'Ultimate adrenaline rush': Air Force Reserve crew shows off midair refueler at AirVenture

OSHKOSH - The staircase near the back of the KC-10 Extender is dark, narrow and steep.

The room at the bottom is tightly packed with a short row of seats. The walls are covered in all kinds of dials, knobs and levers. 

A pane of glass in front of the seats gives a view of the long boom that extends off the back of the plane, which is capable of refueling other planes while both are soaring thousands of feet in the air.

A steady stream of people waited to take a look inside a KC-10 parked in a corner Boeing Plaza at EAA AirVenture 2018 on Friday morning. The 66th annual fly-in convention began Monday and ends Sunday.

The Air Force Reserve brought a fleet of aircraft to put on display at the convention, including the KC-10, to celebrate its 70th anniversary. The KC-10 parked at EAA is based at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco.

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Maj. Jill Sliger, an Air Force Reserve pilot, was 19 when she joined about 23 years ago. She has spent the past two years working behind the controls at the front of a KC-10.

"There was a role to fill in this squadron," she said. "I decided to step up and do it.” 

Sliger doesn't regret her decision. The aircraft has a small crew — two pilots, a flight engineer and a boom operator — but can take on a variety of roles at any given time. The plane is capable of carrying a maximum of about 350,000 pounds of fuel at once, but can also take on 75 passengers and has more than enough room for cargo.

“We do it all,” Sliger said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Tech. Sgt. Blakeley Murdock, an Air Force Reserve flight engineer, also works at the front of the plane and is responsible for managing the fuel.

“We’re constantly moving gas around to maintain a center of gravity throughout the jet,” she said.

Tech. Sgt. Autumn Ohlendorf, also a flight engineer, previously worked as a boom operator at the back of the KC-10 and helped get other planes connected to refuel in the middle of a flight.

“For some people, it can maybe be a little scary,” she said. “For me, it was just the ultimate adrenaline rush. You’re really close to the big planes.”

The refueling process happens about 50 feet from the back of the KC-10, Ohlendorf said.

“I’ve never really had any accidents, mishaps, anything like that,” she said. “That all goes back to the training of the people.”