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TAMPA, Fla. - The KC-135 Stratotanker has been a part of the Air Force aerial refueling mission for over 50 years. It provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marines, and allied nation aircraft.
Airmen from the 6th Maintenance Group come to work everyday to keep the KC-135 stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in the air and completing the mission. Innovation and new ideas have allowed MacDill to be a pilot base for the Improved Nose Wheel Snubber Brake.
The KC-135 uses a snubber brake system that eliminates noise and vibration when the nose landing gear is retracted.
Throughout the years the brake arm has experienced fatigue cracks around the mounting holes due to limited surface area for stress distribution. Maintenance personnel must remove the brake arms every two years, during periodic aircraft inspection, to receive a dye penetrant inspection. The dye penetrant inspection identifies if there are any cracks on the spring arm. The part is replaced every seven years due to this deficiency.
“Having to replace this part cost $350,000 in parts and labor every year,” said Jeff Sorenson, mechanical engineer of the KC-135 program office at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/Legacy Tanker Division has designed the Improved Nose Wheel Snubber Brake to address this deficiency. The mounting portion of the spring arm is now thicker and wider to help prevent cracking.
Air Mobility Command Test and Evaluation Squadron will conduct a Logistics Service Test to evaluate the operational effectiveness and suitability of the INWSB.
AMCTES will conduct the test in two phases. The first phase will occur in August 2014 and will consist of the 6th MXG personnel installing one set of INSWB arms on one KC-135 aircraft here at MacDill. Once modified, the aircraft will have no mission restrictions.
The second phase will consist of normal aircraft operations with routine inspections for a period of six months and no less than 50 sorties. At the end of the testing period, the INWSB arms will be removed and receive a dye penetrant inspection.
This evaluation will track sorties, landing gear cycles, and maintenance actions for the duration of this test.
“The INSWB will save the Air Force about $330,000 every year and remove inspections entirely,” said Sorenson.
| Date Taken: | 09.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.02.2014 11:03 |
| Story ID: | 140948 |
| Location: | TAMPA , FL, US |
| Hometown: | TAMPA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Old plane, new part, by SrA Tori Long, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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