KC-46 suffers ED

Apparently there is a limpness issue in the Air Force. No, not among male airmen per se….but with their newest fleet refueling plane, the KC-46.

There have been multiple incidents, the most recent August 21, involving the KC-46 boom.

The KC-46 involved in the mishap was from the 931st Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, but was operating out of Travis Air Force Base, California, and was using the callsign WIDE12. It was refueling two F-15Es from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, and reportedly assigned to the 391st Fighter Squadron.

However, thanks to the audio, we do know that NOBLE41’s crew communicated via radio to air traffic control informing them that NOBLE42 had suffered some kind of issue with its hydraulic system. The radio communications also include WIDE12 confirming hydraulic problems of its own and declaring an inflight emergency. At one point in the communications, a reference is made to the boom on the KC-46 having “fallen off.”

The F-15s were enforcing no-fly zones for a Presidential visit. (This illustrates the difference between Presidential security and wanna-be Presidential security – the candidates may get Secret Service, but the Prexy gets the Air Force.)

The 931st Air Refueling Wing subsequently confirmed that the aircraft had lost a “portion” of its boom close to the base and then landed with what was left of the boom still lowered. The wing added that no one was injured during the incident.

That would appear to be supported by unofficial photos that appeared on Facebook purportedly show damage to the KC-46. In these photos, the boom itself is seen sheared off, the remaining part dragging on the runway, while there are also signs of impacts on the tip of the tail cone.

For you Navy folks out there, you might be interested to know the F-15 was supposed to use an arresting hook on landing – and two attempts failed before successfully landing a third time. Guess that shows the difference between Navy pilots and AF pilots? Or at least their training. (In fairness, on the first attempt the cable broke. But why miss a good opportunity to stir up stuff?)

In June this year, another KC-46 from the 931st Air Refueling Wing was damaged while refueling a U.S. Air Force F-16 in Dutch airspace.

Back in October 2022, there was another refueling accident involving a KC-46 and an F-15. Unconfirmed photos posted on social media showed the tanker’s damaged boom and tail cone. In another incident the same year, a KC-46 conducting a flight with a congressional delegation on board made an emergency landing with the boom dangling below the aircraft, as you can read about here.

Before that, in 2020, The War Zone examined a video showing an apparent close-call incident involving a KC-46 and a test F-15E. In this footage, the boom appears to slip off the Strike Eagle’s refueling receptacle, with its control surfaces nearly banging into the fighter’s canopy.

Notable change – boom operators used to have visual control from the rear of the tanker as shown above. Now they work from the main cabin using multiple camera angles and special glasses. Regardless, seems the floppy boom ain’t helping any. Or is it floppy due to all the cameras? Someone more knowledgeable can maybe help?

Boeing is currently under contract to address issues with stiffness in the boom on the KC-46, a fix that involves hardware and software changes. As for the Remote Vision System, or RVS, the contractor is integrating an entirely new version of this into the tanker. The Warzone

Given that midair refueling is one of the air fleet’s most crucial functions, one would think Boeing needs to fix this ASAP. Add a little incentive, the old being-phased-out KC-135 tanker is based on a 707… I’ll bet there’s a sizable portion of our readership who are too young to seen a 707, much less flown on one commercially.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Air Force