Liquid Fuels Maintenance keeps 'juice' flowing
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The C-5 holds 50,000 gallons of fuel, which collectively weigh more than 330,000 pounds. A five-man team from the 436th Civil Engineering Squadrons Liquid Fuels Maintenance handles the task of providing the 'juice' to the planes. They receive and send the fuel out to the flight line, perform environmental checks, daily maintenance, and annual safety inspections.
"I like this job, it is a change of pace," said Senior Airman James Dodson, 436th Liquid Fuels Maintenance journeyman. "Besides, nobody really knows what we do."
"Anybody can fix a light socket and think they are an electrician or change the oil in their car and be a mechanic," said Kevin Hughes, 436th Liquid Fuels Maintenance foreman. "But, they can't go out and repair fuel lines and be comfortable doing it."
The liquid fuels team receives fuel from a barge at Port Mahon in Delaware Bay and ships it through a pipeline to Dover AFB bulk storage tanks.
Hughes said, "We have three bulk storage tanks, the biggest holding two million gallons of fuel, and four operating storage tanks. Each tank has a containment area around it and is also explosion-proofed.
"The containment area around the tanks has to be able to contain 110 percent of the fuel capacity of the tank," said Hughes. "This is to insure that if a strong wind gust blows in the fuel does not splash out of the containment area. The tanks are explosion-proofed by placing the wiring system in steel pipes and filling the pipes with cement to prevent sparks from igniting the fuel."
The fuel is transferred from the storage tanks to the pump house where it is filtered and sent to the flight line through seven and a half miles of lines. Each filter in the pump house can filter 600 gallons of fuel per minute.
"We use the latest and greatest fuel distribution system here called the Philip's Type III," said Hughes. "It's an automated system that detects when a line is being used. It then turns on the pump house and increases the fuel pressure in the pipes. It can also detect when the need for fuel has subsided and turns the pump off."
The fuel is removed from the underground pipe at lift points on the flight line by the 436th Petroleum Oil and Lubricants Squadron in a truck used to filter the fuel and dispense it to the plane.
With the fuel traveling underground, liquid fuels maintenance personnel must be extremely environmentally conscious. The pipes have sensors around them that detect Tracer X, a chemical added to the fuel to give it a distinct smell to enable the liquid fuels maintenance tean to detect leaks.
"Each sensor actually 'sniffs' the soil twice a day and sends the report to Phoenix to be analyzed. If something is wrong, we are notified immediately and go to repair the problem," said Hughes.
On the other hand, if a catastrophic event should take place and fuel spilled everywhere, the liquid fuels maintenance team would have to "think like the fuel" said Hughes. "We would become the Emergency Spill Response Team and have to stop, contain, and pick-up the spill," said Hughes.
The task of checking for leaks and maintenance is an everyday occurrence. The underground pipes need to be marked, the fuel tanks and pump houses need to be inspected and monitored. There is always something to checked or cleaned.
"The Sluice Gate is very important, it is the last line of protection before the drainage water from base goes to the St. Jones River and out to the Delaware Bay," said Dodson. "We make sure the boom, which collects large debris, is not torn and the absorbent pad, which would collect fuel, is also in good shape."
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