HomeNewsFeatures

Features
Air Power

FEATURES

Air refueling missions essential to ground troops

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Cheryl L. Toner
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Airman 1st Class Philip Inmon scoots forward and quickly turns his head back and forth. He is on his stomach, straining to scan left and right at 28,000 feet, looking for the incoming fighter. “I don’t see him,” he said into the headset to the pilot. Through the two panes of glass at the rear of the aircraft, all he can see is brown terrain over Iraq.

“Coming in at 6 o’clock, he’s a little high,” responds KC-135 Stratotanker pilot Capt. Scott Meyer.

Coming into sight, the F-16 Fighting Falcon slows down, makes a 45-degree turn and moves into position behind the tanker. Boom operator Airman Inmon eases off his toes and loosen ups just a bit. While he now has the fighter in sight, Airman Inmon will not relax until the fighter is refueled and on its way.

“40 … 30 … 20,” counts down Airman Inmon as the fighter moves in closer to the boom. The pilot, sitting about 120 feet away in the KC-135 cockpit, uses the countdown to adjust the tanker’s movement. With a light tug, moving what looks like a joystick in his left hand, Airman Inmon talks the F-16 pilot into position. At the same time, the pilot “has to trim to keep from descending right into the aircraft trying to refuel,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Sipes, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron commander.

Once the boom is seated on top of the F-16 that is less than 50 feet away, thousands of gallons of fuel are transferred in only a few minutes. Topped off, the boom is disengaged and the F-16 breaks off to the right. Once the aerial dance is complete, the fighter heads back to provide ground support for troops in Iraq.

The seemingly dangerously contact between two aircraft in the sky appears to be an accident waiting to happen; however, it is a precise operation that happens dozens of times daily over Afghanistan and Iraq. The skill and precision of the crew makes the exchange look easy, but one false move could carry immense consequences. Not only would the lives of at least five aircrew members be at stake, the combined value of a tanker and a fighter is more than $50 million.

There are more than 60 tanker aircraft -- both KC-10 Extenders and KC-135s -- in theater, and the “tracks” they fly on a daily basis are not for those with weak stomachs. The aircraft runs what looks like the shape of a racetrack over certain areas in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. During an aerial refueling, great amounts of finesse are required of both pilots, as well as the boom operator. Changes in speed and altitude, as well as mild turbulence, would make a novice air traveler grab an airsick bag.

Yet the exchange has been happening since the Air Force purchased the plane in the mid-1950s. Since then, air refueling operations around the globe allow other aircraft to remain airborne longer. Currently, the United States and United Kingdom fly the bulk of tanker operations supporting Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom; however, there are two French tankers flying over Afghanistan, as well as a tanker from Singapore in the area, U.S. Central Air Forces-Forward officials said.

“It was really weird the first time we flew into Iraq,” said Capt. Brian Zoellner, an instructor pilot with the 908th Air Refueling Squadron, as the KC-135 crossed into Iraq at over 25,000 feet and about 500 mph. Having flown operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch, Captain Zoellner said, “We used to (fly) right up to the border (of Iraq), and that was it.” Not the case anymore.

The aircrews are not only flying over Baghdad and the Euphrates River -- both very visible from their altitude -- but crews are also spending much of their careers somewhere in Southwest Asia.

Captain Zoellner, as well as many other aircrew members on many aircraft, find themselves in theater more often than the air and space expeditionary force rotation outlines.

“I don’t like going so frequently,” said Captain Zoellner, “but we know this is vital to the war on terrorism.”

He said before 9/11, tanker crews were deployed about 180 days out of the year. He said that number is now higher.

Yet the coordination and magnitude of their reach is felt daily throughout Southwest Asia.

“This is a huge undertaking to get all of the aircraft in concert with one another,” Captain Zoellner said.

When tanker aircraft are delayed, other aircraft in the area of responsibility find themselves looking for another refueler or they simply must go back to their bases, he said.

And while he said tanker aircraft are “not an exciting aircraft like a fighter,” they are reminded just how important their mission is when they link up for a refueling.

“Once in awhile we hear about one of the aircraft (we refueled) that provided cover for our troops on the ground, and that’s a good feeling,” Captain Zoellner said.

A conversation he had earlier that day with one pilot underscored the captain’s point. After an F-16 pilot linked up with the KC-135 he said the day began quietly, but then he said he had just flown cover for some “friendlies,” one of whom “was shot in the head.”

As the two aircraft coursed through the air at hundreds of mph, still linked by the boom, there was nothing more that could be said of the importance of any of the aircraft flying in the area. There was also no other point that could underline the importance of the people supporting those aircraft. Their aerial dance, day in and day out, is directly linked to the ground troops eager to hear a coalition aircraft roaring in from the horizon.