KC-46 suffers fuel system damage

The first KC-46 has suffered another setback when the wrong chemical was fed through the fuel system during a test. The chemical was mislabeled and caused corrosion to the auxiliary fuel tanks and boom, which have been removed for inspection.

The same aircraft suffered a ruptured fuel system during a pressure test in recent months. Boeing is still evaluating any potential delay to the first flight that will result from this latest problem.

www.seattletimes.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

I'm guessing someone is in big trouble...

The article won't come up for me for some odd reason... How far back does this set the program?

a reply to: seagull

They're still evaluating. The aux tanks apparently don't show any damage, but they still have to check the boom, and piping to and from the tanks. It could be days, it could be months depending on how extensive any damage is.

www.bizjournals.com...

The previous problem was traced to improper welds in some of the lines. They ruptured when put under pressure.

Hope they can recoup some of the costs for this delay from the vendor that mislabeled the chems.

It looks like they are throwing some serious weight behind the efforts into keeping the program on schedule. If Fancher's taking charge we'll see if getting the KC-46 back on track will be harder than getting the 787 back in line when it fell 2 years behind.