Fairchild tankers among KC-135s inspected for faulty tail parts, base officials confirm

Fairchild Air Force Base officials are inspecting the installation’s tankers for potentially defective parts on the tail assembly that have grounded the jets nationwide until they’re cleared, a base spokesman confirmed Friday.

The Air Force Material Command on Tuesday issued what’s known as a time compliance technical order that grounded KC-135 aircraft until inspections for “a non-conforming part in the vertical tail assembly.” Base officials at Fairchild, which houses 68 of the aircraft according to its website, confirmed Friday that they are inspecting their jets.

“We currently do have aircraft affected by the (order), which our maintenance units are conducting inspections on,” Staff Sgt. Lawrence J. Sena, a public affairs specialist with the 92nd Refueling Wing, wrote in an email Friday afternoon. “Any aircraft that has already been inspected and cleared has already returned to flying status. Aircraft found to have a non-conforming pin will require a one-time flight to a repair location.”

Sena did not say how many aircraft have been inspected to date and if any had been cleared, citing “operational security reasons.”

The Air Force had previously issued a directive that the aircraft should be inspected within 15 days. Tuesday’s order was made “out of an abundance of caution, after consulting with our engineering experts,” said Col. Michael Kovalchek, senior material leader with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Legacy Tanker Division, in a statement Wednesday.

“We are working closely with Air Mobility Command and all operational users and anticipate all potentially affected aircraft will be inspected,” Kovalchek said in that statement.

The statement indicated that 90 aircraft had already been inspected as of Sunday, with 24 found to have faulty pins.

“Although no mishaps have resulted, leaders elected to accelerate the inspection due to a lack of information to assess the risk of materiel failure in non-conforming parts,” the statement read.

The potentially defective pins, which help hold the tail of the aircraft in place, may have been installed on the KC-135, which is flown at Fairchild, as well as RC-135 and WC-135 jets, the Air Force announced.

Inspections typically last 30 minutes, and defective aircraft will be authorized for a single flight to a repair location, according to the statement. The repair should be able to be accomplished within a day, the Air Force said.