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McConnell Hosts 2010 Tanker Summit

  • Published
  • By Airman Armando A. Schwier-Morales
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Sixteen air refueling wing commanders from various Air Force bases gathered at McConnell for the 2010 May Tanker Summit May 26.

The summit, which began September 2008, has been held three times a year at tanker bases throughout Air Mobility Command. The summits are part of an initiative that enables tanker base commanders to discuss ideas and apply them to the KC-135 Stratotanker and the KC-10 Extender.

"When the commanders join together and discuss the issues, they can better develop solutions to discuss them with AMC, where the ideas will be better received," said Lt. Col. Peter Tschohl, 350th Air Refueling Squadron assistant director of operations. "It shows that we can take the initiative in identifying any problems and developing solutions."

Colonel Tschohl, the point of contact for the Tanker Summit, explained how the issues discussed at the summit are significant to McConnell's fleet.

"The result of the summit will affect what we do within the wing because some of the topics they are looking at could affect how we do maintenance on our jets," said Colonel Tschohl.

Among the topics on the table is the application of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century to daily maintenance. AFSO 21 is an Air Force wide program designed to improve efficiency and productivity.

"Gen. Raymond Johns tasked all Mission Design Series groups to identify an improvement event that could be applied enterprise wide," said Capt. Tiffany Taylor, 22nd ARW AFSO21 chief. "Col. Jamie Crowhurst was tasked as the KC-135 MDS lead, to chair an improvement event for the KC-135 tanker community. Part of the summit was dedicated to formulate ideas for the enterprise event. The result was a need to identify and replicate 'Best Practices' in the maintenance inspection process with the possible implementation across the KC-135 Mobility Air Force community."

According to Colonel Tschohl McConnell's fleet will not be the only one altered by the summit.

"The summit will influence the whole community," he said. "When I say community, I mean the mobility fleet. The ideas developed in the summit can be brought up in events such as the Phoenix Rally where the commanders discuss the best practices that may actually impact more than just the tanker fleet, it may impact other [AMC aircraft]."

The tanker commanders will gather at the next tanker summit, September 2010.