Wrenches to Wings: The artisan hands behind every test flight

Published May 29, 2026
By Courtney Landsberger
72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --

For most pilots, trust is a two-way street between aviator and aircraft. But for the crews of the 10th Flight Test Squadron (10th FLTS), that bond is a three-way pact between pilot, plane, and the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex artisans who took the aircraft apart and pieced it back together.

Pilots like Lt. Col. Michael Griffin, 10th FLTS commander, don’t just fly planes – they climb into the cockpits of bombers and tankers that the Air Force has officially declared "Non-Airworthy"—aircraft stitched together after invasive surgery—to prove them battle-ready.

KC-135's undergoing programmed depot maintenance — KC-135 Stratotankers sit in a maintenance bay during programmed depot maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, April 29, 2026. The aircraft will undergo a comprehensive rebuild at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex before being flown on a functional check flight to confirm airworthiness and return to the operational fleet. (U.S. Air Force photo by Courtney Landsberger)

"Think of this as extremely invasive and in-depth maintenance that is beyond what the active flying units are capable of accomplishing," said Griffin. “Once they finish going through the programmed depot maintenance (PDM) cycle, the aircraft are presented to us as Non-Airworthy. We are the first to fly them."

It’s a mission with zero margin for error. Behind every one of those aircraft is an unbreakable bond forged in hangars, where every turn of a wrench meets the moment of truth in flight.

Each functional check flight conducted by 10th FLTS is a meticulously scripted evaluation designed to stress every critical system—ensuring the complex work performed on the ground holds true in the air. The aircraft—ranging from the B-1B Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress to the KC-135 Stratotanker, E-3 Sentry, and KC-46 Pegasus—arrive at the 10th FLTS after undergoing the PDM cycle.

“At the most basic level, we look for the functionality of the landing gear system, engines, flight instrumentation, and flight controls,” Griffin said. “But we’re also evaluating mission-specific systems to ensure full operational capability.”

That critical groundwork falls to the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group (76th AMXG), where maintainers put their reputation and pride on the line with every bolt they tighten, knowing someone else will soon bet their life on the quality of that wrench-turning.

“The relationship between maintainer and pilot is like no other in the United States Air Force; trust underpins everything we do,” said Lt. Col. Eric Peele, 76th AMXG deputy commander. “It starts at the individual level and builds into the extreme teaming required to deliver aircraft back to the warfighter.”

From troubleshooting persistent grounding issues to meeting demanding production timelines, maintainers and pilots operate as a single team.

“Both of us operate under constraints that can make execution difficult,” Griffin said. “But because of the trust we’ve built, we’re able to navigate those challenges, find solutions, and ultimately get these jets back to where they are desperately needed.”

It’s a partnership calculated on confidence that’s now paying dividends for the Air Force.

“In fiscal year 2025, our teaming with the 10th FLTS allowed us to exceed customer requirements across multiple platforms,” Peele said. “Most recently, those efforts helped deliver additional tanker and bomber capacity to support global mission requirements.”

At Tinker, the mission doesn’t end when maintenance is complete—or when the wheels leave the runway. It ends when a fully restored aircraft is returned to the warfighter, ready for the next fight.