News

Rodeo Maintenance team meticulous in refueling competition

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jake Chappelle
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  What's so hard about pumping gas? You open the gas cap. Put the nozzle in the tank. Squeeze the trigger and wait for the click. Simple. Right?

Well when it comes to refueling planes, the process is a lot more meticulous. That's why the 446th Airlift Wing Rodeo Maintenance team applied months of detailed training into their efforts when they completed the ground refueling event, July 21, on Joker Ramp.

This event tests a maintenance team's ability to go through the proper checklists and measures before fueling a C-17 Globemaster.

"It's a more challenging course than you think," said Senior Master Sgt. Mark Cherrix, 446th AW Rodeo Maintenance team chief. "The time crunch lies with all of the steps on the checklist being finished in the proper order, all in an hour."

If the fuel isn't pumped in the allocated time, the team will severely be penalized.

"We take a 25 point hit if the fuel doesn't get pumped in an hour," said Sergeant Cherrix. "That's a lot of points. Not to mention all of the safety measures that we have to cover too before fueling the plane."

Sergeant Cherrix explains how easily a team can lose points in this event.

"After talking to the umpires, it looks like we score about 80 points out of a possible 100," said Sergeant Cherrix. "We got out of step with one of the checklists and the chalks weren't properly placed, according to our checklist."

Despite the penalties the team scored pretty well, according to Sergeant Cherrix.

"The umpires said we did really well, because it's one of the toughest competitions for maintenance teams," he said.

Other maintenance crew members think the score also provides a bittersweet taste.

"It could've gone better, but I'll take it over a lower score any day," said Tech. Sgt. Jerry Kallinen, 446th Rodeo Maintenance team member. "We've been prepping for two-and-a-half months, so not getting a perfect score can be disappointing."

"It's a subjective event," said Tech. Sgt. Merle Brooks, another 446th Rodeo Maintenance team member. "We got very limited and basic instructions to work with beforehand. But we're still satisfied with our score."

Sergeant Cherrix still thinks the team's hard work paid off.

"You always want a perfect score," said Sergeant Cherrix. "But it could always be a lot worse. These guys worked hard and we're still being competitive."

Not only is the event, itself, very thorough, but maintenance teams also have to keep up with their daily observations, according to Sergeant Cherrix.

"We have to cover our daily observations, so we're working all the time," said Sergeant Cherrix. "We can get hit for simple tasks, like foreign object debris in the parking spaces. But our daily observation scores have been perfect so far."

The maintenance team's final event is the Post Flight inspection July 22 on Joker Ramp.