C-17 the latest Boeing product with fatigue cracking

It seems as though the Southwest 737 is not the only Boeing aircraft flying around with fuselage cracks. The US Air Force announced during a testimony to a House subcommittee, that Boeing is working on repairing an unknown amount of C-17 Globemaster IIIs with stress cracking underneath and forward of the wing root. The cause has been identified as use of the aircraft's powerful thrust-reversing system on its giant F117 turbofan engines. A source with the Chicago-based aerospace giant was quoted to say "The cracks are a minor occurrence, and don't pose a safety hazard for the aircraft or flight crews. There's no impact on the operational readiness of these planes and the cracks are being fixed during regularly scheduled maintenance with a simple technique." I guess the Air Force must have purchased the extended warranty on these babies to get Boeing to fix them.

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