Spokane in F-16s’ sights
A refueling mission high above the Southwestern United States became a 5-mile-high preview of the precision flying that Inland Northwest aviation enthusiasts will see next month at the Skyfest air show.
About two hours into the Thursday mission, a squadron of brightly colored F-16 jet fighters throttled through the cloud cover and surrounded the Fairchild-based KC-135. It was the Thunderbirds, the U.S. Air Force’s precision flying team, headed for Pennsylvania and in need of fuel.
“OK, he’s at 20 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet, connected,” said Senior Airman Lindsay Moon, a Shadle Park High School graduate who has worked as an Air Force refueling boom operator for four years. Lying belly down in the cramped “boom pod,” Moon crossed his ankles and kept his focus intently on the jets.
Next month, the Thunderbirds will be flying to Spokane to headline Fairchild Air Force Base’s Skyfest.
The same tight Thunderbird formations on tap for those performances were demonstrated Thursday as the F-16 pilots maneuvered around the KC-135 during the refueling process.
The red, white and blue planes flew close enough that the small flags marking each of the countries they have performed in were clearly identifiable – Brazil, Japan, Canada and more than 50 others. Pilots waved greetings to everyone peering out the KC-135’s windows.
The five-hour flight took the tanker crew past Boise and over the Grand Canyon, then just north of Flagstaff, where they refueled the Thunderbirds and then headed back to Fairchild.
To refuel the fighters, Moon simultaneously operated two joysticks – one to control the boom’s vertical and horizontal motion, the other to telescope it in and out. All the while, KC-135 pilot Capt. Matt Corrigan and co-pilot 1st Lt. Luke Sturgeon maintained constant altitude and speed, as did the pilots of the planes being refueled.
Thunderbird pilots gave Moon thumbs-up signs as they detached and flew off.
Fueling F-16s is almost identical to refueling larger tankers, cargo planes and bombers, said Moon. The main difference is in speed of hookup and fueling. “A fighter, he’ll just come screaming in,” Moon said.
Two boom operators flew on this trip, however, giving each a chance to refuel the Thunderbirds and to take it all in when he wasn’t refueling.
The crew clearly enjoyed the training exercise, joking beforehand that they were chosen for the Thunderbird refueling mission because of their good looks. Both Moon and fellow boom operator, Senior Airman Michael Brooks, recorded and photographed the exercise, grinning over the images when they were done.
“Mechanically it’s all the same,” said Moon, “but it’s pretty exciting to know you’re refueling the top pilots in the Air Force.”