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John Hollenhorst ReportingThe incident happened as the KC-135 tanker was preparing for takeoff at the Utah Air Guard terminal last night.
It was a small fire that was put out quickly in a part of the aircraft which is designed to handle it.
Still, they did call for emergency help and evacuated the plane, which was fully loaded with tons of fuel.
When you pilot a flying gas station, you get used to idea that a lot that could theoretically go wrong. It's a KC-135R mid-air refueling tanker which carries a big load.
Maj. Dan Kemp, instructor-pilot: "Around 200,000 pounds of gas. But that is why it's pretty self contained. And that's why we take every precaution to make sure everything is ok. "
One thing you don't like to see is an open flame. Ground crews saw one last night.
2nd Lt. Kevin Larsen, Utah Air National Guard: "During its preflight, the ground crew doing their preflight inspection, a fire broke out on the aircraft."
A foot or two of flame shot out of an exhaust vent before four crewmen evacuated.
Maj. Dan Kemp: "We abandoned the aircraft and came out. In the meantime the ground crew was extinguishing the fire with a halon bottle."
Major Dan Kemp climbed aboard a similar aircraft to show us what went wrong. The flame came from a fireproof box that contains the Auxiliary Power Unit, a small jet engine that powers the aircraft when it's on the ground. A clogged nozzle sprayed too much fuel into the engine.
Maj. Dan Kemp: "The system worked as advertised. It sensed that there was a problem, it shut itself down."
But, the excess fuel caught fire and shot out of the exhaust vent.
Maj. Dan Kemp: "It's not very common; it's the first time I've heard of it happening."
For most of us, that would be pretty good grounds to get scared, but for Major Kemp it was no big deal.
Maj. Dan Kemp: "Obviously there's a lot of fuel on board, but it's contained in such a way that it's really not dangerous. Seems like it might be, but it's not really. (laughs)."
The aircraft that had the fire yesterday was essentially undamaged and it was out on a routine mission today.
