air refueling
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Adventures on the Air Refueling Track
The last two posts covered all the procedural steps necessary to accomplish an air refueling mission or qualification. Completing an AR mission is an exercise in flying formation with another aircraft, specifically in close trail formation. Just as in any other formation flying, maintaining position involves recognizing relative movement between the airplanes and managing the…
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Aviation History – Air Refueling the C-5, Part 2
This is the second half of a 2-part post on air refueling the Lockheed C-5. Part 1 of Air Refueling the Lockheed C-5 may be found here. Air Refueling the C-5, Moving In We left off with the receiver in the pre-contact position with both aircraft ready to conduct air refueling. At this point, the…
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Aviation History – Air Refueling the C-5, Part 1
I had originally intended to post a single article on Lockheed C-5 air refueling, but I have been typing away and see that it is way too long for a single post, so I’ll break it up into two parts. Part 2 will be up in two days. Air Refueling Procedures Before we get into…
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Aviation History – Chapter 2 – The Lockheed C-5
Let’s See, What else could we put in it? The C-5 was the first Jumbo-sized aircraft to be built and, unfortunately, the designers tried to include everything that anybody would ever want in a cargo aircraft. It originally had a built-in weight & balance system that used strain gauges on the landing gear legs. The…
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Aviation History – Chapter 1
I had a nice chat with a new friend a couple of days ago while we were both waiting for airline flights. He is currently taking flying lessons toward his private pilot’s license and is very enthusiastic about all things related to aviation. As I sat there on that next flight I thought about some…