Team McConnell adopts total 'fours' training

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Just prior to being named the Secretary of the Air Force last year, Michael B. Donley said he wanted to "open the door to innovation" to every junior person in the Air Force.

Capt. Mark Villacis accepted the invitation. Total force integration and better operational effectiveness was the result.

Captain Villacis is an Air Force Reserve pilot assigned to the 931st Air Refueling Group. He's on active-duty orders with the 22nd Air Refueling Wing (the 931st's host unit here) as a chief pilot in its Operations Support Squadron. His position is responsible for getting the 22nd's newest KC-135 pilots trained for deployment.

Not long after he took the job in late 2008, he noticed a training opportunity. An unconventional opportunity.

A "four-ship" formation, an uncommon, logistically-challenging occurrence in the tanker world that requires four KC-135 Stratotankers to be prepped and flown together, was scheduled for the 931st's weekend drill in November. One of the four tankers, piloted by Captain Villacis, was to receive fuel from the other three.

A receiver-capable tanker is another rarity in the Air Force's KC-135 business. The few that exist are all at McConnell and pilots qualified to fly them are in high demand. Which is why Captain Villacis didn't want to lose valuable training time going to and from three different tankers.

Then he spotted the opportunity.

"Why don't we fly with two lead planes acting as tankers and two as receivers," he asked, "and I'll put one of my students (new 22nd pilots) in the lead and create another receiver opportunity for the active-duty?"

A 22nd pilot's hard-to-find large formation training would be complete, Captain Villacis reasoned, and his proposal meant for more coveted receiver training.

It also meant, he knew, bringing in an active-duty Airman on a Saturday and incorporating a 22nd training requirement into the one weekend a month that Reserve flyers have to stay KC-135 qualified. It meant changing key elements of training tradition. It was all easier said than done.

But, as Lt. Col. Ted Mathews will tell you, "the door to innovation" doesn't always swing easy.

Colonel Mathews is commander of the 18th Air Refueling Squadron, the 931st ARG's flying unit. He had asked Captain Villacis to look for ways to integrate training at McConnell when the captain went to work at the 22nd.

"Do it," Colonel Mathews emphatically responded to the four-ship proposal.

The mission was successfully completed and "absolutely nothing was lost," Captain Villacis said. In fact, it went better than originally planned.

A 22nd pilot, flying with a seasoned 931st pilot, led the four-ship formation. And in the second receiving tanker, another 931st pilot with many years in a KC-135 cockpit passed rare receiver skills on to a second active-duty student.

Building on November's success, the mission was repeated during the 931st's December drill weekend. Again, a 22nd student led the formation and Captain Villacis continued his path toward becoming an instructor pilot in a receiver-capable tanker. And not one, but two more 22nd students took advantage of the rare receiver opportunity.

"Oh, and an active-duty flight surgeon went along in the formation as well," Captain Villacis added.

In short, the missions greatly enhanced training for both the 931st and the 22nd and strengthened the growing bond between McConnell teammates. Leaders of both units are pleased, Colonel Mathews said.

Maj. Nathan Dennes is an active-duty KC-135 pilot in charge of training for the 22nd Operations Support Squadron.

"Anytime we can get four aircraft in formation is a win for everybody," Major Dennes said. "The total-team concept works when we embrace the KC-135 as an active-duty, Reserve and Guard weapon system."

Teamwork, especially by the 22nd and 931st maintenance members responsible for prepping the planes, made it all possible. The maintainers' dedication, Captain Villacis said, was crucial to what has been and will be accomplished by Team McConnell.

A total-force, four-ship didn't fly during the 931st's January drill weekend, but Team McConnell still did. Working with an 11-degree wind chill, 931st maintainers prepped a KC-135 that flew 29 of the 22nd's newest enlisted Airmen. The new troops learned about aerial refueling, McConnell's primary mission, from a crew of Reservists.

They also watched a McConnell tanker refuel another tanker. Captain Villacis looked up at them while flying the receiver.

This is the kind of stuff we are looking for, Colonel Mathews once told the captain. "I hope they expand on (this)," Colonel Mathews, a traditional one-weekend-a-month commander, said. "I hope they do this during the week."

A total "fours" mission for the 931st's February drill weekend, Captain Villacis said, is already in the works.