Original subtitles

NARRATOR: It's a flying gas station that keeps

fighter jets in the fight.

It's not unusual to see guys learning to do air refueling,

be unsuccessful time after time after time.

NARRATOR: This is self-serve in the sky.

This is my first time taking off the 707.

NARRATOR: So top guns can support troops down below.

This is a very important job.

This is a very serious job.

NARRATOR: This is the 707 tanker--

OK, no worries. We'll be there.

We'll be on time.

NARRATOR: --and it's under pressure.

Your keys turn right.

NARRATOR: --to keep this mission in flight.

If we don't have this plane ready,

there'll be hell to pay.

[theme music]

NARRATOR: A Boeing 707 tanker is

on final approach for Naval Base Ventura County,

Point Mugu, and California.

[radio chatter]

It's day one of a three-day US Navy and Marine Corps

exercise, codenamed Fire X.

[radio chatter]

And the aerial refueling tanker is the key to its success.

[radio chatter]

It's morning, and the tarmac is already radiating heat.

This 707 tanker touches down on Point

Mugu's 11,000 foot runway.

But this is no warplane.

The tanker is privately owned and operated by Omega Air Inc,

the only civilian company in the world authorized

to refuel military aircraft.

Inside the base, Omega's crew head into

their pre-mission meeting.

Morning.

Good morning.

NARRATOR: Pilot Charlie Hertenstein will fly

the 707 during the exercise.

Our orbit is going to be, kind of, an East-West orbit.

It's about 29 miles long by about 12 miles wide.

NARRATOR: While flight Engineer John

Shreve will communicate with the fighter pilots

during refueling.

Yeah, it looks like we're going

to have five sections, two each, a total of 10 aircraft.

NARRATOR: The tanker crew are retired officers.

Between them, they bring over 100 years

of military experience to the table.

And as close to alpha.

OK, anything else?

NARRATOR: The vice president of operations, Robert Proano,

oversees Omega's role in Fire X.

It's their training.

We're there to support their training,

not to do it for them.

All right.

NARRATOR: The crew has been hired

to provide tanker and refueling support for

the entire three-day exercise.

Almost 50 years old, this 707 was

a passenger plane before it was converted into a tanker.

Now, it's a flying gas station, ready to serve

its military clients at the required coordinates.

All right, nice landing.

707 was one of the best engineered and designed

airplanes that Boeing ever built.

It's highly reliable, very much overengineered airplane.

NARRATOR: The Boeing 707 338 model

is a narrow body airplane, first

designed in the late 1950s.

You can see that we've left the original seating

configuration in the airplane.

As we continue forward, you can see, for our older airplane

here, we still have the ashtray installed in the lavatory door

so that people could stand here and have a smoke.

NARRATOR: Its classic swept wing

design includes four potted engines, two on each wing.

The aircraft measures 152 feet, nose to tail,

and has a wingspan of 145 feet.

Point Mugu supports thousands of military flight

operations each year, operations like Fire X.

Like I said, I've got the nav data updates.

NARRATOR: Befoe today's mission,

Pilot Charlie Hertenstein will need a status update.

The Wi-Fi has been working great.

The router's been working really--

Tomorrow, we're going to be doing an exercise over land.

So we'll be going out and refueling

some Harriers and F-18s.

We're going to be airborne out in the desert of Southern

California, supporting multiple fighter aircraft from the Navy

and Marine Corps.

And we're going to be passing in excess of 50,000

pounds of gas on that mission.

NARRATOR: The exercise takes place across the skies

of Southern California.

From Point Mugu, the omega tanker

flies East to the Marine Corps combat center

at Twentynine Palms, where it will

fly a 15-mile oval pattern.

The fighter Jets fly out of Naval Air Station Lemoore

to rendezvous with the tanker.

They'll refuel before heading to Twentynine Palms

to drop low explosive bombs.

225 miles Northeast of Point Mugu

is Naval Air Station Lemoore, the Navy's

newest and largest jet base.

This is home to more than 175 F-18 Hornets and Super Hornet

attack and strike fighters.

Today, there'll be refueling from the Omega tanker

as part of the Marine training exercise.

Lieutenants Paige Block and Phil Kasha are

on deck for today's mission.

Seasoned Hornet pilots, they know

how much gas is in the tank.

With the short legs or limited fuel supply

of the F-18 legacy Charlie Hornet,

we often need to be aerial refueled in order to extend

our mission on station time.

So what refueling will give us is some extra time to train

the Marines on the ground.

NARRATOR: Aerial refueling is a critical skill

for military fliers.

All right, welcome, Sweet Cheeks.

NARRATOR: In the classroom, Pilot Eric Wilkins, call sign

Sweet Cheeks, is given a safety brief,

outlining the risks he's about to face.

The four-engined aircraft, two on each side,

obviously, creates a lot of low pressure disturbance in there.

What ends up happening, it can suck you towards the middle.

In other words--

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Fisher will

be flying with Eric in his second F-18,

approaching the tanker in tandem.

Aerial refueling requires a pilot

to link his plane to a giant tanker in mid-flight.

It's a high-risk maneuver that tests a pilot's limits.

You don't want to come in--

All the way through flight school, you're always told

try not to hit the other aircraft.

There's always that danger factor there.

NARRATOR: Eric has never refueled off the 707 tanker.

His only experiences in a simulator.

Within a few hours, he'll be putting

those drills to the test at 20,000 feet above ground.

[jetplane humming]

The fighter jets are supporting a training exercise

at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Combat

Center in the Mojave Desert.

All right, Team 7 1133.

NARRATOR: These troops will be deployed

to similar terrain in Afghanistan

in a matter of weeks.

Today, they'll see what close air support looks

like, guiding fighter jets to drop

live bombs on nearby targets.

November uniform 6691.

All right, what we're doing out here today

is we're training the newest forward

air controllers and joint tactical air controllers.

NARRATOR: After several weeks in the classroom,

these Marines will test their skills in the field.

Brimstone 92 mark, 3-3.

This is the first time they're actually

going to see it for real, see those aircraft,

have the air crew introduced to them

in terms of the human element.

We have the Marine F-18 coming

in 11:50 to 12:00 first time on station before tanking.

NARRATOR: These Marines will be calling in target coordinates

to the F-18s.

The tankers' job is to keep the fighters fueled up.

There are only four civilian 707 tankers in the world.

Omega air owns all of them.

There is no category for a commercially

operated air refueling tanker.

That's a uniquely military mission

everywhere else in the world.

We're the only ones that are doing this on a commercial fee

for service basis.

NARRATOR: There are over 900 tankers

operating for armed forces worldwide.

Omega aims to crack that market, one mission at a time.

It's a very unique airplane.

It's a very unique mission.

It's a uniquely military mission

that we perform on a contract basis for the US

Navy and Marine Corps.

NARRATOR: Every air service has to keep a schedule.

For Omega, it's critical.

We'll be on time.

NARRATOR: This tanker is contracted

to be at a precise position at an exact time.

The countdown to the rendezvous has begun.

Yeah, we're just looking for any kind of leaks,

whether it be hydraulic or fuel leaks.

NARRATOR: After 28 years, John Shreve knows his planes.

His preflight inspection misses nothing.

Hold on a second, we lost power.

Power shut down.

NARRATOR: With the countdown to takeoff on hold,

John searches for clues.

NARRATOR: Every minute this tanker is delayed

compromises the timing of the F-18 sortie.

John and his team quickly discovered

the source of the problem.

There's a set of circuit breakers, like in your house.

It just tripped one of those.

And right now we, have power established, and everything

looks good.

NARRATOR: Charlie and his co-pilot Royce Grones

have logged tens of thousands of flight hours

in Uncle Sam's service.

The uniforms are gone, but the discipline is ingrained.

They're team players in a multi-unit military operation.

OK, I'm complete with my pre-flight.

Everything looks really good shape.

So I think we got a couple of thirsty fighters out there.

It's going to want us to get them some gas,

so we need to get things rolling now

and get the engine started.

NARRATOR: Omega's reputation is on the line.

These F-18 Hornets need the tanker over Twentynine Palms

in less than an hour, and it's up to this crew

to make it happen.

US Navy F- 18 Hornet stand ready for a training exercise

in the skies of Southern California.

Omega Air 707 tanker is standing by

to meet them for air to air refueling

over the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Combat Center.

The Omega 707 is scheduled for precise map coordinates

in less than an hour.

But even a flying fuel tank needs fuel.

Oh, we're pumping gas in this airplane.

We're going to take about 18,000 gallons of fuel.

NARRATOR: It's up to Dwayne Kalonji, one of Omega's

mechanics to squeeze the pump.

It gets a little stressful every now and then because

there's a lot of pressure.

Everybody's depending on me.

We don't have this plane ready, there'll be hell to pay.

NARRATOR: The 707 tanks hold 12 hours of fuel.

Today's sortie is only four hours long, leaving the tanker

with more than 10,000 gallons of fuel

to offload two receiver jets.

It takes three truckloads of fuel to fill the tanks.

The plane would be ready for takeoff.

It works.

We're on time.

NARRATOR: Filled with fuel, this plane and crew

would be in grave jeopardy in the event of an accident.

In 2011, a fully loaded Omega 707 tanker caught

fire after a malfunction.

The crew aborted takeoff and escaped with minimal injuries,

but the plane was left a fiery wreck.

The disaster cost Omega millions of dollars

and serves as a graphic reminder of the hazards tanker

crews face on each mission.

- Forward D10. - Flap lever.

- Up and checked. - Reverse thrust.

- Down and closed. - Start levers.

Cut off.

Autopilot and autothrottles.

Off and off.

OK, any questions?

No questions.

NARRATOR: Filled to capacity with those 18,000

gallons of jet fuel, this tanker

weighs in at 319,000 pounds.

Brakes, checked.

NARRATOR: It takes 10,000 feet of runway and 150 knots

to get into the air.

All set.

My tops.

160.

Maintain 7,000, Omega 707.

160 7,000

7,000.

NARRATOR: At Naval Air Station Lemoore,

the Hornets are restless.

The first flight is climbing into the sky.

The mission is a go.

Lieutenant Paige Block is up next.

The air to air refuel from the 707

means she won't have to return to base to gas up,

doubling her impact on the exercise.

Essentially, we'll be filling the role of two Hornets.

Although, only one will be required airborne,

since we'll be able to extend our time on station

through aerial refueling.

Any extra training we can get refueling

is certainly beneficial to pilot training as well.

NARRATOR: Several Hornets are engaged

in this afternoon's exercise.

But first, they need a top up from the tanker.

40 nautical miles from the Twentynine Palms Combat

Center, the 707 slips into its oval orbit,

waiting for the Hornets to arrive.

The scenery is just beautiful up here.

We got the best seats in the world, up front like this.

A lot of the equipment in this airplane is analog,

so it takes a lot more input by the pilots.

So you'll feel the control forces

a little bit more than you do with a lot

of the modern aircraft.

Yeah, this airplane is an old school airplane.

I mean, you can lose all your electronics.

You can lose all your hydraulics,

and it'll still fly.

We just got a call.

We've got a section of fighters, the two ship that

is on their way up from the range,

so anticipate they'll probably be here in about

three or four minutes.

NARRATOR: The 707 is a probe and drogue style refueler.

Each wingtip pod houses a drogue or basket

that extends from a 50-foot hose,

allowing two receivers to refuel simultaneously.

The receiving jets arrive in tandem before separating

behind each wing.

On approach, the pilot activates the fighter

jet's refueling probe.

With the hoses fully extended, the tanker holds steady.

It's up to the receiver pilot to move in.

Cameras help John monitor the operation.

And 2, 1.

Your cuts turn right host.

2, 2 cuts turn left host.

Verify no supposed to be saved.

PILOT: 3, 2 clear contact.

MAN: 3, 2 clear contact.

NARRATOR: This gas station is self-serve.

To get fuel flowing, the probe needs to be pushed about

five feet into the basket.

This is when a pilot's skills are truly tested.

They'll need to perform a perfectly timed

thrust with a moving target.

[music playing]

[radio chatters]

With a speed of about 317 miles per hour,

even a small error could lead to disaster.

[music playing]

The F-18 maintains a stable position for the duration

of the fuel transfer.

If the probe moves more than a few feet in any direction,

fuel flow stops.

They're both in perfect positions.

I'll just watch them to make sure they

don't fall off the hose or bring it

in too close to our aircraft.

NARRATOR: The two receivers fill up

simultaneously with each hose pumping

about 300 gallons per minute.

The Hornets typically take on over 600 gallons of fuel each,

enough to fill 30 SUVs.

[radio chatter]

Tanks full, the receivers disconnect.

They reestablish formation just above the right wing

of the tanker.

These pilots, this training is very important for them.

It gives them the training they need

so when they are on deployment, they can get fuel

when it's really necessary.

They're off now to do their training with the Marines.

NARRATOR: At Twentynine Palms, the troops are calling

jets toward their targets.

[radio chatter]

Two six on the left.

Two six for brimstone six three.

This is a very important job.

This is a very serious job.

It's a very expensive job when we're in training.

With my experience overseas, both Iraq and Afghanistan,

this is an imperative part of it.

Gooda 119, stand by for coordination.

PILOT: Just to the northeast of that hulk.

Roger.

The first hulk you described is your target.

NARRATOR: They say an army marches on its stomach,

and a fighter squadron is only as strong as its fuel supply.

Throughout the day, the Omega Tanker will

be the mission's lifeline.

[explosion]

What it allows them to do refuel, and come on, and give

us an additional time on station, which in the end

gives more training for the students,

allows them to deliver more ordnance,

get more controls and better training.

The Omega Tanker is a vital part of this due to the fact

that those airplanes have to fly from somewhere.

Along the way, they have to refuel in mid-air

to come here to support us.

Then they have to go back to that tanker, refuel,

and go home safely.

So without the Omega Tanker, we couldn't

do our job efficiently and as we're doing it right now.

NARRATOR: Back at Naval Air Station Lemoore,

it's time for Lieutenant Eric Sweetcheeks Wilkins

to prove his mettle.

There's always friendly competition

within the fighter community.

Everyone wants to be able to plug and get their gas

the first time.

NARRATOR: On this mission, competition is not an option.

Eric is relying on his flight lead and wingman Lieutenant

Fisher to guide him home.

To be completely honest, this is my first time

tanking off the 707.

All the other aircraft I've tanked off before

have been some sort of centerline basket,

so the turbulence has not been an issue.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Wilkins has a lot to prove

to himself and his colleagues.

The Omega 707 Tanker is high over the Mojave Desert.

It holds a steady circuit pattern, waiting

for fighter jets to refuel.

It's part of Fire X, a three-day live fire

training exercise in the extreme terrain

of Southern California.

Robert Proano came out of retirement in 2007

to sit ringside aboard the Omega 707.

It still allows me to interface with the guys that

are out there on the cutting edge that

are flying, and still fighting, and doing

the job that I did for years.

NARRATOR: Before Omega, Robert saw the world from the cockpit

of a US fighter jet.

Flying fighters is very exciting.

I did that for 25 years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I saw the backend of a lot of tankers during that career.

NARRATOR: Aerial refueling is a skill that

requires constant practice.

Every pilot, no matter how experienced,

has his share of misses.

It's not unusual to see guys who are first learning

to do air refueling be unsuccessful

time, after time, after time, until they

get that first sweet plug.

And then it's like the light bulb comes on.

NARRATOR: Now it's Eric Wilkins' turn to try his hand

at linking up with the 707.

After 20 minutes in the air, his F-18's tanks

are half empty.

The tanker comes into view.

Eric works his approach to just 80 feet back from the tanker.

As the wingtip hoses extend, they're

subject to extreme turbulence.

His wingman, Lieutenant Fisher, has separated

to the starboard wing.

Eric's objective is the portside rogue.

This will be the first time he'll work with the wingtip

pods of the 707.

Wing pod refueling is a challenge to pilot and plane.

Flying just behind the wing of the larger plane,

pilots are exposed to dangerous aerodynamic disturbances

known as wingtip vortices.

In flight, high pressure below the wing

spills over the wingtip into the low pressure zone on top,

producing circular patterns of extreme turbulence.

This phenomenon can be dangerous,

particularly for smaller planes closely following larger ones.

A fighter has a very short wingspan, and it's very easy,

especially with the wake vortices,

the size of that tornado coming off the wingtip

can very easily exceed the width of his wingtips.

In which case, he's going to lose control.

NARRATOR: It's an aviation hazard that

is being addressed by Omega.

At company headquarters in San Antonio,

the future of aerial refueling is being shaped.

This 707 is being reconfigured as a tanker

from the ground up.

If all goes well, it will soon be the most versatile

aerial refueler in the world.

Roger Hewlett is the president of Omega Air

and is supervising this labor-intensive upgrade.

We're doing a modification to the back of the airplane,

and we're heading for some of the structural work

that we're doing.

NARRATOR: This 707 will have two wingtip refueling pods

but will also be outfitted with a 90-foot center hose

out the lower center of the fuselage.

The problem of turbulence with the wingtip hoses

disappears with the center line, which extends

underneath the aircraft.

It lies and it flies in undisturbed air,

well below the airplane.

So when the fighter is coming up to connect to it,

the basket's very stable and stable air.

There's no chance of wingtip vortices.

NARRATOR: Installing a center line

requires thousands of man hours,

executed one fastener at a time.

What's happening there today, Keith?

It looks like there's a lot of fasteners ahead of you.

Yeah. Well, we're getting there.

You're going to be done tomorrow?

We'll talk about that.

NARRATOR: Every 707 in Omega's fleet

is being scheduled for the same center upgrade.

We can take the cover off the pod.

And we'll take a look at what we got--

NARRATOR: It's all part of the larger

vision of Ulick McEvaddy, Omega's founder and CEO.

One of the things I discovered

in the military is one never has enough tankers

in the event of war.

If anything we can do from the Civil War

to supplement the tanking capability of the US

military and the Allies, of course,

and that's what we aim to do.

On the center wing, all the way out here, to supply

fuel to the pod.

NARRATOR: Omega's converted 707s

are a cost effective alternative

to purpose built tankers, which can cost up to $250 million.

We can bring these airplanes in

to do the same job at a fraction

of that cost, probably less than 20% of that cost.

NARRATOR: When the modification is complete,

this 707 will be able to refuel either two

aircraft from the wingtip pods or one aircraft

from the center line.

Such flexibility gives omega an extra selling

point in future negotiations.

You'll be ready to go pumping gas.

We'll be ready to pump gas to this airplane in a few months.

We'll be out there supplying the Navy.

I'm looking forward to seeing it getting out here

and getting into work, huh? - Yep.

Me too.

I don't think there's any doubt that in the future,

they will be using our 707s.

We'll be refueling the unmanned aerial vehicle

because it is a very stable platform for them

to plug into.

It's certainly the wave of the future in the military.

So I think we'll play an important part in that role.

NARRATOR: Eric will need to get perilously

close to the jet's wash to connect with the drogue.

He flies toward the wingtip basket at 250 miles an hour.

Best case scenario, Eric will nail it on the first go.

He needs to position the hornet's refueling probe

right behind the basket.

A miss can throw a pilot's confidence, making

each new try more difficult. Eric needs to steel his nerves

and stay the course.

Finally, he's plugged in and receiving fuel.

He'll need to stay in steady formation

with the tanker to keep the probe engaged.

The F-18 will take on enough fuel

to give Erik about 40 minutes over his target zone.

Easing up on the throttle slows the jet down and allows

him a clean disconnect.

With his first 707 refuel complete,

Erik separates from the tanker and heads to Twentynine Palms.

As part of their training, the Marines

are learning the technique of close air support.

Close air support means when we bring in aircraft,

and we drop bombs in close proximity of friendly troops

onto the enemy.

My job is to ensure safety.

And then I put a final grade on them

and say yes, you are capable to go out and basically

drop bombs in close proximity to troops safely,

and you're going to be able to go do it.

NARRATOR: During this training exercise,

F-18s mostly deployed lightweight training

bombs, for obvious reasons.

We would have felt that one.

If that was a light bomb, we would have had effects

up here, and we probably would have

had a couple of casualties.

That was close.

That's within 300, 400 meters.

NARRATOR: This is where the Marines learned to prevent

friendly fire mistakes.

The Omega Tanker keeps the planes flying,

so pilots and Marines get the time to do it right.

Having a tanker up there with some fuel so

that aircraft can come in that's bringing me the bombs,

so I can put the metal on the meat on the enemy, it's vital.

NARRATOR: Back at Lemoore, the fighter pilots regroup.

With all his bombs deployed, Lieutenant Wilkins

touches down.

Rendezvous with the tanker went well.

I think it took one or two tries

before I finally got in there.

You're not always going to get into the basket the first time

every time.

We delivered a bunch of live ordnance today.

Overall, I think the training was

really pretty high quality, especially

from the guys on the ground.

NARRATOR: Back in the sky, the Omega crew

breaks their circling orbit and heads west.

After refueling 10 rounds of receiver jets,

this day's mission is complete.

We've been on time.

We've been where we needed to be,

when we were supposed to be there with the right amount

of fuel or a little bit extra.

And from our perspective, that's

the best that we can do.

NARRATOR: For the Omega crew, it's back to Point Mugu.

Checking the brakes.

Very nice.

NARRATOR: The 707 will wait in the apron

until tomorrow morning, when the mission resumes.

Day two of the Fire-X mission.

With two hours until the first sortie,

Omega mechanics Neil and Dwayne do some routine maintenance.

Today, they're replacing the aluminum drogue baskets.

It's a hands on mechanical procedure.

They're very tough.

And the biggest problem is the probe comes

in at a slightly wrong angle.

It can tear these skirts here.

And they'll have to be replaced.

NARRATOR: The baskets carry the scars of all the hits

and misses in the sky.

This is bent.

NARRATOR: It's like working on a vintage car with the latest

technology under the hood.

It's a different feeling each day.

There's always something new to learn.

We're done.

We're ready for our next mission.

NARRATOR: But the mission can't begin without a rendezvous

with three fuel trucks.

The 707 has seven fuel tanks.

Three per wing and one in the center.

Topped to capacity, they hold almost 24,000 gallons.

The tanker pumps fuel into planes much more

quickly than these trucks.

It takes an hour to put the needle on full.

A fill-up of jet fuel is not for every bank account.

The tab for this sortie is about $80,000.

The 707 center fuel tank is fitted with a strong rubber

cell to contain the fuel and prevent dangerous evaporation.

In Omega's hangar in San Antonio,

the 707 tanker upgrade is getting

brand new fuel cell liners.

This is a fuel cell that goes into inside the aircraft.

Some people will call it kind of like a body bag.

So yeah.

That thing goes in first.

NARRATOR: Ken Percival and Sonina Lowry

are tasked with lining the tank.

Well, they say, sometimes, it's blessed to be small,

blessed to be big.

But in our criteria, you definitely want to be small,

so that you can be more agile.

NARRATOR: They've hogtied the fuel cell

to make it small enough to squeeze through the opening

to the tank.

Hey, hold it there.

We are in the center tank of the aircraft.

It has seven cells in it, seven of these bladders.

And we happen to be in the number three cell right now.

NARRATOR: Ken and Sonina laced the liner into place.

If it wasn't laced up, it would

collapse down to the bottom and not fill up correctly.

NARRATOR: It's cramped and stifling

in fuel cell number three.

Yeah.

If you're claustrophobic, this isn't the job for you.

NARRATOR: The installation process

is slow and methodical.

It's a giant sewing operation.

These cords will hold up to 9,000 gallons of fuel.

How does it look?

It's got to go outward more.

Yeah.

Your corner it looks good over here.

All right. Good deal.

NARRATOR: It will take Ken and Sonina

a few more stifling days to complete the installation.

Get this bladder tied in yet.

NARRATOR: At Point Mugu, the 707

is on schedule for its second day of Fire-X refueling.

We're fueled and ready to go.

OK, no worries.

We'll be there.

NARRATOR: Inside the cockpit, the veteran crew

get comfortable.

I haven't used my knee board since I

was a second lieutenant.

I don't even want to ask how long ago

you were a second lieutenant.

NARRATOR: But 800 feet down the taxi

lane, the 707 unexpectedly comes to a halt.

The culprit, a sticky break.

Enough of a red flag to delay the takeoff.

OK.

Oh, no. No.

You got to do the right thing.

Do the safe thing, and we'll get it worked on.

And we'll slide as long as we can for takeoff.

I can contact the customers.

All right, Royce.

Yep.

This one was pretty black and white actually because it

was very apparent that the brake was dragging on the

taxi out.

We deplaned.

Our flight engineer found out it was smoking a little bit.

At that point, we knew we had a real issue.

So the takeoff is probably going to be delayed

at least a few minutes.

NARRATOR: Dwayne and Neil quickly

try to scope out the problem.

I don't see where it's written on it.

Should be about a 65.

OK.

I said 50.

But there's a huge amount of pressure.

If we can get this airplane going in the next hour or so,

well then, we can make part of the mission,

and that keeps people partly happy.

NARRATOR: Every minute on the ground

means a minute less refueling flying clients.

With military customers standing by

and hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line,

Omega needs to get this tanker back in the sky.

About to take off to join a military mission,

the Omega Tanker is suddenly grounded on the tarmac.

We've had a brake failure on the airplane.

We actually had a brake that was sticking.

NARRATOR: The clock is ticking, and Omega's flight

mechanics are tasked with finding the source

of the problem fast.

It looks like that's the valve.

NARRATOR: From the sticky break,

they chase the problem back to a faulty deboost valve.

This one here.

This one here in a wiggler?

Yeah.

NARRATOR: It's a small but essential

part that regulates the hydraulic pressure

in the braking system.

Neil sources a new valve from the plane's

stash of spare parts.

Boeing stopped building new 707s in 1991,

so spare parts are an essential element of Omega's operations.

Well, as you can tell, our warehouse,

we have multiple things that are in our warehouse.

We have lots and lots of parts.

We support our airplanes worldwide.

NARRATOR: Along with its refueling division,

Omega is one of the biggest suppliers and traders

of 707 parts in the world.

We got three engines stored here

that have came off an airplane that are heading off

for our engine shop.

It's all part of our support necessary to keep the airplane

going over all these years.

NARRATOR: Roger Hewlett has been working with the Boeing

707 for 28 years.

Our whole idea here with the warehouse

is to have everything we need to support

the airplane in case it breaks anywhere in the world.

NARRATOR: Omega buys aging 707s,

most headed for the scrapyard, and restores

them or mines them for parts.

Every part of the European can be

replaced throughout its life.

So if somebody says, well, how long

can you keep them in service?

Well, if you want to keep them in service,

I can do it for 100 years.

There's no such thing as obsolescence in service.

NARRATOR: Back at Point Mugu, Neil gets

to work on the sticky brake.

He and Dwayne are working as quickly

as they can to install the new equipment and secure it.

What do you need for the back?

NARRATOR: It's taken over an hour

to wrestle the new valve into place.

As soon as we have everything tight, we'll test it,

and we'll see.

NARRATOR: Mechanical failures aren't unusual.

But any downtime throws a wrench into a finely tuned

and busy mission schedule.

The repercussions are immediate.

At Lemoore.

F-18s idle on the tarmac, waiting for the green light

from Point Mugu.

They can't take off until they know their refueler is ready.

The delay is most critical at Twentynine Palms,

where Marines are standing by.

If we do not have that tanker support

in the air for our aircraft to refuel,

then we lose that aircraft.

And then therefore, the students lose their training

and readiness criteria, and they won't graduate

the course successfully.

At Point Mugu, the fate of the training session

is in Dwayne and Neil's hands.

They still need to test the new valve before the plane

is mission-ready.

OPERATOR: All ready for hydraulics, Neil.

Stand by.

I'm actuating the brakes, and I'm releasing the brakes.

NARRATOR: By pumping the brakes,

Neil releases trapped air in the hydraulic lines,

allowing the new deboost valve to do its job.

So the brake is compressing when you

push it on the brake pedals.

And it's releasing like it should

when he's releasing the brake pedals.

You can see the brake that's letting go of the brake

pad again.

So it all looks like it's working good.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the two

hours needed to fix the problem have

cost Omega today's mission.

On the ground at Twentynine Palms, lots of

disappointed Marines.

As a result of the fallout, approximately,

let's say, about 20 missions unable to execute.

To rectify that, we're still working on the answer

right now.

NARRATOR: Each of the 24 Marines

needs to complete 12 rounds of close air support training

to be ready for deployment overseas.

Without Omega, the fighters are grounded,

and so is the mission.

They have to make arrangements

to come back to the course, go through some more instruction.

And then again, it's more money, more time,

and it's just-- it's pain.

Pain.

It was a little bit of a challenging day.

Everybody understands in aviation, that things

break from time to time.

We had a stuck break.

We missed the mission today, but we're going back out.

We're going to redeem ourselves.

NARRATOR: The day has been lost,

but the mission will resume tomorrow,

and the 707 crew will need to make up for lost time.

In the meantime, the Marines have called in the Cowboys,

an F-18 squadron from Texas, to intensify

the next day's bombing runs.

The Cowboys are experienced pilots,

but they haven't refueled with the Omega 707.

They're about to learn.

It's the final day of the US Navy and Marine Corps

Fire-X exercise, and the Omega Tanker is back in the air,

refueling jets.

A mechanical failure cost omega day's work,

and they need to make up for lost time.

PILOT 2: All right.

Omega, Cowboy 2-1.

I'd like to go to the right.

OK.

I've just cleared the Cowboys in.

NARRATOR: A squadron of F-18s has been called

in to ramp up the training.

They're normally based out of Fort Worth, Texas

and are affectionately known as the Cowboys.

PILOT 2: Shorthose on this thing.

JOHN SHREVE: Yes, sir.

2-1, you've got good pull, and you're in good position.

PILOT 2: Roger.

Thanks.

Made a little comment there that we have short hoses.

They're used to an 80-foot hose.

Things seems a little bit closer to them

NARRATOR: Omega's flight engineer

John Shreve keeps an eye on the refueling maneuver.

And Cowboy 2-1, your offload was 6.4.

Cowboy 2-2, yours was 4.1.

Maybe that's the quickest joint

I've ever done in my life.

It's awesome.

OK, the Cowboys are complete.

And so they're off now to do their training

with the Marines.

And we're going to go back to our orbiting

here and ready for the next group whenever they come up.

NARRATOR: Charged with fuel, the jets

head off to work with the Marines at Twentynine Palms.

The tanker pumped out almost 4,000 gallons

of fuel over three hours, enough to get

the mission back on schedule.

It's all in a day's work for this veteran crew.

No matter how long you've been flying

or how much time you have in an aircraft,

there's always something you can learn

to do a little bit better.

It's just a real thrill.

I think I could speak for all of us, that you can plan,

plan, plan all you want in the days and weeks

before you ever take off.

But there's always a certain amount of uncertainty

that you can't plan for.

NARRATOR: The Boeing 707 was designed

to live long and work hard.

As passenger jets, they've been outclassed

by larger, widebody planes.

But for Omega's refueling operations, they're ideal.

This 707 is a perfect aircraft for this mission.

It's rugged.

It's reliable.

It can carry a lot of fuel.

It's a stable platform.

These airplanes are good as gold to us.

I think it's a great airplane.

It's a 1950s design.

Like I say, it goes as fast today as the new ones coming

down the production line.

It's a beautiful looking airplane, first of all.

When you look at a 707, you can understand why it flies,

because it looks like it should fly, you know?

But with you with new engines and new avionics,

we bring it into the modern era,

and this airplane will be in service

for the next 40 to 50 years.

There are guys who aren't born yet

who will be flying this airplane

in the service of the United States Air Force.

NARRATOR: With the mission wrapped

and the contract complete, the crew deserves a break.

Well, mission complete.

We offloaded some significant amount of fuel today.

So I think everybody is happy.

So we're going to get some good rest

and do this again tomorrow.

NARRATOR: Soon, this 707 will be outfitted

with a new center line, catapulting it

to the forefront of aerial refuelers.

It's a 50-year-old aircraft still making a name for itself

in the 21st century.

[ending theme]