Originally Posted by
tdracer
They've also claimed they're going to assassinate Trump (they'll need to get in line - people have been trying to assassinate Trump for years....).
That won't stop them from trying.
Heard from a friend who spent a career in the USAF that KC-135 don't have a way to bail out. That left me stunned. A decade or so ago I think a KC-135 was lost over Afghanistan, and we discussed it here at PPRuNe. (Yeah, 2013, Dutch Roll, tail separated, OCF...)
Anybody know about the bail out options for the KC-135? It seems odd to me that it would be left out.
(Chock Puller: thank you for the post and picture).
The USAF projected that E and R models have lifetime flying hour limits of 36,000 and 39,000 hours, respectively. Accordingly, only a few KC-135s would reach these limits by 2040, when some aircraft would be about 80 years old. A 2005 USAF study estimated that KC-135Es upgraded to the R standard could remain in use until 2030.
At what rate can Boeing produce KC-46's?