First Person: Aboard an Air Force Relic

The AP recently hitched a ride aboard a KC-135 tanker, an aging plane the Air Force wants to replace. But the effort has turned into a political tussle with competing manufacturers. For now, the 50-year-old fleet soldiers on. (April 5)

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• air
• tanker
• refueling
• first
• person
• aboard
• force
• relic

[SicSkatez]

why the fuck are we still using 1950's aircraft....let's use 2011 kind.

[cpp1]

"It does a great job of what it's supposed to do" So, why spend billions of dollars to design a fucking new plane when you could spend millions in upgrades to an already existing fleet?! Or! You could simply start manufacturing the same plane from new parts with the upgrades already made! No need to spend the billions and billions of dollars it would take to design, build, and test a completely different plane, when the old one works fine! Typical DOD contractor bullshit to get money.

[otef434]

@thegoldenchild311 Good for you sir. I listen and watch the Fuelers in west-central Iowa, the skill these men and woman have keep America ready and trained in case of need. The first officer in this video says it all. Good luck in your mission.

[wolfondhizzie]

@cpp1

Because, you can't only use 1950's planes.

[drewdane40]

@cpp1 Go to an airport sometime, and count how many 707s you see. Never mind, it's probably none. It's not about defense contractors. If the 707 was doing such a great job for commercial airlines, and it wasn't more profitable to replace them back in the 80's, they wouldn't have. The government is still flying them because they don't care how much of OUR money it costs, as long as it APPEARS cheaper. Commercial airlines have to actually show a profit, so they spend money where it makes a return.

[kingtorm2]

@SicSkatez They work and we can't afford new ones(according to the government)

[SicSkatez]

@CrainerEU A lot of countries owe each other not just us

[CrainerEU]

@SicSkatez I don't live in the US, but you realise that your country already has debts because of it's army, so you want your country to buy new 100 million dollars planes?

[IauthenticI]

@SicSkatez

So you can start bitching about the 'national defense spending'?

[Maloy7800]

@cpp1 Nobody is going to make "a completely different plane". B767 or A330 will be adapted for the role of the new tanker. And if you think restoring the line to "simply start manufacturing the same plane from new parts" is cheaper, especially "with the upgrades" (which sure just fall from the sky at no cost, right?), then you really ARE an idiot. Shut your trap and go back to school. Right to the 3rd grade where they teach the mysterious craft of "rythmatics".

[thegoldenchild311]

This will be my job in less than a year.

December 6th 2011, Lackland AB, TX

1A301

I can't wait

[4merlinn1]

Boeing doesn't make or have any of the parts for this fleet. Just like the B-52, it was designed to last only a certain number of hours and tehn be replaced. Boeing engineers shudder whenever they hear another B-52 is taking off. That beast has lived longer than ANY other airplane was ever designed to or dreamed of.