Guillaume

A refueler is a large plane that carries jet fuel. It’s like a huge filling station in the sky. The boom operator is the gas station attendant. He lies in a glassed-in pod on the underbelly of the refueler. His job is to lower the boom, which dispenses the fuel. The jet receiving the fuel flies up underneath and slightly behind the refueler. The boom operator drops the boom and it attaches to the receiving jet at a port opening on the top nose portion of the jet. He fills their tanks and away they go. Exactly how they do it, I don’t know. It still amazes me every time I see a picture of them doing it. I’ll have to ask my son about how close they actually get to one another, but it’s pretty close. Perhaps Janice could ask Greg Kelly, since he’s a jet pilot. Refueling is the mission of the 186th MSANG, and they stay busy refueling planes every day. It kind of blows me away to think they are doing this every day in the skies above us, and we don’t even realize it.

I do have another picture of the actual fueling going on. I’ll have to see if I can get it uploaded, or downloaded, or whatever the heck it is I need to do.

The pilot got fired for doing an unapproved flyby at Paine Field in Everett, WA …

The odd looking plane in the background … white body with blue tail … That’s the DreamLifter … It’s a converted 747 that’s being used to haul in fuselage parts for the Boeing 787 … The DreamLifter is sooooo loud & flies low when it’s coming in & out of Paine Field … It always shakes my house when it comes in as I’m right under it’s flight path … First time I heard it, I kept waiting for an explosion cause it really sounded like a plane was gonna crash into my neighborhood …

The Thunderbirds got a huge round of applause at the Daytona 500 whilst doing the flyover prior to the start of the race …

They’re also scheduled to do the flyover on Sunday during the opening ceremonies for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Vegas …

This is actually my favorite feeling when you fly: taking off by gray rainy weather and reaching beyond the clouds to find a perfect blue sunny sky above all!

You wrote Chris is a “boom operator” on a refueler.
I never heard about it before (but Iike the choice of words!).
If you don’t mind my asking, what is a “boom operator” and what is his job and responsibility on a refueler?
(although I love aviation, I’m very clueless!)

And it’s kind of a naive question but how do they refuel the jets?
How close do the jets need to get to the refueler plane? and does the refueling go through special pipes hanging?!

It’s fascinating just to think of it…
kuddoes to your sons and their friends.

Guillaume

We as a nation should feel very fortunate to have such dedicated and skillful people serving in our armed forces.

What a GREAT SHOT!!….

Please tell your son and his friend thanks…and not just for the pic either….