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Scott AFB members participate in first KC-135 egress exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  More than 60 personnel volunteered to slide down a large, air-filled slide, or in this case, an emergency exit June 28, 2011, during a KC-135 Ground Egress test supported by 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott AFB.

According to Col. Thomas Wolcott, the Air Mobility Command Test and Evaluation (TE) director, the AMC-directed test was used to determine the quantity of passengers one passenger monitor can safely egress, or evacuate, from an aircraft in 90 seconds.

"We've been asked to conduct this test to see if we can increase the amount of passengers that can go space 'A'," said Capt. Doug Steinert, from the AMC Test and Evaluation Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

According to Steinert, this is the first time AMC has conducted an egress test on a KC-135. It took three months to prepare for the test from the request to the date of text execution.

"We've been preparing for the last couple of months once we received the request," said Master Sgt. Kevin Valasek, also from AMC Test and Evaluation and egress test director. "The volunteers were crucial to the execution of the tests."

In addition to passengers and cargo, a flight team was also onboard. "We set up the test with the basic operators, two pilots and one boom operator," said Steinert.

The more cargo loaded on the plane, the more challenging an egress is as cargo reduces the number of egress sites available. During the tests, the plane was configured differently each time with cargo along with 27 to 54 passengers. This changed the number of egress sites available.

The test results and completed surveys will provide data to support PAX handling policy changes for the KC-135.