The U.S. Air Force temporarily grounded more than a quarter of its C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft on Wednesday after “atypical” cracks were discovered during routine depot maintenance.
Air Mobility Command head Gen. Maryanna Miller ordered 123 of the 450 Total Force C-130 Hercules aircraft to undergo inspection after cracking was found on the lower center wing joint, also known as the “rainbow fitting,” of one of the planes. The Air Force observed that the crack could lead to the dismantling of the wing from the aircraft, leading to the partial removal of C-130H and C-130J aircraft from the sky.
“In consultation with aircraft maintenance and engineering experts, Gen. Miller directed an immediate time compliance technical order inspection to identify and correct any cracking to ensure airworthiness of these C-130 aircraft,” AMC said in a statement.
“This temporary removal of service will not impact ongoing C-130 support to overseas contingency operations,” the statement continued.
Planes that have logged over 15,000 flight hours and have not been furnished with an “extended service life center wing box” were withdrawn from operation. Inspectors will search for cracking and replace the rainbow fitting if necessary.
AMC spokesman Maj. Jonathan Simmons told DefenseNews that it would take “approximately one to two months” to fix the cracking on any of the planes and that repairs also depend on “depot level availability and capacity.” Simmons said that AMC believes it has enough rainbow fittings to fix any cracking that could be discovered on the aircraft.
AMC noted that any planes that passed inspection with no cracking would be “immediately returned to service.” So far, eight aircraft have undergone assessments and are back in service.
“The Air Force takes the safety of its airmen and aircraft very seriously and is working diligently to identify and repair affected aircraft as soon as possible,” AMC said in the statement.
