Behind the Scenes | Averting Disaster

One of the largest planes we see flying around the New Hampshire seacoast area is the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling support craft for the U.S. Air Force. On a given day, an entire fleet of them may land or take off at Pease International Tradeport, formerly known as Pease Air Force Base. They’re huge plans, and I’ve often wondered what would happen if one of them ever had a problem landing—short of destroying everything in its path. In real life, that would be devastating, but in Un...