By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

HIGH ABOVE NEVADA — Lying on his belly, head relaxed on a chin rest, boom operator Travis Peirce, from the back of a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker 25,000 feet above Nevada, watched his fuel customer fly up.

The customer, a pilot of the famous Thunderbirds, eased to within about 30 feet of the tanker and 2 feet from the boom, matching the 356 mph speed.

Staff Sgt. Peirce, resembling a video-game player on a huge-screen TV, did the rest with hand-eye coordination of the controls, lowering the boom to the Thunderbird's receiving receptacle.

"You don't understand it until you get to see it," said a smiling Peirce from the boom pod as the Thunderbird received 3,000 pounds of fuel in under 2 minutes before unhooking. "There's not a lot of wiggle room to play around with."

A Fairchild Air Force Base crew showcased its core mid-air mission to the media on Thursday as eight Thunderbirds heading from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas to a demonstration in Boise this weekend were fueled up in about 25 minutes.

"A lot goes on in a little time," Peirce said.

When two planes fly so close together, there’s always the risk of an accident, but that's where training and teamwork kick in, Peirce said.

"When the boom connects to the receiver, both aircraft become more stable," he said. "When you start out, it is technical but after you do it a while it becomes second nature."

This mission was shorter than most of the average of five a day from Fairchild. They occur throughout the West and over the Pacific Ocean night and day.

The thrust behind air refueling is to cut flight time, allowing aircraft to move across the world in a day if need be. Further, the more stops airplanes have to make, the greater chance for mechanical or logistical issues.

Generally just three airmen — the pilot, co-pilot and boom operator — are aboard a 136-foot-long KC-135 during air refueling. All three are in radio contact with one another as well as the pilot of the receiver plane during the mission.

"It is rare that members of the community get the opportunity to witness the professionalism of our airmen performing our refueling mission as we showcase our safe execution of the critical part we play in rapid global mobility," said Col. B. Todd Cargle, 92nd Operations Group commander.

When three airmen were asked what they like most about their jobs, they were quick to reply that their roles with Team Fairchild in helping aircraft continue their mission in mid-air puts them on Cloud Nine.

Pilot and Capt. David Leibrand said his job is to fly on as stable of a platform as possible, allowing the pilot fueling below to fly near the boom.

But the view isn't too shabby for the airmen, either.

"You get to see not only our country, but some foreign nations as well," said co-pilot Lt. Adam Less as he looked out over Boise.

Positioned downward on padding in the boom pod and looking out a small window, Peirce can't help but admire nature's beauty, either.

"You get to see some pretty cool sights on this job," he said while looking for the Thunderbirds to fly up from behind. "I love the sunrises and sunsets."

There are 44 KC-135s based out of Fairchild. They can travel up to 600 mph. The cost of the aircraft — based on fiscal 1998 dollars — is $39.6 million each. They also provide aerial refueling support to the Navy, Marines and allied nation aircraft.

In addition to refueling missions, the old but updated birds, built from 1957 to 1964, are used to transport patients and supplies during a crisis.

A new era of refueling missions is waiting in the wings.

Other aircraft, including the KC-46 and KC-10, also have refueling capabilities with newer technology than the KC-135s.

"Technology keeps evolving and changing, and we'll see a KC-46 some day here at Fairchild," said Tom Ireland, chief of operations.