Maytag Aircraft Corporation’s President and Chief Operating Officer David Nelson announces a refueling contract with the Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah Georgia. There are two airfields on site: Hunter and Wright. The company won this award during a competitive bid process.

Nelson says, “It is nice to add another contract to our collection of military sites.”

Personnel will provide both hot and cold refueling for the army aircraft. Hot refueling entails adding the fuel while the aircraft is still running. To keep the mission moving, the pilot comes through a hotpit and doesn’t shut down the aircraft. This adds a few more hazards and complexity to the refueling activity. Cold refueling typically involves a truck refueling a parked aircraft.

Maytag will begin providing services on April 1, 2021; giving them time to purchase refueling trucks and having them built, as they will need a mostly new fleet.  They intend on hiring current personnel as long as they meet Maytag qualification standards.

At other sites, Maytag has faced some challenges recruiting new personnel and with attrition, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by the military and/or certain countries. This has especially been true overseas, in places such as Qatar and Guantanamo Bay, where protocols don’t allow re-entry after a leave and/or have established 14-day quarantines upon arrival; effectively limiting vacation time available for employees. Despite that, Maytag has been able to service all of their contracts at a high level and is proud that there have been very few cases of COVID with their personnel. Nelson says, “We are very hard core about strictly following COVID safety protocols, and it shows in the continued health of our personnel.”