Chemical engineers deployed in Southwest Asia with the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron are helping to ensure the quality of both fuel and gases used in the AOR by running tests at a forward laboratory. The lab analyzes fuel samples of JP8—a common aircraft fuel—as well as the high-altitude fuel used in UAVs. They test fuel density, flash point, and distillation to determine weight and volume, flammability, and proper molecular makeup before giving their stamp of approval. The lab technicians also check out the viability of the oxygen, nitrogen, and compressed air used by deployed firefighters.
With the Air Force in the midst of its biggest testing boom in decades, the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is making sure those tests include an often-overlooked perspective: that of maintainers.