Cockpit Video of NASA's F-15 performing Aerial Refuel

[The Yellow Dart]

I thought there would be people here that would appreciate this video. And it is a NASA plane... so... space? It is a very cool video, you should watch it.

[Robotengineer]

NASA's fuel lines have directional indicators like KSP fuel lines!

[Camacha]

Every time I see this done I cannot suppress feelings how bad of an idea it seems to be

[guitarxe]

I like that the boom has it's own set of wings.

[benzman]

I like that the boom has it's own set of wings.

As far as I know, the wings are fixed and simply aid the stability of the boom.

[magnemoe]

As far as I know, the wings are fixed and simply aid the stability of the boom.

Yes, its for stability, My guess is that the thin outer boom with fuel flow indicators is pretty flexible too as the planes move independently.

[Iskierka]

Not flexible, but extensible - the green/yellow/red areas indicate how safe your distance is. If you look carefully at one part of the video, you can see the F-15 has drifted further slightly, and on the other side of the green is another yellow, with mirrored markings - the pilot's target is to keep it in the green.

Also, the wings do move and do provide lift - they prevent the need for a very large hydraulic lift and very stiff boom by supporting the end of it, and are used to push it back up against the fuselage for landing.

I have to comment that the flight seems remarkably stable though. Even with a very skilled pilot, I expected reaction times to mean wash off the lead aircraft would make it behave a lot less smoothly.

[Red Iron Crown]

As far as I know, the wings are fixed and simply aid the stability of the boom.

It is my understanding that they are control surfaces, operated by the boom operator.

[AngelLestat]

Ah I dint know that the fuel hose "boom" was fully controlled in all directions by the cargo fuel plane.

I always thoght that the hose was fixed, and the pilot had to do all the hard work. Now it has a lot more sense.

I did this (long time ago) in the EF2000 flight combat simulator, it took me like 15 mins achieve connection.

[Red Iron Crown]

Ah I dint know that the fuel hose "boom" was fully controlled in all directions by the cargo fuel plane.

I always thoght that the hose was fixed, and the pilot had to do all the hard work. Now it has a lot more sense.

I did this (long time ago) in the EF2000 flight combat simulator, it took me like 15 mins achieve connection.

For the probe-and-drogue system used by most militaries it's all on the receiving pilot, the tanker just flies straight and level. Only the USAF and a few other countries use the controlled boom method.

[rtxoff]

Here's the same trick with some Russian planes:

[AngelLestat]

ok, yeah that seems more like EF2000, USAF seems more easy I guess.. but it does not have the cone..

[Red Iron Crown]

The USAF method has the advantage of boom operator control and higher flow rates. The probe and drogue method, though, permits multiple simultaneous refuelings and buddy refueling.

[luizopiloto]

It's more easy dock in space you know...

[Beowolf]

Thanks for the videos!

I'd never seen the winged boom refueling except from the tanker perspective. And I'd never seen Russian at all, though I couldn't find any difference between their system and the US Navy's. Are there any, beyond metric vs. Imperial connectors?