Fuelled For Flight Published Feb. 28, 2012 By Senior Airman Jack Sanders Nellis Public Affaris NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Nellis' 99th Logistics Management Squadron, Fuels Management Flight, fuels aircraft daily, allowing them to complete their mission priorities. Fuels Management Flight Airmen are responsible for fueling all aircraft assigned to and visiting Nellis Air Force Base. "We fuel everything that flies through here, home station and transit," said Airman 1st Class Joshua Gonzales, 99 LRS fuels distribution operator. Ensuring fuel gets to aircrafts is the flights primary mission, but there are more aspects to getting the fuel to the airframes than just driving it on a fuel truck. "I think one of the biggest misconceptions of our flight is all we do is drive," said Airman 1st Class David Anastasio, 99 LRS fuels distribution operator. "Most people who think of our flight think of the Airmen who operate the C300, which is a smaller truck that only carries 1,200 gallons of diesel or gas, just driving around fueling up generators all day. But, in reality our flight is much, much larger than just the drivers. We have people who work in the Fuels Laboratory, in our Pump House and Tank Farm across Las Vegas Boulevard. We also have people who work in Cryogenic Storage. "Personnel in Cryogenic Storage store liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen in bulk and issue it to crew chiefs that then put them on their aircraft," Anastasio said. "The Fuels Laboratory ensures all of the fuel we get is up to grade, and if it's not we lock up the truck and figure out what the problem is. Our pump house is what allows us to fill up our trucks and fill all the aircraft out on transient west. Without the pump house we wouldn't be able to get any fuel to the aircraft, period. The tank farm is our bulk storage area. We have maintenance, that works on the trucks and makes sure everything's working as far as, pumps and filters down in the engine, and everything else." After the fuel is certified up to grade at the Fuels Laboratory the LRS Airmen fill their large fuel trucks with it at the pump house and drive it to the requesting aircraft. "We drive R-11 trucks, a truck approximately 38 feet long by 15 feet tall that carries 6,000 gallons of jet fuel, onto the flight line, get to our aircraft, issue our fuel, fill the truck back up and repeat. Basically were driving a truck a little bit smaller than a semi," Anastasio said. Fuels Airmen must not only deliver fuel, but do it quickly so aircrew can get airborne as soon as possible to perform their missions. The fuels distribution operators must keep up their flow regardless of condition and number of airframes serviced, a feat that becomes truly challenging during major exercises like Red Flag involving dozens of aircraft. "We're at one of the busiest bases in Air Combat Command," Gonzales said. "We always have temporary duty personnel coming through, and every now and then we'll get commercial jets, Navy jets, Marine jets and even jets from different countries." While delivering the fuel may be an important aspect of the job it isn't the only one. Despite which aspect of the Fuels Management Flight the Airmen work in they all have one common goal - getting the best fuel to the right jets as fast as possible to complete the mission.
