We arrived at the Air National Guard base at Phoenix Sky Harbor at 0530. After passing through the gates we made our way to the Arizona Air National Guard 161st Air Refueling Wing for our briefing about the flight. After a video, flight instruction, a little background about what we would be doing on our flight and some history of the air refueling process, we headed to the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker which would be our ride for the morning. There are currently eight KC-135’s on the base and ours was also known as the D’Back One. Take a look at the cool logo they made for it. These planes have been in service with the U.S. Air Force and contributing to air superiority for over 50 years.
We boarded the plane, buckled in to our seats that lined the walls of the aircraft and soon felt the tremendous thrust of the 4 giant jet engines that quickly catapulted us to our 28,000 feet cruising altitude. Once we leveled off we were encouraged get up and explore the cockpit, talk to the pilots and learn as much as we could about the mission and the aircraft. Being a pilot myself and have an insatiable appetite to learn as much as I can about aviation, I ended up spending a lot of our 2.5 hours in the air around the cockpit soaking up all that I could.
Our destination was in an area Northeast of Tucson as our mission on this day was to do refueling practice with Egyptian pilots flying F-16’s. After about 40 minutes of flying a rectangle racetrack type of pattern at 28,000 feet, our excitement mounted as we noticed the first of eight F-16’s fly up along side our KC-135 waiting for instructions to settle back in behind the huge tanker to practice hooking up to the boom and taking on some fuel that in a combat environment would be absolutely essential to complete a long distance mission. The KC-135’s are commonly known as “Gas Passers” throughout the military aviation community.
Once the word spread that the first of the 8 F-16’s scheduled to refuel had arrived, the line of the 25 passengers lined up to the rear of the plane to get their shot and seeing this process up close and personal. The boom operator is located in the middle of the rear of the plane in front of a large window and a panel with a couple of joysticks used to operate the boom. He also has a headset on to communicate with the pilot in the plane. The guests go down some steps on both sides of the boom operator and lay face down on a pad to look out the back window. This is where you get your first look at the F-16 slowly coming forward to meet the boom and take a sip of the 200,000 pounds of fuel the big tanker has to dispense at 6000 pounds per minute.
When instructed by the boom operator, the F-16 negotiates his way behind the tanker as both planes travel at 300 knots. He then waits for the “flying boom” to be extended while being guided by the boom operator to inch his way within reach of the boom so that it can be extended to the receptacle in the F-16. At this point it latches on to the F-16 and starts the fueling process. Keep in mind, the receptacle is above and behind the pilot, so he does not have a view of exactly where the boom is. In theory, this process seems almost impossible to accomplish. I would have liked to have heard the reaction to this idea when it was first discussed. You would think there is no way to fly an F-16 up behind a KC-135 and insert a 6 inch pipe into it at 300 knots. But as you will see by the video, these guys make it look real easy.
Seeing this whole process in person is just about the coolest thing you can see in aviation. You’ve got one of the meanest fighter jets in the world pulling up behind you at 300 knots, 28,000 feet in the air and you are close enough to see his face and read the name on the side of his plane. The first time you see this it is really a rush and almost hard to comprehend. You get about a minute and a half to view. Fortunately, I got to go another time and was able to get video and photos from both sides of the boom. For an aviation lover, and a big supporter of our military, it was awesome to see the United States air superiority first hand.
We have over 400 of these tankers working throughout the world. Most countries have single digits of these planes and no other country even comes close to what we can do in the air with these tankers being a very big part of it. A typical F-16 only has about 300 nm of fuel on board. That means that they can only go 150 nm out and back with fuel on board. These tankers make it so that these planes can essentially fly for hours and make long strikes from their base do to the ability to refuel in the air. So the next time you see one of the big tankers on the ground on the South side of Sky Harbor airport, know that they are essential to keeping the United States the military power that we are.
Thanks to Phoenix Air National Guard Patriots and the crew for allowing me to share in this incredible experience and to Scott Nylen for inviting me.
14 ноя 2020
