Inflight refueling

[FastCargo]

My refueling story...

Back about a decade ago...

Doing a night refueling in the B-1B over South Dakota. The weather was lots of high thin cirrus, some stratus...you know...lots of ice crystals. Vis was about a mile to 1/2 mile in the stuff (which of course we have to refuel right in the middle of).

The B-1B's receptacle is just in front of the windscreen, no more than about 6 feet from your face. As we get closer to the tanker, we can hear some very slight crackling in the headset from the static building of flying through the WX.

You can guess what happens next. As he goes to plug us, at about 3 feet, the air between the receptacle and the boom lights up with HUNDREDS of electric discharges! It looks like something out of a bad scifi movie. We can actually hear the powerline-like 'hum' through the airframe of the aircraft.

I pause for a second to let my instructor make the call (hey, I was still a wet behind the ears copilot). He doesn't say anything, so we continue and plug up. We take on a token onload, and then stay on for a bit for training. Finally, we disconnect, getting the discharge again on separation.

We continue the mission, come back and land. During the debrief, the instructor comments that maybe we shouldn't have continued the refueling with the electric light show. Of course, my next thought was "Why the hell didn't you say that during the A/R!?!" What i said was "Uh, yes sir."

**CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** instructors!

Fly Safe!
FastCargo

 

[MooseTrax]

Right On Swede

My favorite call from the boomer while I was the IP with a student learning to AR was "forward 1". I have actually said, "so forward 1 means I am at 13', just plug us because the envelope is 6'-18'" right....it is an envelope not a single position. I can't stand those calls!---forward 1 or 2 before they will even plug you. Now once in position a forward 3 or 4 call is nice.

 

[Mongoose69]

Best call by a boomer

Heh, best call I ever heard by a boomer:

I was #4 of a 6-ship of Strike Eagles on our way to Vegas (baby!). One of my good friends was #6. Right after takeoff, we all hook up for squirt checks just to make sure everything is working as advertised. The -135 crew was ANG, so the boomer just basically stabbed me when I got somewhere in his envelope and didn't say another word till he disconnected. So my buddy gets plugged, and shortly after, we hear this over the radio:

"Right 8"

silence...

"That's better"

Many beverages were purchased...

-Mongoose

 

[MooseTrax]

Hey Sandman.....

There is no learning experience quite like when you are learning as the reciever and you have a boomer who is learning too. Some days at Altus it was just bad training all the way around and downright scary. I remember going thru the course and thinking "I don't know quite what the hell I'm doing and neither does that boom student.....this ought to be good".

 

[sandman2122]

Moose,

I can only imagine what the -135 boomers were thinking seeing a C-141 or C-5 A/R "student" weaving his way in for their first plug.....pucker factor must be through the ceiling......

 

[dtfl]

Well...in AFSOC we never talked and there were no lights, usually. We chatted through the boom, of course. Now, take a crew of 15 on a gunship - we hook up - you can guess what the 135 crew hears...until I yell on hot mic...GET OFF INTERPHONE!!!

Yeah....I had to be an AC and a Dad at times.

The best - we tobogganed in a gunship and the tanker started a level off - the PD lights started ticking backward like those moving Xmas lights...the AC got in a quick "..BYE!!" before we got kicked off - this was at TO power also. So the big joke was - .."When the tanker levels off you have to get in a word before you get kciked off"

 

[414Flyer]

I saw a photo of F-104s tanking from a KC-97. Now that would have been interesting.

 

[The Saint]

Ok no jokes about going both ways..... I have refued via boom (A-10) and taken and given gas via drogue (Tornado we could carry a buddy buddy pod) as well as get gas from a tanker. I got to say i though the drogue was easier and more fun but also easier to fall off of. The boom has something like 4000 lbs of grip the drogue like 100. Also with the tornado heavy and high we would plug one engine in min afterburner and then use the other throttle to stay in. Had to stay on the tanker alot longer though to fill up

 

[ch47d]

Try doing it in a Chinook where the drogue comes 6' under the rotor disk. That can get very interesting on a dark bumpy night.

 

[TGR]

I never liked the KC-10. That center engine really beat-up our T-tail in the C-5! 135s were easy. Just stay between # 2 + 3 and your good. Though, if you got spit outside of them you were gone. (And trying to do the reverse control thing to get back in.)

Either way, always happy for the gas.