Photo By Joshua Cox | The NAS Pensacola Fuels Department pose for a group photo on the base’s airfield,...... read more read more
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One of the most critical elements in running an engine is clean fuel, and NAS Pensacola aircraft and transient planes require thousands of gallons of jet fuel every day to operate. Recently, even SpaceX aircraft relied on NAS Pensacola for fuel during a spacecraft and crew recovery mission in the Gulf of Mexico.
Members of the NAS Pensacola Fuels Department ensure aircraft have the fuel needed, day and night — all year long. The idea of fueling a fixed-wing plane or helicopter may seem simple; however, it is a complex process the Fuels Department carefully coordinates behind-the-scenes.
Jet fuel arrives to NAS Pensacola by barge, and is pumped on the installation’s fuel pier. The fuel is pumped to the bulk fuel farm — an area of the base with massive fuel tanks and sophisticated pipelines. The fuel farm is central to the operation, where most of the jet fuel on the base is stored. Incoming fuel is often tested in the farm’s lab to ensure the chemistry is acceptable for use.
More pipelines run from the bulk fuel farm to additional areas of the base. Another location central to the operation is the Fuel Department’s area on the airfield. Fuel is readily available in tanks on the airfield, and fuel trucks can quickly provide service to aircraft on a busy day. Additionally, aircraft can conduct a hot refuel at designated stations on the airfield. A hot refuel is essentially when an aircraft can pull up to a service location and refuel on the go.
Barry Hogfoss is the terminal manager at the NAS Pensacola Fuels Department, and ensures the operation runs efficiently every day.
The mission of the Fuels Department is to deliver clean quality fuel in the most efficient and safe manner to the customer, Hogfoss said.
“We receive calls from the home-station aircraft customers and my dispatcher will dispatch a driver out to take care of the customer,” Hogfoss said. “We pull up to the aircraft and basically hand the nozzle to the maintenance crew, and we track how many gallons that the aircraft takes.”
Rick Perry, a dispatcher and fuel truck operator with the Fuels Department said the team can get really busy and several tanker trucks can be dispatched all around the airfield at the same time.
“It can be challenging at times and fun because we have a 20-minute response time,” Perry said.
Hogfoss said the team is also responsible for fueling other vehicles on the base. The department fuels government vehicles daily with gasoline and diesel fuel in addition to the jet fuels mission.
“The base doesn’t have a government service station,” Hogfoss explained. “So, we are the service station. We have a route that we do every day, and we go service all these different customers — not just on NAS Pensacola, but we go to Corry Station, Saufley Field, the Naval Hospital and two outlying landing fields in Alabama.”
Hogfoss said the fuels department is critical to mission success onboard NAS Pensacola.
“Without fuel the pilots would be pedestrians,” he said. “We are mission essential.”
The Fuels Department also provides service to transient aircraft. Hogfoss said many aircraft land on the airfield, including passenger jets transporting military students to NAS Pensacola for aviation-related training.
On May 2, the Fuels Department supported SpaceX when National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts were recovered in the Gulf of Mexico following a mission on the International Space Station.
According to a NASA report, “SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, returned to Earth in a parachute-assisted splashdown at 2:56 a.m. EDT off the coast of Panama City, Fla. Crews aboard SpaceX recovery vessels successfully recovered the spacecraft and astronauts.”
SpaceX helicopters transported the astronauts from the splashdown location in the Gulf to NAS Pensacola where a SpaceX jet was waiting on the airfield to transport the crew to Houston. The evolution occurred in the middle of the night, and Perry was on duty to refuel aircraft during the recovery mission. During the mission, Perry supported by refueling a SpaceX helicopter.
“I thought it was pretty neat being a part of it,” Perry said.
Hogfoss said supporting the SpaceX event required many NAS Pensacola personnel and assets, and the Fuels team was one of several departments involved in the recovery mission.
NAS Pensacola Airfield Operations, Transient Line, Air Traffic Control and Fire and Emergency crews also supported the SpaceX mission, he said.
“We are just a spoke in a wheel,” Hogfoss said. “It takes team effort.”
| Date Taken: | 05.14.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2021 15:19 |
| Story ID: | 396612 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 435 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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