Topic Reading-Vol.3020-7/18/2020
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
電話受付/月〜金 9:00-18:00
Topic Reading-Vol.3020-7/18/2020
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
電話受付/月〜金 9:00-18:00
Topic Reading-Vol.3020-7/18/2020
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Aerial ballet: How airplanes fill up with fuel mid-air
If you want to extend the range of an airplane, how would you do that? If there were gas stations floating in the air, you could fly your aircraft to one of them and pump the gas. Though there isn’t any such floating gas station in the sky, you could get your hungry aircraft refueled in the air from a fuel tanker airplane via a hose. This idea sounds simple but the execution is complex. The two airplanes are flying much faster than any car on the road. Also, winds are much faster and rougher than on the ground, and there could be sudden turbulence while refueling jet fuel. Indeed, air-to-air refueling extends aircrafts’ range and endurance substantially and is actually a commonly practiced operation among air forces in the world, it is a very challenging and dangerous task. Pilots of both fueling and refueled airplanes are required precise skills to stay close to each other for a few minutes. But such precision skills are going to be taken over by a fully-automated system as early as next year. Then, drones, helicopters, and jets will all be refueled in the air more safely and easily.
Will there be commercial fuel tankers sometime soon?
Enjoy reading the history and methods of mid-air refueling.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/how-airplanes-refuel-in-the-sky/index.html
電話：0422-27-5366
住所 〒181-0013 東京都三鷹市下連雀3-33-13 三鷹第二ビル101
営業時間：電話受付15時～17時 定休日：日曜日