Posted on Apr 30, 2022
The 2-Pound Part That Nearly Sent a Stratotanker to the Scrapyard
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Fully loaded with fuel, the KC-135R Stratotankers at the Nebraska Air National Guard Base can take off weighing more than 320,000 pounds and stay in the air for hours.
But one of them was recently grounded — and nearly sent to the scrapyard — by a broken, 2-pound piece of aluminum called a rudder snubber support fitting. The shoehorn-shaped part — about 3 inches wide and 8 inches long — is critical to the aircraft. It serves a role similar to a car's shock absorber mount, but on a larger, and more important scale, helping to stop the jet's rudder from vibrating in flight.
But one of them was recently grounded — and nearly sent to the scrapyard — by a broken, 2-pound piece of aluminum called a rudder snubber support fitting. The shoehorn-shaped part — about 3 inches wide and 8 inches long — is critical to the aircraft. It serves a role similar to a car's shock absorber mount, but on a larger, and more important scale, helping to stop the jet's rudder from vibrating in flight.
The 2-Pound Part That Nearly Sent a Stratotanker to the Scrapyard
Posted from military.com
Supply
Logistics
KC-135 Crew Chief
Aviation
Flying
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
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A spare part crisis that just was never provided for and pretty much a failure in the supply system to keep and otherwise serviceable aircraft operational. Well maybe there just isn't as much money to be made keeping and otherwise operational aircraft flying as selling an entire NEW aircraft to the Air force. Imagine the shelf life of a B52 if that had been done there but them We now have less that 200 of them left while over 3,000 are no longer flying but many later models, could have been. I'm no expert on aircraft maintenance by any means but there seems to be a problem here .and any production aircraft certainly should have a supply of unused replacement parts even if new parts have to be made. Am I wrong or is this a systemic problem ? Perhaps some of You that are involved in aircraft maintenance or are aircrew members (which I'm not) may have more insight on this than I do. Just wondering.
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
I've seen AF crew chiefs and mechanics come up with brilliant solutions to stuff like this.
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