I have the privilege to serve as an Honorary Commander at our nearby Air Force base (Fairchild) which is a refueling tanker base. Yesterday, I was part of a group of twelve who were fortunate enough to take flight and be part of a training mission over the Pacific Northwest. We left Spokane at 7:45 and went south-west to Central Oregon where we met up with four F-15's and refueled them. We then headed north toward Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Southern Puget Sound and met with three C-17 cargo planes and headed east to central Montana, then back to Fairchild. All this was over a 5 1/2 hour trip. Here are some shots of the flight:
First class cabin on a KC-135; lots of leg room, doughnuts for the morning and Jimmy John's for lunch and plenty of room to walk around.
Beautiful day over Oregon with the Three Sisters to gander at.
One of our first customers, an F-15 pulling alongside to take a look. It's not everyday you see this out of the window while in flight.
Settled in at the gas station.
Our pilots taking us over to Montana for a little fun with the C-17's.
One of our last customers for the day, a C-17 pulls in and mates up with the KC-135. What was interesting is that the C-17 is a very large plane and puts out a large bow-wave. When it got close, the tail end of the KC-135 would raise and the wave would feel like it rippled from the back of the plane to the front. If the auto-pilot kicks out, the 135 pilot would pull up and hit the throttle while the C-17 dipped under us. It was a little nerve-wracking for us who hadn't been there before but just another move that all parties involved were repeatedly trained for. Fascinating process.
I thank all of our service folks and veterans for what they do for us. Having the opportunity to see this up close was really fun and educational. When you consider that there were several million dollars worth of equipment weighing around 200 tons, including 100 tons of jet fuel, traveling at 265 mph at 20,000 feet, thirty feet apart and connected with a 4" diameter tube full of streaming jet fuel, you have to ask: What could go wrong? Well, lots of things. It's the dedicated training of these folks that make it seem so seamless and inconsequential that we just kind of take it all for granted. This truly was seeing art in motion. A really fun day!
First class cabin on a KC-135; lots of leg room, doughnuts for the morning and Jimmy John's for lunch and plenty of room to walk around.
Beautiful day over Oregon with the Three Sisters to gander at.
One of our first customers, an F-15 pulling alongside to take a look. It's not everyday you see this out of the window while in flight.
Settled in at the gas station.
Our pilots taking us over to Montana for a little fun with the C-17's.
One of our last customers for the day, a C-17 pulls in and mates up with the KC-135. What was interesting is that the C-17 is a very large plane and puts out a large bow-wave. When it got close, the tail end of the KC-135 would raise and the wave would feel like it rippled from the back of the plane to the front. If the auto-pilot kicks out, the 135 pilot would pull up and hit the throttle while the C-17 dipped under us. It was a little nerve-wracking for us who hadn't been there before but just another move that all parties involved were repeatedly trained for. Fascinating process.
I thank all of our service folks and veterans for what they do for us. Having the opportunity to see this up close was really fun and educational. When you consider that there were several million dollars worth of equipment weighing around 200 tons, including 100 tons of jet fuel, traveling at 265 mph at 20,000 feet, thirty feet apart and connected with a 4" diameter tube full of streaming jet fuel, you have to ask: What could go wrong? Well, lots of things. It's the dedicated training of these folks that make it seem so seamless and inconsequential that we just kind of take it all for granted. This truly was seeing art in motion. A really fun day!