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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,132
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,132 |
The problem is that you have a propjet refueling plane trying to go as fast as possible in order to "formate" with a jet going as slow as possible - and then tie the two together. It is not a good combination.
We will all learn what happened here - eventually. But in my mind, it's two very dissimilar aircraft trying to occupy the same piece of air at the same time. The Marines have done it for years and do it often so they're good at it but the couple times I tanked off a KC-130 it was sporty. We usually put the gear and flaps down at 200 knots. IIRC we tanked off the KC-130 at about 220 kts. As the jet gets heavier taking on usually about 15,000 lbs of fuel, and the angle of attack increased and you entered pre-stall buffet it got very sloppy on the controls. We'd then extend the flaps and slats and as soon as the flaps moved back pull the flaps/slats circuit breaker. That gave us a little more wing area and made the last couple 1000 lbs a lot more comfortable.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 12,153
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 12,153 |
The Marines have done it for years and do it often so they're good at it but the couple times I tanked off a KC-130 it was sporty.
I was a jarhead. Good might be a bit of a exaggeration, I got to where I tolerated it but never did like tanking off them. They're going as fast as they can go while you're about to fall out of the sky and the controls are real mushy. The old KC-130's they had out of Cherry Point (can't remember what model) had crappy hose reel mechanisms and you'd often get a dead hose. It wasn't uncommon for you to plug and see the sine wave go up the hose, no way to get out in time before the sine wave came back and ripped off the probe. I plugged on the left hose one day and my wingman plugged on the right, I looked over at him just in time to see the wave in his hose and about two seconds later it snapped back taking his probe off and flinging it between his vertical stabs. We were done for the day! The Brits had an L-1011 they'd converted to a tanker. I used to call it the Battlestar Galactica. It was lit up like a Christmas tree and at night you could see it before you could find it on radar. That thing was a dream to tank from.
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,132
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,132 |
The Brits had an L-1011 they'd converted to a tanker. I used to call it the Battlestar Galactica. It was lit up like a Christmas tree and at night you could see it before you could find it on radar. That thing was a dream to tank from. The Brits also had the VC-10 - Another easy platform to tank off of. This pic is my wingman over eastern Turkey on our way into Iraq. I did tank off an RAF Victor a couple times too during Desert Storm. I wish I had a picture of it. Looks like it was designed by Jules Verne. ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/Q40LKn6.jpg)
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,220
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,220 |
I had pretty good "hands" in general and loved close formation flying, but I'm darn glad I never had to learn refueling.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 4,269
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 4,269 |
I'll just leave this right here... 🙄 🤠![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/64etvfj.jpg) Good one-----I know from experience 
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