5/5/2014 - Summer 2014 -- ROOK 71 CREW 92 ARW, Fairchild AFB
Despite Obstacles, ROOK 71 Crew Lands Plane Flawlessly at Fairchild
Mission recap by MAJ ROBERT A. AIKMAN II 92d Air Refueling Wing
"The fuel panel, set to burn all mains, had about 5K in each tank and the reserves were full. However, all of the boost pumps in the main tanks were now inoperative."
Rook 71 was scheduled as an Operational Mission Evaluation (OME) for a pilot in upgrade training and as an overseas mission for a pilot in requalification training. The mission was scheduled to depart on Wednesday, 6 Nov 2013 and return the next day. The crew consisted of an evaluator pilot (EP), AC upgrade pilot (AC), IP requalification pilot (UP), instructor boom operator (IB) and a new boom operator (FB). The mission planning was completed by the AC, and everything was going as planned.
For the flight departing Fairchild to Hickam AFB in Hawaii, the AC was in the left seat and the UP was in the right seat for the preflight. The preflight check was conducted. The SKL battery aboard the KC-135 was dead, so the FB coordinated for a new battery. The EP got in the right seat for engine start. At engine start, the APU1 shut down. We used APU2, which also shut down. This delayed the mission 30 minutes, and the crew proceeded with the overseas portion of the flight.
Approximately halfway to Hickam, transformer rectifier (TR) #2 failed. Per the Dash 1, we configured the fuel panel to set up a cross feed condition to supply the needed fuel pressure, considering that one fuel boost pump in each main tank was inoperative. The landing light and stabilizer trim circuit breakers popped twice during the flight. The AC flew the approach and landing at Hickam, after which the #1 engine remained in flight idle. The AC shut down the #1 and #4 engines per the Dash 1.
Maintenance replaced TR#2 and fixed the #1 engine flight idle problem. On Thursday, during the preflight to leave Hickam, we turned on the landing light and ran the stabilizer trim. Circuit breakers popped, but Maintenance couldn't pinpoint the cause. Maintenance eventually switched the TR positions (TR#1 to position #2 and vice versa), and the jet tested good.
On Friday, the crew accomplished the preflight and taxied to the hold position. When we were cleared to line up and wait, TR#1 (which had been replaced) failed. We taxied in and gave the jet back to Maintenance. On Saturday, the main battery was dead. The AC coordinated with Fairchild Maintenance to get a new battery and send out a Maintenance Recovery Team for the electrical issue.
The jet was fixed the following Monday. The preflight and first half of the mission was normal. The UP was in the left seat, EP in the right seat, and AC in the jump seat. We discussed the possibility of losing a TR while oceanic and decided to drain fuel aft for center of gravity consideration and to have fuel to feed the engines from a hydraulically driven fuel pump if we lost a TR. Then EGI#2 failed. (An EGI is an embedded global positioning and inertial navigation system).
We also discussed Reduced Visual Separation Measure and Minimum Navigation Performance Specification considerations and continued the flight with the remaining EGI. Then TR#1 and TR#2 simultaneously failed. The TR fail light came on and immediately went off, and the switched DC bus failure light came on. The UP immediately put the battery power switch to the emergency position, the crew noted our heading and current position, and we noted a bright star at our 1 o'clock.
The UP flew the KC-135 using the standby Attitude Director Indicator (ADI) and the whiskey compass while the crew began to troubleshoot. Since EGI#2 was inoperative, copilots MFD showed the ADI and Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI), but the HSI did not provide a heading. There was a red HDG flag. The GPS (on the Central Display Unit) gave us latitude and longitude, but the mark point gave us erroneous data. Our only radio was UHF, and we couldn't reach anyone on 243.0 UHF guard, 282.8 maritime guard, or 311.0 frequencies. The IB gathered the survival radios from the rear of the aircraft, but attempts to contact anyone or to acquire a GPS signal were unsuccessful.
We had a Portable Flight Planning System computer with a GPS moving map, but the antenna was inoperable. However, we plotted our position and overlaid another flight plan from our last known position direct to Fairchild. The fuel panel, set to burn all mains, had about 5K in each tank and the reserves were full. However, all of the boost pumps in the main tanks were now inoperative. The fuel was gravity feeding, but the warning in the Dash 1 says to prevent possible engine flameout due to lack of fuel boost pressure, consider feeding engines from either forward or aft body tanks, if fuel is available.
We tried to drain the reserves but couldn't because the reserve valves are not on the switched DC bus. We decided to reset the TR circuit breakers to drain the reserve fuel tanks and communicate with anybody we could reach.
We assigned duties to each crewmember.
- The UP would fly.
- The EP would configure the fuel panel, call civilian airlines
on 123.45, and try to get a Controller/Pilot Data Link Communications
message to the Air Traffic Services Unit.
- The AC would call on HF.
- The IB would monitor the circuit breakers.
The aircraft required about 5 degrees of left bank to keep us on course, most likely due to winds. After about an hour, we reset the TR with the working fan again to communicate and get a position with respect to our stick map. We were about 8 miles south of course and starting to communicate with a commercial airliner when the TR failed again.
We discussed proceeding to Portland International Airport but kept Fairchild as our destination because it was only 25 minutes farther with VFR conditions. When we got a Coast Guard "unknown rider" call over UHF guard, we knew we were getting close to the coast. However, they were out of our UHF radio range when we tried to respond.
The IB began looking through the authentication documents and realized they were asking us to authenticate by squawking modes and codes, but we couldn't because of our emergency. We finally authenticated via voice and got a heading to Fairchild and a UHF frequency for Seattle Center, which gave us headings and UHF frequencies for the next controllers that we would be using. We stayed at 39,000 feet until about 120 miles from Fairchild to stay out of the weather and minimize trim changes since we had to manually trim the aircraft. The aircraft did not have any external lighting or landing lights, and the only working window heat was the copilot's window.
During the descent, the pilot's side window began to frost over, and the copilot's window started to fog up. The EP started flying the aircraft prior to level off so the UP could manually trim. We reviewed all items originally powered by the TR1 and TR2 and made note of what would affect the aircraft for landing. We caused the runway at Fairchild to be shut down due to our lack of lighting and limited visibility through the windows. At 11 miles out, the tower turned the airfield lights on high, and we acquired the runway for a visual straight in approach. The AC called out aircraft altitude during the approach, and the EP flew a flawless night approach and landing. Aircraft control was transferred to the UP for the speed brakes and braking, and we stopped the KC-135 on the runway and shut down.
The five member crew consisted of:
- UP: Maj Robert A. Aikman II
- AC: Capt Alexander W. Denton
- EP: Maj Menola M. Guthrie
- IB: SSgt Lauren A. Powell
- FB: A1C Stephon A. Sharief
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