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Asked by gillpe09 to Al on 16 Mar 2012.
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Al Bartlett answered on 16 Mar 2012:
Hello Gill,
The answer to your question is yes. The way its done is like this. A tanker aircraft will fly in a straight line and allow the airctaft that needs fuel to fly behind it. The refuelling aircraft then pushes a long pipe (called a ‘boom’) out and behind itself – it is then up to the pilot of the aircraft needing fuel to fly close to the boom until it connects itself to the aircraft at a special point called the ‘receiver’. One it is connected, the fuel is transferred very quickly – the equivalent of filling up a family car once a second!!
As promised – here is the video of the C17 refuelling in flight – I hope you enjoy it!!
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Comments
Al commented on :
and another one Gill – this time from the pilots view
Emma commented on :
Gill,
We refuel our Helicopters while they are flying (we call it a HIFR – Helicopter In Flight Refuel). There is a video of an American Helicopter practicing a HIFR here: http://youtu.be/m0vr6OfNKTM?t=1m47s
We would do a HIFR if for some reason we couldn’t land the helicopter on our flight deck safely, but needed to keep it flying.