[Niobaralegra]

How do the pilots manage to not 'topple' or roll during mid air refuelling? surely the force of the fuel has an effect on the planes.

when the two planes connect, is there some sort of common system that 'runs' both planes simultaneously or is it all done by pilot?

[cemDrymnVem]

some of the modern fighters are flown by computers. in fact without computers they couldn't be flown with human input alone. i would imagine that the fuel flow is controlled as to which tanks get filled and in which order to keep the aircraft balanced. plus the pilots practice, practice, practice.

[investmentonlinev2006x]

Kongrats Boggs! Another milestone not everyone reaches.

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

How do the pilots manage to not 'topple' or roll during mid air refuelling? surely the force of the fuel has an effect on the planes.

when the two planes connect, is there some sort of common system that 'runs' both planes simultaneously or is it all done by pilot?

Just keep working the controls to keep the aeroplane being filled within a certain 3D space. That space is defined by a series of lights on the refueller plane so the one being filled knows if they are too close or far, too far left or right, and too high or low.
As the plane gets heavier the pilot has to add more power but this happens gradually so it's no big deal.
One plane were it is (was) a big deal though was the SR-71. They'd almost always take off with low fuel and then refuel to start the high-speed cruise, and that was to make the take off's safer. They'd always refuel as much as possible and the problem with that was they didn't quite have enough power without using the afterburners to keep up with the tanker plane. So when they got to max dry thrust (full power without the burners) they'd have to take a deep breath then engage just one burner at minimum power. Because of the asymmetric thrust they'd have to work the controls pretty quickly to keep it in the box.

Now with all that said, there's usually two systems of refuelling - One with a solid boom that comes out from under the back of the tanker plane and the other where it's just a flexible hose that is unrolled. The solid boom type has the boom so it can be flown up & down by the operator and it also can extend & retract to accommodate the plane being refuelled moving back & forth.
The flexible tube one just wobbles around and has a big cone-shaped basket on the end for the other plane to hook its probe into.

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

Here's the solid boom type.




And this is the flexible hose type.

[SeelaypeKet]

Here's the solid boom type.




And this is the flexible hose type.
That's starnge, they look almost identical.

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

That's starnge, they look almost identical.

Nope.

[SeelaypeKet]

Nope.

Well not now, no.

[Acrogeokickic]

One plane were it is (was) a big deal though was the SR-71. They'd almost always take off with low fuel and then refuel to start the high-speed cruise, and that was to make the take off's safer. They'd always refuel as much as possible and the problem with that was they didn't quite have enough power without using the afterburners to keep up with the tanker plane. .

How come one of the world's fastest planes can't keep up with a sluggardly tanker without afterburners?


I remember hearing that they had to keep SR-71s in heated hangars to reduce distortion as they cooled down after getting really hot in flight, and they still leaked fuel.

[bortycuz]

Now with all that said, there's usually two systems of refuelling - One with a solid boom that comes out from under the back of the tanker plane and the other where it's just a flexible hose that is unrolled. The solid boom type has the boom so it can be flown up & down by the operator and it also can extend & retract to accommodate the plane being refuelled moving back & forth.
The flexible tube one just wobbles around and has a big cone-shaped basket on the end for the other plane to hook its probe into.

Strange however in the US that they choose different systems. THe air force uses the boom, the navy seems to use the hose and basket.

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

How come one of the world's fastest planes can't keep up with a sluggardly tanker without afterburners?


I remember hearing that they had to keep SR-71s in heated hangars to reduce distortion as they cooled down after getting really hot in flight, and they still leaked fuel.

It's only meant to cruise at Mach 3.2 and do nothing else so the entire plane is optimised to to that and that alone.
Yes it can fly at low speeds but it's not very good at it. The tanker plane is going flat-out but it's still too slow for the Blackbird.

I haven't heard about the heated hanger thing but yes they used to leak fuel quite a lot as again they were built to operate only at highs-speed and so all those gaps closed-up when it got hot and they stopped leaking. Another reason why they'd often take off with low fuel.

[Acrogeokickic]

I haven't heard about the heated hanger thing but yes they used to leak fuel quite a lot as again they were built to operate only at highs-speed and so all those gaps closed-up when it got hot and they stopped leaking. Another reason why they'd often take off with low fuel.

My brothers' FIL was a chief fire officer at a base where they flew out of.
He didn't like them much

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

My brothers' FIL was a chief fire officer at a base where they flew out of.
He didn't like them much

I do.
They make a lot of noise, spit huge flames, and go really really fast.
What's not to like?

[cemDrymnVem]

plus the fuel wasn't much of a fire hazard. probably more of a toxic threat than anything.

[Acrogeokickic]

I do.
They make a lot of noise, spit huge flames, and go really really fast.
What's not to like?

LOL. If you're responsible for fire safety at a place where planes drip fuel onto the hangar floor....

[uncoosesoge]

I have a couple of books on the SR-71. Brilliant plane. Is the fuel an issue? I understand it is a special blend that you cannot ignite even with an open flame.

Everything about the plane and the materials was new and exotic and a challenge to fabricate. They had periodic problems with titanium holes splitting and couldnt work out why. They eventually found out that in summer the city added chlorine (I think) to the water which made the metal brittle, so they eventually used distilled water.

[DownloadADOBEsoftware]

I have a couple of books on the SR-71. Brilliant plane. Is the fuel an issue? I understand it is a special blend that you cannot ignite even with an open flame.

Yeah, one of the coolest machines ever made.
It had a series of fuel tanks around the airframe, and it was used to help keep the airframe cool. The computers would select the tank with the warmest fuel and feed that to the engines and also shuffle the fuel around to keep it all in balance.
By doing that it helped dump the excess heat from the airframe out the exhaust pipe, very clever.

[uncoosesoge]

I also have a book about Ben Rich and his contributions. I liked his management style, big shed, managers, builders and designers all in close proximity with a very flat management pyramid. If there was a manufacturing problem the builder could just walk over to the designer and manager and get a good to go or whoa and redesign on the spot. No memos or arse covering paperwork bureaucracy. He pretty well got out all his work within time and underbudget sometimes even returning money to the Air Force.

[bortycuz]

If I can channel B.C. for a moment, the SR-71 was an instance of where there were no limits on science. For me it still remains the coolest plane ever made.

[_tppga_]

Part of the reason for the refuelling before supersonic flight is that the only way they can be sure all the air has been purged out of the tanks is to refuel. From that point on, nitrogen is used to replace the burnt fuel in the tanks. It lessens the fire risk and is required for structural integrity.

Richard Graham, author of "SR-71 Revealed", talks about it in this podcast. Very interesting stuff!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/omegataupo...ingTheSR71.mp3