Air Force inspections find no faulty tail pins on Offutt recon jets
A crowd watches one of the 55th Wing's RC-135s land at Offutt Air Force Base in September. The aircraft were among those that underwent urgent insp...
A crowd watches one of the 55th Wing's RC-135s land at Offutt Air Force Base in September. The aircraft were among those that underwent urgent inspections for a faulty tail pin. The inspections found that none of the RC-135s or WC-135 flying missions out of Offutt or deployed overseas have the faulty part. CHRIS MACHIAN, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD OMAHA — The tails of the 55th Wing's Offutt-based reconnaissance planes appear to be safe from falling off. Last week, the Air Force Materiel Command ordered urgent inspections of the 'vertical terminal fitting pins' on about 400 Air Force and Air National Guard KC-135 tanker and RC-135/WC-135 reconnaissance jets after discovering some of the pins were the wrong size and made of the wrong materials.