Long days, flexibility part of tanker crew's life

  • Published
  • By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
  • Air Force Print News
OVER THE NORTH SEA (AFPN) --  Air Force tankers refueled fighters over a stretch of the North Sea off England's East Anglia coast Tuesday in support of a joint NATO exercise.

The scenario is nothing new for the two KC-135 Stratotanker crews that flew the mission from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England. About 100 miles off the coast, they refueled Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcons taking part in exercise Wycombe Warrior.

"It's just a routine mission, nothing new," said Capt. Sam Ensminger, a pilot and new aircraft commander with the 351st Air Refueling Squadron.

Squadron aircrews fly many like missions off the English coast. In fact, most of its refueling jobs are close to its home base in the picturesque Suffolk countryside. The unit also routinely flies missions over Europe or off the continent's coast.

But Mildenhall tanker crews get variety to their daily diet of local sorties. The unit's 15 aircraft are the Air Force's only permanently assigned tankers in Europe. They provide air refueling and other support in a theater that reaches from the Arctic Circle to South Africa and from the west coast of Europe to the Middle East.

No matter where they fly, tanker crews live by a creed that can make, or break, their reputation.

"A tanker's one job is to be on station, on time -- there when needed," aircraft commander and instructor pilot Capt. Joseph Petrosky said. "People depend on our fuel to do their jobs."

Being on time to deliver fuel may earn a unit a good "rep" for being dependable. But making aerial refueling -- a tough task by anyone's standard -- look easy takes hard work.

Captain Petrosky's crew made this job look simple. The captain from Houston was aboard as an instructor pilot to oversee the progress of two new aircraft commanders. At the business end of the jet, a savvy young boom operator would dispense the fuel.

Before taking off in their nearly 50-year-old aircraft, the crew of young professionals met for a thorough pre-mission briefing that lasted nearly four hours. They covered every aspect of the mission, from their call sign to what to do in emergencies. Then, once at their gray jet, they spent another hour on a pre-flight checklist.

Sitting in the aircraft's stifling-hot cargo section, Captain Petrosky seemed out of place. Around him he had a host of documents and manuals he said were to "ensure the aircrew follows Air Force procedures."

But it was obvious the captain wanted to be in the cockpit, flying the aircraft. He loves the old tanker and the important mission it performs for the Air Force. Still, he couldn't help himself and made a trip to the cockpit several times. Back at his canvas seat, he strapped in for takeoff.

"This is an exercise mission and a great chance for the pilots to get some good experience, to do things they're not used to doing," the captain said.

He did not know how true his words would be.

In the cockpit, Capt. Rob Kline -- in the left seat -- and Captain Ensminger -- in the right seat -- finished doing the last items on their extensive checklist. Boom operator Staff Sgt. Andrea Otto closed and secured the aircraft's emergency exit and cargo doors -- left open because of the unseasonably hot weather -- and joined the pilots.

"We're good to go," the sergeant from Fremont, Wisc., said.

Marshaled by their crew chief below, the aircraft rolled out of its parking space and onto the taxiway. As it headed for the runway, it passed other tankers -- all with open doors.

With the green light to launch, the aircraft with call sign "Quid 60," took off. Some 30 seconds later, sister ship Quid 61 followed. After a short flight, the aircraft set up shop 100 miles off the coast and began flying in their box-shaped tracks and waited for the fighters. They were on time.

The fighters called and said they were on their way, just minutes away. Sergeant Otto headed for the tail of the aircraft and squeezed herself into her sardine-can sized "office." She lay on her stomach with her chin resting on a pad. Then she opened a hatch and through a window she could see the rippling blue sea 16,000 feet below. The tanker was open for business and soon the first fighters appeared and started to cue up for a refill.

But though she has five years of experience and knows her job well enough to be an instructor, the sergeant still uses a checklist of the procedures for refueling aircraft.

"No matter how long you've been doing this job, the checklist keeps you honest," she said.

Then a jet flew closer. The "boom" guided the Belgian fighter to the boom that trailed the tanker. With her left hand, she toggled a switch that caused a light to blink -- the signal for the fighter to keep edging up to the tanker. When it was in reach, Sergeant Otto maneuvered the boom with a deft touch until its nozzle made contact and slid into the jet's fuel opening. Three hundred gallons a minute flowed into the jet. In less than two minutes, topped with fuel, the jet detached itself from the boom and slowly sank away.

All the while, the sergeant was talking to her pilots and the one in the fighter. Constant communication is the key to the success of such maneuvers. She made it easy. But that's not the case. The "receivers" have to know their business, too.

"The Belgian pilots have done this many times," she said. "They're good at aerial refueling."

But others she has refueled were not as good. Some countries do not have the resources for their pilots to get this kind of training. The result is that some pilots must abort their attempts to refuel because they cannot line up, or are hesitant to get to close to the huge tanker, she said.

But this was a good day. The pilots had beautiful clear weather and there were no turbulences. So the tanker crew provided a steady platform for the receivers to approach.

However, the young sergeant prefers to refuel the big jets. With the "heavies," she gets to use all four of the tanker's pumps to rush up to 1,000 gallons of fuel per minute into C-15 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy transports.

"When we fill up a C-17 or a C-5 headed to the states, we can give them 95,000 pound (more than 14,000 gallons) of gas," Sergeant Otto said, giving a thumbs-up sign. It can take from 15 to 20 minutes to do one of those refueling jobs.

After filing up six Belgian jets, the tanker headed to another track location. In the distance, the sister ship was on the job, too. Once at their new track, Sergeant Otto went back to her boom. In a few minutes, she got the word the other fighters had cancelled. The crew could go home.

But the jet left Mildenhall "heavy," with 23,000 gallons of fuel, Captain Ensminger said.

"The jets (refueled) only used up about 5,000 of that," the captain from Cincinnati said.

So the jet was too heavy to land back home. Captain Kline, of Honey Brook, Pa., figured they had to burn about 3,000 gallons of fuel so the tanker could land. A few minutes later, a sudden rush of air signaled he had lowered the landing gear -- standard procedure -- to create drag. After flying off the unwanted pounds, the crew turned for home.

After a perfect landing, the jet taxied to its parking space. In a noticeable hurry, the crew shut her down and locked her up -- by the book, of course. A bus soon took them back to their squadron for a final debrief.

The crew had done its job safely and without incident. It had been at its location, on time, and waiting for their customers. And the crew had handled the last-minute weight problem well.

Before going home, Captain Petrosky told the two pilots that they had done a good job. They had been on schedule and met their receivers.

"I tried to stay out of your hair and let you do the job," he said.

Sergeant Otto remained a bit longer to finish some paperwork. She said tanker crews have to be flexible. Capable of dealing with last minute changes -- like her crew had just done.

"I like the mission here because of the variety," she said. "But you have to flexible because things change fast. For this job, you have to like change. If you don't like change, this is probably not the job for you."