Local incentive flight offers new perspective
This is my first real story I did for the Air Force. The base has a program where they take deserving troops up in the C-5 Galaxy, a huge cargo plane. A lot of Airmen never fly in a military aircraft during their Air Force career. This was a chance to remedy that and get people closer to the mission. The Operations Group superintendent asked me to write this story and told me I had a spot reserved on the flight to take picture and write my story. This was my first real story and my first of two flights so far in a military aircraft. We flew for eight hours, out as far as Indiana. We flew over the mountains in Virginia, we flew over Washington D.C. and I had a photo of the Pentagon at 30,000 feet. The flight was actually a training mission for the pilots. They were going to do refueling training, where a KC-10 Extender, basically a flying gas station, attaches a boom line to the C-5, or any other aircraft capable of mid-air refueling, and pumps gas into the tanks. We did this procedure probably nine times. Each time, the plane decreases air speed and your stomach floats around inside you. You really can get motion sickness from this sort of flight. In the C-5, you sit in the back, facing towards the back, with no windows to look out of. I spent a lot of time in the cockpit taking pictures out the window.
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. - Systems were checked, lap belts were strapped, engines roared, and eyes were wide open as six young airmen embarked on what for the most of them, was their first military flight aboard one of Dover Air Force Base's C-5 Galaxy aircraft.
The flight was an air refueling training mission which had been additionally tasked as an incentive flight. The incentive flight program allows outstanding Dover Team members, not involved in flying career fields, to see what the flying part of our mission is really like.
"I think it expands their visibility a little bit more on what's involved with flying, because they start first thing in the morning with the aircrew," said Chief Master Sgt. Jay Gross, 436th Operations Group superintendent and current administrator of the incentive flight program. "They get to see a little bit of what the aircrew goes through and what they have to do to prepare for a flight."
The program was started several months ago by Command Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Lewin and Chief Master Sgt. Kenneth Powell, 436th 0G. They started researching the program back in March or April. It's been running now since about June, said Gross.
Airmen are hand selected for the mission through their chain of command, said Gross. "The selection process is done through the group superintendents."
"This last flight, I called the aerial port and told the first sergeant they're allocated one slot for the incentive flight. Then I let the first sergeant within the squadron do the selection. I believe they selected their Airman of the Quarter."
It's not just airmen who are selected for the incentive flights either. "Anybody is eligible," said Gross, "including civilians."
Those selected for the flight will see, for the most part, what an aircrew goes through on a typical flight.
"It's a chance to let them see how many people are involved in the process. You start at the flying squadron and see what the loadmasters, pilots and engineers do to get ready," said Gross.
Additionally, the program helps members not involved in flying related jobs realize how complex the mission is and how their own efforts fit in.
"From aerial port loading operations and fleet services, to life support and maintenance, you see all the people that are involved in launching just one airplane," said Gross. "A lot of things have to be coordinated and put together. It helps an individual get a perspective of how important their little piece of the pie is in getting that airplane off the ground and on its way to where it needs to go."
"It was good for an airman that doesn't spend much or any time on the flight line in the course of duty, to see what Dover's mission is," said Airmen 1st Class Jonathan Spreadbury, 436th Medical Operations Squadron, one of the six airmen selected to go on the flight. "Flying on the flight deck and hearing what the crew is doing, it's very different, as opposed to a 747."
The next incentive flight, a night refueling mission, is scheduled Nov. 23. If things go as planned, the incentive flight program will continue to reward deserving team members at Dover.
"The most important thing is that we're recognizing our people for the job they're doing," said Gross. "This is one way we can recognize our top performers and say thanks for the time, work and effort they put in." CTLOPEZ (Publication date, November 6, 1998)