September Newsletter - Week 4
Recap
This week we had Master Sergeant Thomas Cole and Lieutenant Colonel Hiram Williamson. They are in the National Guard based at McGhee Tyson Airport in the 151st Air Refueling Squadron. They fly the jet that is responsible for refueling other aircrafts while in flight. They are an extremely critical part of the success of the United States Airforce and their unit’s assistance is in increasing demand. They had 453,000 guardsmen deployed just last year, which is far more than they used to have. They have over 600 full-time employees and many part time as well.Master Sergeant Cole has been in the military for 17 years. He used to be active duty, once deployed, and now serves part-time as a Boom Operator for the National Guard. He also works as a firefighter for Knox County. On the contrary, Lieutenant Colonel Williamson serves full-time for the guard. He is also a Clinton High School graduate, Class of 1988. He has just shy of 5,000 hours of flying and loves what he does.
Master Sergeant Cole spoke mainly about being a Boom Operator. To do this, he lays on his stomach at the bottom of the plane in his own cockpit, looking out a clear windshield down toward the approaching plane. He flies the boom independently of both planes, enabling him to make separate adjustments as he refuels. He triggers the boom when the approaching plane gets 2-3 feet away. He then flies it down into the plane’s receptacle. Toggles then lock on and make a connection to trigger refueling. The connection can also be released quickly in case of emergency disconnect. Depending on what type of plane he is refueling, this can take between 5 – 20 minutes. This is all done while both planes are traveling between 200 - 335 miles per hour, depending on what type of aircraft it involves. Refueling is his favorite part of the job, but only a very small part of it. His job duties also include maintaining and loading fuel tanks and levels, making sure they are safe to fly, taking care of any passengers, caring for all classified materials on board and programming and decoding messages secretly.
The refueling jet only requires 3 people in it to fly – two pilots and one boom operator. Their plane is very active as they have at least two jets fly every day, except for Fridays. The operating cost of flying the refueling jet is roughly $9,000 per hour. In addition, the McGhee Tyson Airbase brings $153 million dollars per year back to the community in labor and services. The jet can hold up to 200,000 pounds of fuel at one time. However, because the jet itself burns a full tank of fuel in15-18 hours, they are unable to make long trips themselves without stopping for more fuel. This is important because they need to be at maximum capacity before refueling other aircrafts. They usually stop in England or Asia to get more onboard fuel. When aircrafts are flying over the ocean, they like to refuel every 15 minutes to always have a full tank of gas in case of emergency.
MembershipWe had a great crowd this week! We also had Mike Decanio with Mortgage Investors Group visiting with us, as well as Timothy Jett from Fox Toyota. We also welcomed proposed new member Greg Deal, Assistant Director of Anderson County Schools. |
Items of InterestSchool coupon books are still for sale! They are $10 each and $7.50 of each book sold goes back to helping Clinton City and Anderson County schools. If you did not get one and would still like one, please see ET, Kelly, or any member that has children in the school systems.The evening of October 27th has been definitively decided upon for a Rotary Social at the Museum of Appalachia. The cost has not yet been determined. Please let Bill know if you think you will be able to attend. |
Upcoming SpeakersOctober 3Stephanie Wells – Anderson County Tourism October 10Bob Gibson - Retired FBI agent October 17Lewis Ridenour - Anderson County Sheriff Candidate October 24Ernie Newberry – USS Ronald Reagan |
Rotary Club OfficersBill Gallaher Vickie Violette
Ronnie Fox
Jerry Schlandt
Mike Shrader
Gary Coleman
Tom Connolly
ET Stamey
Bear Stephenson
Leighann Green
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Clinton Rotary Club
Meeting Address: 101 S. Hicks Street Clinton, Tennessee 37716
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 524 Clinton, Tennessee 37717