Sorry! I didn't mean to confuse you there. That is the primary method of refueling, with the rigid boom and no hoses.

I think he did the less popular and unsanctioned "Fuck, fuck, fuck, go go go! Shit!" And even if the video makes it look worse than it really was, I would feel better if they did that sort of thing at a mile away than at precontact.

Why? There's a toilet in the plane (kinda).

My stomach sank when I saw that video for the first time. I've had a couple like that, one was a C-17 that climbed straight up after disconnect, barely avoiding our tail, and an F-15 that tried to climb into boom pod, I assume so that the pilot could shake my hand.

Any "stealth" airplane, no matter how tough, has an extremely fragile, crazy expensive, low-observable coat of paint. The boom on the KC-135 weighs about 1600 lbs. Put the two together and you're gonna have a bad time. I'm extremely grateful I never had to explain how I put a $500k scratch in someone's paint.

Is there a problem the A-10 can't solve?

I usually didn't listen to music while refueling. Actually, I would lay and scream the lyrics from songs I liked so loud, I could hear them over my noise-cancelling, noiseblocker headset. All because nobody could hear me.

I see kc135boom got in here before I could notice, but I wanted to elaborate a little on a couple things.

Once contact is made between the boom nozzle and the receiver aircraft's receptacle, it completes a circuit between the two planes' air refueling systems. This triggers what are called toggles in the receiver receptacle which latch onto the nozzle, holding it in place, and also triggers the signal in the tanker to…

Pattern work actually never bothered me that much. I volunteered for the pattern-only's as a favor for other booms so I could get out of weekend flights or even weekend alpha alert. Nothing like killing a weekend sitting in building with terrible cell reception.

A 12 hour mission would burn through about 120k pounds, not gallons, and the maximum offload for such a mission would be restricted to the maximum weight capacity of the KC-135, which would be about 200k pounds of fuel, leaving around 80k pounds for the receiver. A typical mission would only last 4-6 hours, so a full…

Turbulence is just part of the job. There is an envelope of 20 degrees up, down, left, and right and about 12 feet forward and back where the boom and receiver can travel while still offloading fuel. Usually light turbulence isn't enough to warrant a disconnect, but sometimes (inexperienced pilots/boom operators)…

Usually, there isn't one. I guess you could argue that cameras would fall under the purview of inflight electronics in the AFIs, but if you get on a Space-A hop, you'll see that rule trampled under many a foot.

All said, the actual experience becomes routine. One refueling becomes another and another and soon it becomes like the rest of flying culture, which is sheer boredom interrupted by moments of absolute terror.

They don't have electricity. It's all campfires, candlelight, and hand-cranked gramaphones. It's the only place in the United States where you can pay for your rent with a goat and some potatoes.

The science of terminal ballistics (yes there is a science there, however shrouded behind overactive marketeers) is actually kinda fascinating, combining physics and psychology and anatomy. Once you unearth the actual objective core of the underlying science and research, it's all dry and statistical and boring as…

You could hide a sesame seed in here.

Only one way to find out.

Consider this, the first iPhone was the exact same width as the iPod Classic, and its thickness was only 0.05" greater than the iPod. At the time, the iPhone was meant to be complementary to the iPod line. When they stopped treating it like 'a better iPod', that's when the iPhone line started be reworked into…