Flying planes off of an aircraft carrier is more than just a pilot turning on the throttle. Everything on, and in, the plane is carefully maintained and monitored.

Inside the plane, fuel lines pump the lifeblood of the aircraft to the engines, ensuring the plane can fly and the mission can be completed safely and efficiently. If the fuel isn't pure, the planes don't fly and the mission isn't completed. That's where V-4's below decks work center aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) comes in.

"Here at V-4 below decks, we turn dirty fuel into clean, clear and bright fuel," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) 2nd Class Andrea Cook. "To be considered clean, the fuel has to be completely free of water, sediment and foreign contaminants."

Below decks is responsible for each step of purifying the fuel and then sending it up to the flight deck be used in aircraft.

"We motor-strip water and sediment out of the bottom of the tanks," said Cook. "The water goes to the sump tank and all of the other impurities will get filtered out and go into another tank. After that, we motor-strip it again and purify it, which means that it is going through our transfer filters, into the service tank, through the service pump to the service filter. This process is what makes the fuel clean and safe to use."

The many JP-5 pipes onboard the ship lead down to the numerous JP-5 tanks that separate, filter and, finally, store clean fuel.

"We have 174 JP-5 tanks onboard," said Cook. "On the ship we have two pump rooms, one forward and one aft. There are 22 service tanks, 12 in the forward pump room and 10 aft. Service tanks are where the clean fuel is stored."

Safety is paramount when dealing with high-velocity and high-risk
evolutions like launching planes off a moving ship, and below decks plays a big part in ensuring that safety.

"Our job here at V-4 below decks is important because if we send up dirty fuel to the flight deck it can cause serious damage and put people in danger," said Cook. "Dirty fuel can damage the engines and cause them to explode. If there is water in the fuel it can cause the engine to freeze when it reaches altitude."

It's not only the pilots and flight crews who are in danger if something goes wrong in the below decks work center, the Sailors in the pump rooms and fueling stations face hazards of their own every day.

"Flooding is a big one," said Cook. "If any of the tanks are filled between 98 percent, it could potentially cause a fuel spill. To combat this, we frequently send out sounders who verify that the fuel reading in the tanks versus what is on the tank level indicators and computers is accurate information."

Cook said that V-4 has never lost service to the flight deck which means that there has never been an aircraft grounded because of their division.

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