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Show et tanker takes off from Salt Lake International Airport. The planes engine is noisiest currently in use by the Air Force. Utah Air National Guard is attempting to reduce noise level through 'wet takes as much as possible. offs" and by avoiding southerly take-ofA KC-13- 5 f ; i ' ? , It I . 'fc , , 4 u:'"l x ;' -- VkV fi vVx r v 4? 5 t - rv X 4 ''' 3 f - ' " -- 3' ' - a A. 11 f r , A ' L A ' ' t - INTERIOR OF KC135 shows dignataries and of the UANG on refueling mission used by reporters who were guests the Guard to demonstrate steps being taken to alleviate noise problems created by the craft. The tanker is a vital part of this country's SAC defense program. i r i;Al 1 f . f4 43 7 f kS 4 & f I $ v.f l rjil3 Sm v n'k w7f 'i.'jw C '9 MAZE OF DIALS and switches in jet tankers cockpit are familiar territory to experienced Utah Air National Guard pilot LTC John M Hafen and co pilot. ! AV , 4 bv Jennie L. Hansen Earthquake! Sonic Boom! Distant Was it a sound or just a vibration? People in the West Valley area have been hearing a new sound lately and wondering what it is. With the recent earthquakes in the Magna explosion1 area many have mistaken the vibrations for mild earth tremors. Others have blamed Hercules Powder Company and still others have called Salt Lake International Airport to complain. The truth is the cause of the 5 jet tanker problem is the recently assigned to the Utah Air National Guard by the U.S. Air Force. The Utah Air National Guard is undergoing a transition from the KC-97- L The changeover is to the expected to be complete by April 1, 5 Is a noisier craft than 1979. The but it isnt necessarily the old an excessively noisy plane. Its not so much that amount of noise the jet anker makes that is attracting as that it is a different noise, '.ew sounds attract attention and KC-13- KC-13- KC-13- KC-97- appear to be louder than sounds people are accustomed to and in the Salt Lake Valley this type of aircraft has not been heard before. According to LTC John M. Hafen, Commander of the 191st Air Refueling Squadron, Utah Air National Guard, 5 the impact of the upon the citizens of the Salt Lake Valley is of tremendous concern to the Utah Air Guard. Representatives of the Guard have met with Paul Gaines, Airport Manager, already to outline the problem and work for a solution. Last Wednesday morning Air National KC-13- invited media representatives. Governor Scott Guard officials Matheson, Mayor Airport officials to 5 followed by Hafen explained KC-13- Ted Wilson, and a briefing on the a refueling flight. that the United States coordinates its nuclear defensive capabilities through a single integrated operational plan known as SIOP. As a member of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) the Utah Air Guard has a specific assigned responsibility in the overall strategic response of the " United States in the event war breaks out. This means that all our training is geared to a specific purpose; to be ready to achieve our mission objectives in the event our unit is ever called upon by the President of the United States. Once the Utah Air National Guard 191st Air Refueling Squadron has 5 completed its transition to the they will stand one line of Alpha Alert at Hill Air Force Base. One fully operational airplane complete with crew and support personnel will be on alert around the clock every day of the year. He went on to explain that the 5 is designed to operate within specific parameters which are spelled out by the manufacturer, Boeing, and the U.S. Air Force. It is designed to take off with a capacity load of 235,000 pounds, but because of the valleys altitude and obstacles such as high tension wires, operational weight has been reduced to 215,000 pounds. Reducing the load further would KC-13- KC-13- I - enable the plane to climb faster, but would seriously hamper its ability to meet its military requirements. As the plane takes off it trails a cloud of black smoke. To many people this visible emmission is interpreted as air pollution and noise. Actually, according to Hafen, this emmission is less dangerous from an ecological point of view than the exhaust from the old plane being retired. The black smoke is part of the campaign to reduce noise impact. It occurs when water is injected into the jet engines to enable the plane to reach an altitude of 2,000 feet above the ground as it passes over 2100 South. Without the) wet take-of- f the Colonel remarked -that people in Kearns certainly would know were there! Another modification the Guard has made is to alter the flight departure. When wind conditions require a take off to the south, the jet is turned to the west as quickly as possible to make its climb over unpopulated areas. Most take-off- s are to the north over an unpopulated area. e There is a quieter engine 5 which could be installed in the in the future, but it is expensive. It would cost $5 million for each plane. The whole plane cost $2Vi million when it was built. Following the briefing flights suits were donned and the party boarded the waiting aircraft. Hafen piloted the flight to a remote area of northeastern Nevada for a rendezvous with a 2 fan-typ- KC-13- B-5- fighter-bombe- r from Ellsworth Airforce Base. The tanker operated at a speed of 600 mph and an altitude of 22,000 feet. The fighter zeroed in on the flight pattern flying 1000 feet below, then as both planes speed to 350 knots edged to within 30 feet of 5 tanker. Lying prone in the the gunnery boom operator MST Jimmy Duncan manuevered the thirty foot fuel boom toward the fighter. Terry Woods commanding the receiving plane assisted by William Rose, both of Rapid City, South Dakota made the connection and is less than ten minutes 5,000 pounds of fuel was KC-13- KC-13- transferred. Following the fuel transfer the two planes flew side by side briefy then parted for their respective home bases. Back on the ground six photographers were transported to the far end of the runway to take flight photographs and to experience the take-of- f noise first hand. A dot in the distance the huge plane rushed toward the group, then suddenly mounted to the sky immediately above their heads. The huge shock wave experience at the moment of take-of- f was more of a mighty vibration than a noise. 5 The has brought a new kind of noise to Salt Lake Valley, but as both Col. Ray P. Greenwood, Jr. and Hafen pointed out the 5 benefits of the far outweigh those few negative aspects it possesses when the economic impact of the Utah Air Guard upon Salt Lake City and Utah (16 million payroll) and its role in our countrys defense are taken into consideration. We dont do this just for tm," Hafen concluded. KC-13- KC-13- |