Refueling jets in mid-air allows no room for errors

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Flying 25,000 feet over the Pacific at 350 miles per hour, a Hawai'i Air National Guard KC-135R Stratotanker and F-15 fighter are engaged in a delicate refueling dance in which neither aircraft can step on the other's toes.

The Air National Guard F-15 fighter maneuvers to just 13 feet below the tanker for refueling. The Air Guard crews have flown refueling drills regularly, but since Sept. 11, they have been in "a higher state of readiness." Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Air Guard fighter filling its tanks is a mere 13 feet beneath it — near enough to see the look of concentration on the pilot's face as he tries to keep the twin-tailed Eagle no closer, no farther.

Lying prone in the tail end of the tanker and looking through the equivalent of an upside-down car windshield, the tech sergeant operating the 20-foot telescoping fuel boom makes it look easy.

Deftly guiding the boom to a notch between the fighter's wing and the cockpit, the Air Guardsman, a Honolulu fire captain and investigator in his civilian life, pours in fuel.

Less than a minute later, the fighter pilot gives the thumbs up — then the shaka — and drops away.

"Today was a pretty nice day — the weather plays a lot of roles," said the boom operator. "Inclement weather, a little more rough conditions, and it makes it more difficult."

Providing an 'air bridge'

Several days a week, F-15s and tankers from the Air Guard's 154th Wing practice refueling.

Brig. Gen. Albert "Putt" Richards, commander of the 154th, said that while every refueling flight is serious business requiring dedication and precision, the drills have taken on a new importance since Sept. 11.

"Certainly, there is a higher state of readiness, there is a higher state of wanting to get the job done," Richards said last week during a media fly-along on a refueling drill north of O'ahu. Because of security concerns, the Guard asked that crew members not be named.

Guard officials said the KC-135Rs provide a crucial "air bridge" to reach aircraft en route to where they need to go, often between the Mainland and Asia.

"It allows us to use more efficiently what we've got," Richards said.

Each Stratotankers can refuel as many as six F-15s. One of the biggest dangers faced is the wind wall created by bombers that lifts the tanker. If a bomber pilot pulls away too fast, it can cause a sudden drop in the tanker's tail.

Call-ups under way

In a job that requires absolute precision, an Air Guardsman lying in KC-135R Stratotanker must connect a boom to refuel a fighter plane in the air. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Richards said the 154th had not been mobilized. "Nobody has said anything to us about that," he said.

Since shortly after the terrorist attacks, military officials have declined to talk about deployments. But there was evidence at Hickam Air Force Base of the nationwide call-up of more than 3,000 Air Guard and Air Reserve members to provide air-refueling and joint communications.

More than a dozen Stratotankers from Grissom Air Reserve Base in Indiana were parked on the tarmac. There were also tankers from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

There are approximately 3,000 Army National Guard and 2,500 Air Guard members in Hawai'i. The 154th Wing has 15 F-15 A/B fighters and three spares; eight KC-135R Stratotankers and one spare; and four C-130 Hercules planes and one kept as a spare.

The 203rd has been in Iceland and refueled transport aircraft that dropped supplies in Antarctica to aid a sick U.S. scientist.

In March 1999, Hawai'i-based KC-135Rs refueled NATO aircraft from countries including the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Italy patrolling the no-fly zone in Bosnia, eventually becoming the lead refueling unit for the mission.

With the motto " 'A'ole Mamao Loa" — never too far — the Stratotankers of the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron carry enough fuel to fly nonstop halfway around the world.