The KC-46 tanker’s most infamous problem isn’t the one that impacts pilots the most March 12 Capt. Wesley Cobb, 4th Airlift Squadron pilot, conducts an aerial refueling from a KC-46 from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., on Feb. 20, 2021. (Senior Airman Mikayla Heineck/U.S. Air Force) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is on its way to ameliorating a technical glitch that has left KC-46 tanker pilots waiting to take off, sometimes for hours, as a key system starts up. The problem revolves around the Boeing-made tanker’s On-Board Inert Gas Generation System, which is used to convert oxygen in the aircraft’s fuel tanks to nitrogen, preventing the aircraft from exploding if the tanks are hit by lightning or enemy fire.