With the eight-13 hour flights the aircraft of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing have on a daily basis, some parts of the aircraft can wear down, crack or break over periods of time.
The 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron fabrication flight, also known as “Fab Flight” or the “American Chopper” of aircraft maintenance at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, is in charge of identifying and repairing aircraft structural damage. They fix whatever can be broken, from a metal panel off the side of a KC-10 Extender to a tiny cracked screw the size of a fingernail.