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Aviation News

Day: March 13, 2021

KC-46A pilots cannot take off until OBIGGS counts to zero

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A category 2 deficiency for the KC-46A aerial refueling tanker is prevent pilots from taking off in the tanker until the On-Board Inert Gas Generation System (OBIGGS) countdown timer reaches zero.

A rainbow over Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington, as seen from the flight deck of a KC-46A Pegasus, just prior to its delivery flight to Pease Air National Guard Base, New Hampshire, Feb. 5, 2021.
The jet, which was the twelfth and final of Pease’s new fleet of aerial refuelers, was piloted by a crew from the base. (Courtesy photo/Col. Nelson Perron)

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U.S. Air Force Radiation Assessment Team’s contributions during Operation Tomadachi

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The U.S. Air Force Materiel Command History Office has published a photographic essay from the archives of the Air Force Radiation Assessment Team personnel who were deployed to Japan during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

SENDAI AIRPORT, Japan — Staff Sgt. Kevin Rivera (Left) and Senior Master Sgt. Dean Kim (Right), both from the Air Force Radiation Assessment Team, check soil by a Sodium Iodide detector at Sendai Airport, April 05, 2011. AFRAT conducts radiological analysis of air, water, soil and physiological technical expertise in detection, survey and monitoring. (U.S. Air Force photo/Osakabe Yasuo)

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Italian Navy’s first female strike fighter pilot

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Italian navy Ensign Erika Raballo earned her Wings of Gold on Mar. 11 after completing undergraduate flight training with VT-9 on Mar. 11.

200602-N-N0436-1001 MERIDIAN, Miss. (June 2, 2020) Italian navy Ensign Erika Raballo, a student naval aviator, sits on a T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft after completing her a training flight with the “Tigers” of Training Squadron (VT) 9 at Naval Air Station Meridian, June 2, 2020. Raballo is the Italian navy’s first female strike fighter pilot. VT-9 conducts undergraduate intermediate and advanced strike pilot training for the Navy, Marine Corps, and select international military partners. (Courtesy photo/Released)

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