RAF Mildenhall Airmen work to save KC-135

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, U.K. --  Units with the 100th Air Refueling Wing proved they are ready for action at a moment's notice when they responded to an in-flight emergency Dec. 18.

"We received an in-flight emergency call from the tower for an aircraft with a blown tire," said Master Sgt. Mark Annis, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron fire department assistant chief of operations. "At that point we responded, and we could actually see the aircraft on the runway with smoke coming from the left side. As we got closer, we could actually see fire coming from the left rear area."

The 100th Civil Engineer Squadron fire alarm communications center received the call about a KC-135 from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., around 9:30 a.m. Within three minutes, the fire department mobilized the 16 Airmen and Ministry of Defence civilians on duty, and suppressed the fire within four minutes of the call.

The fire department was met at the accident site by such units as 100th ARW safety office and the 100th Maintenance Squadron crash recovery team.

"When we went out there, the jet was still on the runway," said Staff Sgt. Jonathon Stone, 100th Maintenance Squadron and NCO in charge of the crash recovery team. "The runway was closed to any (landing or launching planes). The back two tires had pretty much completely shredded and two inches of the rim had been shaved off."

"It's crucial that during these types of incidents -- which are far and few between -- that we clear the runway as quickly as possible," said Lt. Col. Gary Slack, 100th Air Refueling Wing safety chief. "Every minute our flight line is shut down, we must divert inbound aircraft to other bases. Fortunately, we only had to divert a couple of aircraft to RAF Lakenheath and delay a few sorties. That speaks volumes about our people."

Normally in this type of situation, crash-recovery crews will try to tow the plane off the flight line to a hangar where it can be repaired and returned to service. However, this plane's tow ring was about an inch and a half off the flight line, making it impossible for the maintainers to use.

"When we got there, we evaluated the plane, and we thought we might be able to get a rhino jack under it but it was too low to the ground," Sergeant Stone said. "We thought the best way would be to use wing jacks to raise the (left side of the) plane so we could get an axle jack under the towing ring."

After jacking the plane up just enough to slip the axle jack in place, the maintainers coordinated with the 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron to supply three replacement tires.

After the tires were changed, the plane was brought to a hangar, where maintainers serviced the plane's struts and inspected it for any damage incurred during the four-hour rescue effort, including a gear-alignment check which involved technical expertise from the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron.

The plane and its crew departed RAF Mildenhall Dec. 22; four days after the incident, proving the Airmen and civilians here are ready at a moment's notice to save lives and equipment.

"It's bread and butter," said Jeffrey Peacock, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron lead firefighter. "It's nice to see what you're doing in training work out when you're doing it for real."