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4-ship takes off with help from 434th AMXS

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Mota
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind.- --  It's a lot more than pulling chocks, snapping a salute and watching four aircraft fly into the horizon.

After hours of preparation and days of planning, a four-ship formation of KC-135 Stratotankers from the 434th Air Refueling Wing took off from Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind., March 5.

"The purpose of formation flights are to maximize the number of tankers within limited airspace and to ensure we can provide plenty of fuel for our receiving aircraft," explained Maj. Daniel Keeney, 434th Operations Support Squadron nuclear plans officer, who was also a pilot on one of the aircraft in the formation. "In certain circumstances the flights also enable our aircraft to get airborne quickly in case of a threat."

During the formation aircraft departed within 30 seconds of each other, and while many may have seen the departure very few have seen what goes on behind the scenes to make that happen.

"This exercise really was a team effort," said Senior Master Sgt. Darin Schenher, 434th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production superintendent. "Fuel has to be loaded a day prior, aircraft are required to have valid pre-flights, and the aircraft have to be ready. Even if everything goes as planned weather can prevent us from flying."

The 434th AMXS is responsible for the daily launch and recovery of aircrafts, providing organizational level maintenance, and rendering support for cross-country and global missions as needed.

"Maintenance deserves most of the credit for getting all four aircraft in the air," said Keeney. "The lead aircraft had a minor issue during pre-flight but our maintenance was able to quickly fix it."

After all of the planning and preparation it only takes one piece of the puzzle to bring the formation to a halt, and that was almost the case had it not been for Grissom's maintainers.

"During pre-flight inspection we had a minor issue with , explained Schenher. "Rather than going through the supply process, we were able to authorize the transfer of the part from one of our grounded aircraft, saving us a lot of time.

"We haven't conducted a four-aircraft formation in a long time, and had we not fixed the aircraft in a timely manner the formation would have not occurred as it did," he added.

In addition to maintenance successfully preparing the aircraft for launch, the aircrew did what needed to be done to get them off the runway.

"Our crew did great; not a single radio call was missed the whole flight," said Keeney. We have three radios that have to be monitored, and when you have four aircraft running checklists at the same time, the potential for someone missing a call or something getting lost on a frequency-change is very high."

The 434th Air Refueling Wing is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. 434th ARW Airmen and aircraft routinely deploy in support of the Air Force mission and U.S. strategic objectives.

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Public Affairs Staff

Material contained on the Official Grissom Air Reserve Base Internet Web Site is written and produced by members of the 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office. The award-winning staff includes:

Ben Mota
Chief, public affairs

Maj. Elias Zani
Public affairs officer

Master Sgt. Wendy Day
Staff writer

Tech. Sgt. Alexa Culbert
Staff writer

Senior Airman Elise Faurote
Staff writer

Senior Airman Benjamin Cowles
Staff writer