A private fuel farm isn’t right for every operator, but it has worked out well for the flight department at Eastman Chemical, Blountville, Tenn., based at Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI). The company has had a flight department since 1957 (flying a DC-3) and now operates a pair of Gulfstream IIs and a GIV-SP. In 1997 Eastman replaced an underground fuel farm with its current above-ground facility, which includes a pair of 15,000-gallon tanks. Fully compliant with safety and environmental standards, the fuel farm has enough containment to hold the contents of either tank, with a loading pad containment system that can accommodate the contents of any one bay of the fuel truck.
Eastman buys its preblended jet-A from Phillips 66 at a rate of about 8,000 gallons per week. The company developed its unique fuel-handling program after initial training from Phillips. Eastman chief of maintenance Lonnie Phillips said the program is unusual in that it covers all the regulations in FAR 139.321 and Advisory Circulars 150-5230 and 34. “Every company might have something like this,” said Eastman’s Phillips, “but ours is customized to our particular fuel farm.”
