Boeing completes Chilean KC-135E maintenance

Boeing has announced that it has delivered the last of the Chilean Air Force’s three KC-135E Stratotankers following the completion of Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) in San Antonio.

The final aircraft arrived at Boeing’s San Antonio facility in June for the maintenance work, which included a variety of depot-level inspections, repairs, maintenance, modification and repainting. According to Boeing, KC-135 aircraft receive PDM after five years of service or 20,000 hours of flight time.

The first Chilean Air Force KC-135 to go through PDM was delivered on 18 February 2010, a week before an 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile. The aircraft was immediately put into use to conduct humanitarian missions. Delivery of the second aircraft took place in August 2011, one day before the KC-135 marked its 55th anniversary of first flight.

The Chilean government purchased three KC-135 E-model aircraft in 2009, through the US Air Force Foreign Military Sales Office at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.


Source: By the Shephard News Team - 29 March 2012

Photo: Chilean Air Force’s KC-135E Stratotankers in Santiago de Chile Arturo Merino Benítez Int'l - SCEL. (Photo by Carlos P. Valle C. / jetphotos.net)

(30.03.2012)