Hot refueling takes course at Holloman

by Airman 1st Class Emily A. Kenney
49th Wing Public Affairs

12/22/2014 - HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The 49th Logistics Readiness Squadron and the 54th Fighter Group joined together to teach the first F-16 Fighter Falcon Hot Refueling Course, December 16, 2014 at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.

The Hot Refueling course helps reduce the amount of time spent on maintenance when the number of operable aircraft is down.

"Aircraft land and instead of going back to their hangarettes and shutting down, they'll come here," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Edelman, NCO in charge of development and instruction for the 54th FG. "While still running, they'll get refueled and sent right back up. This eliminates a lot of downtime so they can perform more sorties in less time."

The Hot refueling course is not new to Holloman, but it is rare that Air Education and Training Command and Air Combat Command combine to teach the course in a training environment.

"The 54th doesn't have its own fuel support here, so being the home station gets us [49th LRS] involved and it becomes a joint effort," said Master Sgt. Raymond Lara, 49th LRS section flight chief fuels information service center. "It's beneficial for us to perform this type of operation because this is something we perform on deployments. While deployed, hot refueling becomes a regularly-occurring operation. So having the opportunity to work with the 54th and do it here keeps our guys more proficient in operations."

During the 8-hour class, students learn the technical order, warnings, cautions and different positions involved in hot refueling.

"The course is two phases," said Edelman. "The first phase is an academic portion where the students learn all of the procedures and pertinent information that is outlined in the technical data, as it relates to the job. The second phase is the practical phase where they take the information they learned and demonstrate it to the instructor."

Although the course took Staff Sgt. Lisa Mustard, an instructor for the 54th FG maintenance training section, more than 90 hours to design, the time hot refueling will save is exponential.

"Standard turnaround is about 3 hours," said Senior Master Sgt. Spencer Ridgway, assistant superintendent for the 54th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. "So with the hot pits, in about an hour and fifteen minutes they can be back in the air. You may save six to eight sorties per day that you don't have to make up on another day."