Can you eject from a kc 135

The sheer number of refuelings and quantities of fuel transferred during the Vietnam War was staggering as indicated in the chart above. By , after nine years and two months of hard flying, these tankers had flown a total of , hours during , sorties. In the same period, they conducted , in-flight refuelings and off-loaded more than 8 billion pounds of fuel.

It was a titanic effort that went far beyond the mere physical transfer of fuel. They set the pattern for the future air combat operations in the Persian Gulf War of Curiously, the very success of the tankers in making a difficult task seem ordinary resulted in their receiving less credit from the Air Force and the public than should have been the case. An analysis of even a routine refueling operation shows manifest hazards.

Then try doing it at night, in foul weather, under radio silence, and in company with a mass formation of 50 other aircraft doing the same thing within a few square miles, and the hazardous situation becomes genuinely explosive.

Alternatively, have the tanker off-loading fuel to a gaggle of fighters already past the critical fuel state, well inside enemy territory, and vulnerable to MiGs, flak, and SAMs.

In-flight refueling is dynamic, with the airflow at times tending to drive the aircraft apart and at times tending to draw them together. A B refueling with a KC will require forward trim to maintain clearance. As fuel is transferred, the flight characteristics of both aircraft change, requiring constant trim and power adjustments. Each receiver aircraft had its own demanding characteristics. The F-4 had a very small receiver receptacle that required boom operator accuracy for boom insertion.

A fully loaded F required full power-sometimes using afterburner-to maintain its refueling position. If you add the emotional state of the pilots-just out of combat, worried about their fuel state, anxious to refuel and let their wingman on the boom-to the situations mentioned above, in-flight refueling becomes even more challenging. As experience was gained, procedures were developed to make the system as safe as possible. On paper, in-flight fuel transfer took place in preplanned refueling areas containing specific points Air Refueling Control Point-ARCP for tankers and receivers to rendezvous.

Electronic, radio, and visual means were used to effect rendezvous, but in Southeast Asia the intensity of air operations demanded that the Tactical Air Control System using Ground Control Intercept radar be used to track both tanker and receiver.

Line of sight radar limitations were alleviated by higher flying tankers acting as relay stations for receivers until contact was established with GCI. The combination of onboard and ground equipment provided aircraft separation, expeditious rendezvous, and continuous control of the airborne refueling resources. En route to the rendezvous point, the tanker formations flew with foot altitude separation and 1-nautical mile nose-to-nose separation.

The distance was maintained by use of search radar. The fighters flew shallow turns, receiving the fuel while flying in an elongated orbit. Vertical separation was based on a foot altitude difference between tankers when flown in cell formation; many Young Tiger missions were flown as individual aircraft.

Prestrike and poststrike operations of tactical aircraft were conducted in refueling areas established over the Gulf of Tonkin, South Vietnam, Thailand, and later, over Laos and Cambodia. The arming of ordnance precluded launching all of the receivers in the strike force at the same time, making it necessary for them to loiter with their tankers. As many as three refueling cells each with three tankers and 15 receivers aircraft total-could be refueling at different altitudes at the same anchor refueling point.

Poststrike refueling for tactical aircraft was less susceptible to preplanning. Tankers reacted to the situation as they found it, giving fuel to those who needed it most first, including Navy aircraft. There were no scheduled missions to refuel Navy aircraft, and emergency refueling depended upon having compatible refueling equipment. There were in fact so many saves recorded that it became necessary to have the term formally defined to mean instances when, without emergency refueling, the tactical aircraft would certainly have been lost.

Disregarding the danger of being the most valuable-and most vulnerable-of targets, the tanker crews ignored the prohibitions and did what they had to do in order to save the hard-pressed strike aircraft. The stories of Young Tiger saves are legion. Following are two that typify the bravery and the skill of the tanker crews and the persistence of the fighter pilots who would go to almost any lengths to avoid losing their aircraft to fuel exhaustion. In May , a KC flown by Maj. Alvin L.

Lewis battled through violent thunderstorms to locate two Fs that were critically short on fuel. Each aircraft has an entire regulation listing the requirements for maintaining currency, but these two communities handle them differently. In the tanker, the fundamental currency requirement is that you must land the aircraft at least once every month.

Neither Flint or I could think of another military aircraft with fewer currency requirements than the KC Beyond this single landing, you have a laundry list of events to accomplish every six months. This could include numbers of certain types of approaches, right vs left seat landings, night landings, ocean crossings, etc. Fighters work very differently. This means approaches and landings, but also includes types of weapons employment simulated or actual , and types of missions Basic Fighter Maneuvers, Close Air Support, Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, etc.

In aircraft like the F with a very large variety of missions, there is frequently too much to accomplish every month. Instead, the squadron tactics shop comes up with a training plan and the squadron will focus on one or two types of missions for a month at a time. The entire squadron cycles through its entire mission set in between each deployment.

Guard and Reserve units also have a real-world alert mission to intercept aircraft violating restricted airspace including Temporary Flight Restrictions TFRs.

In both communities, the pilot and the squadron share responsibility for maintaining currency. This can leave you in a pinch if you find yourself at the end of the half with a pile of beans left to log. He put it this way: The F is an easy aircraft to fly, but the mission sets are complex and demanding. The tanker for him is the exact opposite. However, the KC is ancient technology compared to his last jet.

It requires a pilot to think consciously as he or she flies and lands! Although he likes his current aircraft, he admits that there are some annoying parts to his job.

During initial training at Altus AFB, preflight procedures take 1. Coming from the ruthlessly-paced fighter world, he felt like KC training was about 2 months worth of material packed into 4 or 5 months.

Another annoyance is that the KC has been around for so long that it has a lot of artifacts leftover from the past. These quirks, techniques, and procedures are out-dated, but they just refuse to die. Flint noted that if you want to be an ANG tanker pilot, enlisting in that unit is a great choice. Although he agreed that enlisting is a great option, he recommended taking the shotgun approach to Guard and Reserve unit applications. Flint originally applied to virtually every fighter unit in the country—from New York to Hawaii.

After two interviews, he landed Montana. Like most ANG units, the st likes to see applicants with ties to the area. The st also likes applicants to rush the unit. Look for a separate article on how to do this another day, but basically they want to spend time getting to know you before holding a formal interview. Flint had some family ties to the unit, but he also spent 6 months going to drill weekends before he got an interview. When I asked, Flint identified a couple of things that can hurt you on an application.

They like seeing tenacity from applicants. However, if you do, make sure that you worked to improve any weak areas from last time around.

No bueno. It does in many ways. KC crews will be getting more training to help them deal with dutch rolls. The service is revising flight manuals, beefing up maintenance, and improving rudder controls for the KCs still flying.

Contact us at letters time. Part of the tail of the doomed KC By Mark Thompson. A KC refuels an F fighter. A dutch roll. An honor guard carries photos of the KC crew members during a memorial service at Manas six days after the crash.

Related Stories. The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. The Accident Investigation Board president, Maj. Randal K. Efferson, found that it was "possible but highly unlikely" anyone could have done so in that timeframe. Inspectors from the Air Force Research Lab found that there were errors within two of the three control channels within the DRS: Channel two failed due "to a critical error at power-on, and channel three failed due to a signal noise issue," the report states.

The error would have been found within a Time Compliance Technical Order maintenance inspection; the first opportunity for the TCTO would have been in , but was not executed because of "lack of available parts," the report adds.

Lockheed's engineers stated that there is no particular checklist for such a unique situation, but added that in previous instances with a damaged landing gear, "an ejection was performed instead of attempting a cable arrestment," according to the report. Furthermore, the SOF should have placed a call to Lockheed's security hotline, which has personnel on hour standby to support units in need of emergency services, instead of calling for a cable-arrest landing without a second opinion, Efferson concluded.

Mark Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, said in a statement accompanying the report. For example, in order to account for the increased demands and pilot workload involved with night flying, Air Force Instructions mandate pilots demonstrate proficiency in events like aerial refueling in the daytime before attempting them at night," Kelly said.

Schmitz received his pilot's license at the age of 17, enlisted in the Air Force soon after and served as a loadmaster on the C Globemaster III , according to the service. He then attended Officer Training School in his effort to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. Follow her on Twitter at Oriana Parents spent hours waiting to grab the first COVID vaccination appointments for children ages 5 to 11 at the largest U.

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