{"id":128048,"date":"2022-07-19T10:27:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T14:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=128048"},"modified":"2022-07-19T10:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T14:27:54","slug":"what-could-possibly-go-wrong-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=128048","title":{"rendered":"What could possibly go wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The KC-46 Pegasus (pictured) is the USAF’s next generation air-to-air tanker. It’s set to replace the KC-10 Extender and, more importantly, the service’s large fleet of 1950’s-vintage KC-135s. The program has been, as most major defense acquisition projects of late, over budget, underperforming, and overdue. You’ll recall this was the aircraft that had many early teething problems around its 3d digital screen for the boom operator to see the refueling aircraft. All previous tankers just put a window for the boomer to use. More recently, the brand new airframes have had a problem with fuel leaking. The aircraft started production almost 10 years ago, entered service three years ago, but is still restricted from actually performing its mission in a contingency environment.<\/p>\n

Now the USAF is mulling the idea of removing one of the pilots. This would leave the plane with a minimum crew of one pilot and one boom operator.<\/p>\n

From Air Force Times<\/a>;<\/p>\n

Officials in the Air Force\u2019s mobility enterprise are considering amending rules to allow just two crew members onboard the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tankers during dangerous missions, raising eyebrows among airmen.<\/p>\n

Air Mobility Command is discussing the option as part of how it may handle war in the Indo-Pacific, where it believes large, slow jets including tankers would be more vulnerable to attack from Chinese anti-aircraft missiles. Shrinking the number of airmen onboard a tanker could help minimize potential troop casualties while still getting combat jets the fuel they need.<\/p>\n

A typical tanker sortie involves a pilot, a co-pilot and a boom operator. A loadmaster may join them for cargo missions, or nurses and medical technicians for aeromedical evacuations.<\/p>\n

The Air Force said the notion of a slimmed-down crew, with one pilot and one refueling boom operator, isn\u2019t set in stone. Nor would it necessarily become standard procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe command is currently reassessing minimum flight crew requirements as we explore and validate new tactics, techniques and procedures oriented towards a dynamic, future fight,\u201d AMC spokesperson Maj. Hope Cronin told Air Force Times July 15.<\/p>\n

Cronin said the command would need to approve a waiver so airmen can try out the skeleton crew concept in exercises like Mobility Guardian, the Air Force\u2019s premier event for practicing military transportation missions.<\/p>\n

AMC staff are assessing whether a pair of airmen could safely handle a KC-46 on their own before they sign off on that waiver. They also have to make sure the command has the authority to make that change.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is a fan of the suggestion.<\/p>\n

On July 15, a Facebook page that is popular with airmen posted an anonymous allegation that AMC had hatched the idea because of a pilot shortage at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to put KC-46 aircrew in potentially dangerous situations and must \u2026 be stopped,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Cronin denied that the idea is connected to pilot retention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More at the source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The KC-46 Pegasus (pictured) is the USAF’s next generation air-to-air tanker. It’s set to replace the … What could possibly go wrong?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-force","category-dumbass-bullshit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}