Re: Air Force Aerial Refueling Methods: Flying Boom versus Hose-and-Drogue


"Guy Alcala" <g_alcala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Kevin Brooks wrote:

"Guy Alcala" <g_alcala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Curt wrote:

The wing pods give the opportunity for servicing multiple receivers
simultaneously, which is one of the things the original author was
banging
on about. Besides, I'm a brit, and I've grown up with pictures of
Victors
& VC10s dangling 3 hoses behind them, so only refuelling one
aircraft
at a
time seems a little inefficient to me... saying that - if you look
at a
Trident tanker, it looks like that can only do one at a time, but
has
two
hoses (both fuselage mounted).

http://www.raf.mod.uk/downloads/wallpaper/tristar_03_0800.jpg


The Tristar has two HDUs for redundency. It cannot refuel from both at
the
same time. Which, come to think of it, seems to make a statement
about
hose
and drogue refueling.

Presumably, the statement being that it's possible to have_ redundancy_
when
using hose anddrogue. To date no boom-equipped tanker can say the same,
although
Boeing's Blended Wing-Body concept showed two separate booms, one out
on
each
wing.

Uhmmm...how often does the boom fail during a mission? From what I
gather,
the boomers really don't *need* that kind of redundancy, while the hosers
do. Which would make it a non-issue for the boomers.

I've certainly read accounts of booms being broken while refueling, and of
course pumps, plumbing and electrical systems can always fail. Curt
stated

"The MTBF of the boom is many times that of a drogue. Further, if a boom
has a
problem it
can still be stowed and brought back for repair. OTOH, a hose malfunction
frequently means
jettisoning the hose."

So while booms may be more reliable than hose/drogues, they aren't more
reliable
than two or more separate hose/drogues on the same a/c,

Uhmmm..if they are "many" time more reliable, they certainly can be.

Brooks

so you're not SOL if
that end of the system breaks. Of course, if the probe breaks off or the
end of
the boom breaks off in the receptacle the receiver's still screwed, but at
least
they had another chance.

Guy





Brooks

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