100th MXS maintainers replace vertical stabilizer

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
  • 100th Air Refuling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  RAF Mildenhall maintainers recently had the opportunity to do something a little out of the ordinary - they removed and replaced a vertical stabilizer. 

During major inspections, the vertical stabilizer, or fin, on each KC-135 is inspected for corrosion, though the fin isn't removed unless repair necessitates it. At RAF Mildenhall, the procedure hadn't happened since 2001. The recent minor corrosion "find" provided a unique training opportunity for Airmen who have never helped remove a fin. 

"We're training them how to do this so that next time, they'll be able to do it themselves," said Master Sgt. Barrett Hatch, 100th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flight line expediter. 
"(These training opportunities are) very limited, because we don't do it very often, so it's going to help them out tremendously." 

According to Sergeant Hatch, the metal KC-135s are made of can corrode over time, which can weaken it. 

"When the engineers designed it, they designed it for a specific strength, and once that's starts weakening, you never know what you might run into," he said. 

The plane was going through isochronal inspection, which is a major inspection maintainers carry out on a specific basis. The inspection helps the Airmen identify structural flaws, corrosion and anything else that might affect the airworthiness of the aircraft and the safety of the Airmen in it. 

"They basically tear the aircraft apart and look for corrosion and any other defects in the aircraft, and that's what they discovered - some major corrosion on the vertical fin," Sergeant Hatch said. "We had to pull it off in order to facilitate the maintenance of the repair." 

A team of about 15 Airmen spent about 12 hours removing the fin, which required the help of a crane and a mechanical lift. After the fin had been removed, it was turned over to the sheet metal shop, where it was further inspected for corrosion and then repaired - a process that took about eight hours. The fin was reattached to the aircraft three days later, which also took another 12 hours. The Airmen with the 100th Maintenance Group removed the vertical stabilizer on a Sunday, repaired it, and reinstalled it by close of business the following Tuesday - two days ahead of schedule. 

"Once they got it off and started looking at the corrosion, it wasn't as bad as they had anticipated, so the repair went quicker than they thought," Sergeant Hatch said. 

This training provides opportunities that are few and far between for the Airmen stationed here. 

"Everything big (on this aircraft) is a first time for me," Sergeant Alvarez said, a 14-year veteran of the C-130 airframe. "This is my first time completing this particular task." 

The sergeant's previous assignment was at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., where he worked on C-130s. 

For the maintainers with the 100th Maintenance Group, who work around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, removing a vertical stabilizer is just another day on the job.