Simulated fuel spill one of several ORI scenarios

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  A simulated fuel spill tested the mettle of several 100th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 maintainers on the flight line here Oct. 14.

The spill was a scenario set up by members of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Inspector General team, which is here evaluating the 100th ARW's ability to deploy and fight a war in a two-week Operational Readiness Inspection.

According to Staff Sgt. Ryan Lavere, a KC-135 crew chief, inspectors introduced a scenario where an accident with a Stratotanker dumped 50 gallons of jet fuel onto the tarmac in an area containing several aircraft.

The on-scene maintainers quickly contained the simulated puddle of jet fuel while the base fire department responded to the call. Drains were covered to minimize environmental impacts and a tank was moved beneath the aircraft to catch leaking gas.

The scenario was completed when the maintainers demonstrated the ability to expediently contain and stop the fuel spill. Cleanup of a real spill, according to Sergeant Lavere, would take several hours.

One of the first people on scene for the spill was Master Sgt. John Kinser, 100 Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production superintendent, who said 50 gallons of fuel is a lot to lose, but based on his experience the Airmen involved did a fine job responding.

The fuel spill is one of several fictional scenarios, also called "injects," used by inspectors to take Airmen out of their comfort zones and test their abilities to readily respond to stressful situations. The two-part inspection first allowed inspectors to test the wing's ability to deploy its members to a war zone, then actually fight and defend a fictional air base.