NATTY 46 crew members, left to right: Capt Andrew Strother, Mission Pilot; Capt Lauren Letarte, First Pilot; A1C Anthony Addington, Boom Operator;and Capt Jacob Redito, Instructor Pilot, all of 384 ARS. USAF photo by A1C Matthew Arachikavitz.

AMC Aircrew of Distinction Award, Crew of NATTY 46, 384th Air Refueling Squadron, Fairchild AFB WA

By STAFF WRITER

The crew of NATTY 46, 384th Air Refueling Squadron, Fairchild Air Force Base, WA, was awarded the Air Mobility Command Aircrew of Distinction Award.

On Jan. 30, 2024, the crew of NATTY 46 took off from Prince Sultan Air Base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. Central Command-assigned combat mission. The mission involved two F-15E Strike Eagles conducting nighttime defensive counter-air exercises over the Red Sea in support of Operation PROSPERITY GUARDIAN. After completing routine night aerial refueling, the second F-15E reported a bleed air malfunction that ultimately caused a loss of thrust in their right engine. They requested an urgent rendezvous to conduct aerial refueling and returned to base immediately.

Capt Jacob Redito served as pilot monitoring, and Capt Andrew Strother coordinated a descent to affect the rendezvous. While in a nighttime, over-water, one thousand-feet-per-minute descent, the crew successfully offloaded seventeen thousand pounds of fuel to the emergency F-15E in a single contact, minimizing the amount of time the fighter aircraft had to remain connected to the tanker.

Additional aerial refueling was conducted, with 54,300 pounds of fuel transferred to the F-15Es that were then able to separate and safely recover to their primary airbase.

Throughout the sortie, mission requirements drove specific tactics to ensure air traffic avoidance, increasing the workload of the aircrew. The combination of ad hoc mission planning and deliberate crew resource management was essential in balancing tight operational security with flight safety through the highly congested international airspace over the Red Sea at night.

NATTY 46 eventually returned to Prince Sultan Air Base, concluding their eventful combat mission. Due to the safety-conscious and expert crew coordination, the crew helped preserve a $59.4 million F-15E Strike Eagle. Most importantly, they safely brought home two fellow American aviators who experienced a harrowing emergency over hostile territory.