F-14's? They are pretty cozy with Russians, so maybe some Russian Oligarch has this on his bucket list?

[@sledgehammerk35]

Reason number 5 and probably the biggest reason… Dick Cheney

[@v8packard]

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

[@ghostcreeper243]

Nah biggest reason is Iran

[@rearspeaker6364]

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

[@TheEnginator]

Lucky engineers and technicians not living in Medieval Ages. They would have been killed to not be able to tell the Iranians about the technology used in the F-14 Tomcat.

[@thomasdisharoon2512]

There is also a 5th reason way the navy stop flying the tomcat. And the dick Cheney who want to cancel everything in development after the fall of the Soviet Union. Also if Grumman had been successful at more foreign sales the tomcat might still be flying for the us navy.

[@bladerj]

i didnt know it had a machine gun, i though it was stupid only AA like phantom

[@v8packard]

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

[@alexm566]

watch the new topgun movie

[@Aeronaut1975]

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

[@alexm566]

@@Aeronaut1975 machine cannon actually

[@Justinterestingstuff]

But iran

[@KekusMagnus]

just go to Iran, you'll see them fly =)

[@Niroborn]

Still, F-14 sucks compared to Su-27)))) Why use them on airshow when they could never do thing Su-27 do? Not even close, nope! And Su-27 still fly and still amaze.

[@drumpftodd7887]

Who TF gave Iran F-14s? Derp... politicians need to be better at doing their jobs.

[@OoIRANoO]

Trump!F

[@v8packard]

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

[@ghost307]

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

[@OoIRANoO]

@@ghost307 yea before Jimmy Carter 🤪

[@ghost307]

@@OoIRANoO Wasn't that Ford before Carter?

[@akiko3688]

Such a waste

[@craigpennington1251]

This aircraft, perhaps the best America has ever built, has been stripped of everything for (Unknown Truthful) reasons. A real pisser and a disgrace to American aviation. With a knowledgeable pilot, I'd put the Cat up against anything flying today.

[@_mronk3208]

Salute to the aces of Razgriz

[@rogerioericlygomesgomes6616]

🇺🇦🇧🇷🇺🇸👍