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Here is a question for Viper pilots Wink

:
In Falcon4, once your Viper is correctly connected to the boom of a tanker, it is almost "glued", sticking to the boom so that you cannot disconnect if you only do gentle movements with the stick and do not touch the throttle. I know that, in the real world, a magnetic device helps to keep the Viper connected, but I wonder how efficient it actually is. Does it really help much?

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Magnetic? Uh.......I dont think so. Its hydraulically locked to the boom.

Ditto that of what Mark said. There are just some lock rollers in the receptacle that engage a detent in the boom.

Wildcat wrote:

Here is a question for Viper pilots Wink

:
In Falcon4, once your Viper is correctly connected to the boom of a tanker, it is almost "glued", sticking to the boom so that you cannot disconnect if you only do gentle movements with the stick and do not touch the throttle. I know that, in the real world, a magnetic device helps to keep the Viper connected, but I wonder how efficient it actually is. Does it really help much?

No magnets...There are locking toggles that engage three grooves on the tankers refueling boom nozzle. The toggles can be released through the signal coil system, either by the refueler or receiver.

Wildcat wrote:

Here is a question for Viper pilots Wink

:
In Falcon4, once your Viper is correctly connected to the boom of a tanker, it is almost "glued", sticking to the boom so that you cannot disconnect if you only do gentle movements with the stick and do not touch the throttle. I know that, in the real world, a magnetic device helps to keep the Viper connected, but I wonder how efficient it actually is. Does it really help much?

No magnets...There are locking toggles that engage three grooves on the tankers refueling boom nozzle. The toggles can be released through the signal coil system, either by the refueler or receiver.

I thought the tanker tractor beam technology was classified? Whistle

Mmm, a tractor beam would be nice to have, I guess Cool

. (and A-Wings... much, much better than X-Wings Laughing

)

Okay, I was mistaken about the way the boom is locked, thank you for your answers Wink

.
So I have to re-write my question Razz

:
How efficient is the lock system between the boom and the refueling plane?

Wildcat wrote:

Mmm, a tractor beam would be nice to have, I guess Cool

. (and A-Wings... much, much better than X-Wings Laughing

)

Okay, I was mistaken about the way the boom is locked, thank you for your answers Wink

.
So I have to re-write my question Razz

:
How efficient is the lock system between the boom and the refueling plane?

Define efficient-Does it work? Very well! Easy to maintain? Not too many headaches. Tankers have been known to "tow" aircraft from the hostile skies over N. Vietnam during that conflict. Don't know if they have done it since then. The worst write up to get during a de-brief is a "brute force" disconnect where the receiver and tanker disengaged without releasing the toggles. That requires a boom drop on the tanker, NDI (Non-Destructive Inspection) of the boom fork and a complete inspection of the boom.

Wildcat wrote:

Mmm, a tractor beam would be nice to have, I guess Cool

. (and A-Wings... much, much better than X-Wings Laughing

)

Okay, I was mistaken about the way the boom is locked, thank you for your answers Wink

.
So I have to re-write my question Razz

:
How efficient is the lock system between the boom and the refueling plane?

Define efficient-Does it work? Very well! Easy to maintain? Not too many headaches. Tankers have been known to "tow" aircraft from the hostile skies over N. Vietnam during that conflict. Don't know if they have done it since then. The worst write up to get during a de-brief is a "brute force" disconnect where the receiver and tanker disengaged without releasing the toggles. That requires a boom drop on the tanker, NDI (Non-Destructive Inspection) of the boom fork and a complete inspection of the boom.

Quote:

Tankers have been known to "tow" aircraft from the hostile skies over N. Vietnam during that conflict.

I think that this perfectly answers to my question: the lock seems to be quite good Wink

.

Thanks a lot, guys, for the time taken to answer to my silly question Very Happy

.

To finish the point, there is indeed a magnet in the end of the boom, and another one in the receiver's recepticle if I recall correctly. It's a pair of inductive coils, that line up durning refueling, to provide a means of communicating between the tanker (boomer or pilot), and the receiver aircraft, without the need to openly transmit over the VHF or UHF radio (or open wires near raw fuel).

This was used to allow a refuel technique during radio silent runs, using lights to approach the tanker, and these coil connections to communicate. No transmissions to give our positions away.

FlightTestJim wrote:

To finish the point, there is indeed a magnet in the end of the boom, and another one in the receiver's recepticle if I recall correctly. It's a pair of inductive coils, that line up durning refueling, to provide a means of communicating between the tanker (boomer or pilot), and the receiver aircraft, without the need to openly transmit over the VHF or UHF radio (or open wires near raw fuel).
This was used to allow a refuel technique during radio silent runs, using lights to approach the tanker, and these coil connections to communicate. No transmissions to give our positions away.

True...It's called the boom interphone system and was mainly used for SR-71 operations. A magnet it is not and in no way assists in keeping the receiver and tanker connected, except to communicate to each other.

F-16's and A-10's both use an induction coil for "secure voice" (interphone)communications.

mark wrote:

F-16's and A-10's both use an induction coil for "secure voice" (interphone)communications.

not to mention no sparks when connecting...

Enthusiast Joined: Aug 24, 2004 Posts: 50 Status: Offline

As far as I know (read), it|s quite easy in an F-16 to get disconected from the boom if you're not paying attention. I think the pilot has to buy beer or something when it happens. Laughing

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How efficient is the magnetic device of the refueling boom?