AIR TRANSPORT: The Silent Killer

[USMCRET6391]

Strategypage.com

September 26, 2004: The U.S. Air Force has removed 29 KC-135E tankers from service because of metal fatigue problems with the pylons that attach each of the four engines to the wings. All 732 KC-135s were built between 1956 and 1965. The Boeing 707 commercial transport is actually a civilian version of the original KC-135 (which itself evolved from the World War II B-29 heavy bomber.) Over the decades, the KC-135 fleet has undergone constant repair and reconstruction. New engines, and new structural components have been added, as older items wore out, or showed signs of wearing out faster than anticipated. The problem with older aircraft is that you never know what’s going to go next. The KC-135s are carefully scrutinized for metal fatigue, which is, so to speak, the “silent killer” of aircraft. Better diagnostic tools, like scanners that allow careful examination of components without tearing apart portions of the aircraft, as well as new sensors that can be installed in the aircraft itself, keep the KC-135s flying safely. With current technology, it’s believed that the KC-135s could be kept going at until 2040. The 145 ton aircraft can carry up to 37 tons of fuel. Over 500 of them are still in service.

[917th BO]

Funny. My recollection, as a former boom operator, was that the KC-135 carried a max of about 194,000 lbs. of fuel or 97 tons with gross weight of 297,000 lbs.

[Grimmy]

Maybe it was written by a journalist? you know they rarely bother with actual true fact.

[917th BO]

Right about that, man. The media is NOT to be trusted.

[d'artangan]

I wouldn't worry about the news story being inaccurate about a minor thing like the weight ofthe A/C. The amazing thing is that it is still doing it almost 50 years after the first one roled off the line. Another good point it brought out is that the 135 was the progenitor of the 707, and not the other way around, as so many people think.