Watch a F/A-18 Hornet refuel in the air above Queensland for Exercise Talisman Sabre
THIS week a petrol station in the sky is flying overhead from Brisbane to Shoalwater Bay and back again. WATCH THE VIDEO as an F/A-18 Hornet refuels over Queensland.
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THE F/A-18 Hornet hovers next to the left side of the airborne KC-10 Extender aircraft, waiting for its turn for the petrol pump 7300 metres (24,000 feet) high in the sky.
When a second fighter jet finishes topping off its fuel, the Royal Australian Air Force Hornet slowly moves from the left side and to the back, and manoeuvres ever so slightly until it faces the rear of the US Air Force KC-10.
Gently at first, then with a little nudge forward, it attaches a red probe to a long hose with a basketlike claw being dragged behind the larger plane.
Seated in a small room on the bottom rear of the larger plane and looking out at the jet through a glass viewing window is Senior Airman Rodel “Bungy” Ubungen, the KC-10’s boom operator.
He controls the hose and basket — called a drogue — that pumps fuel to the jets.
In the cockpit, at the opposite end of the large United States Air Force plane, sits Captain Christopher Latham, 1Lt Joel Stark, flight engineer Technical Sergeant Justin Johnson.
Once the boom operator radios to the cockpit about a successful seal, Tech Sgt Johnson presses a button to release the fuel.
Although it is also used for cargo and passenger transport, midair fuel refuelling is the main role of the KC-10 Extender aircraft, which can carry up to 197,800 litres of fuel.
A solid pole with an extendible fuel pump called a boom is used for other types of aircraft, but on Monday, two Australian and six American F/A 18 Hornets paid the mobile petrol station in the sky a flying visit in pairs over a few hours, so only the hose and drogue was needed.
After taking on anywhere up to 5600 litres (10,000 lbs) of fuel, the Hornet joined its fellow fighter jet — which was now hovering on the right side of the larger plane — and flew off in formation, back to the mock war-games of Exercise Talisman Sabre, off the coast of Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland.
Besides having to ensure the magnetic drogue successfully seals on to the F/A-18’s probe, the boom operator also has to take in various other factors, including weather conditions like turbulence.
Boom operator Technical Sergeant Adam Sigman said although the jets could land at an airport to refuel, part of their training involved knowing how to top up their tanks in the middle of the sky so they could fly in and out of combat situations as quickly as possible.
He said fuel was not released unless the drogue had been pushed six feet into the valve.
“Once the hose is pushed in to six feet, the valve opens up and the fuel is released,” he said.
“If it’s not at six feet, it won’t come out.”
The KC-10 has a large cargo hold at the back of the plane, which includes a small square door in the floor that leads down some stairs to the boom operator’s control room.
At the front of the plane are rows of removable chairs, two toilets and two small bunks for the crew to sleep in on long-haul flights.
The USAF KC-10 is one of the two refuelling planes involved in this year’s Exercise Talisman Sabre and is able to refuel most types of allied forces aircraft.
The RAAF also has a similar, but newer, KC-30 aerial refuelling aircraft that flies out from Amberley Air Force Base near Ipswich.
Talisman Sabre is a biennial joint Australia-United States military exercise that started in June.
This year it involves more than 33,000 mostly Australian and US troops, 20 ships and more than 200 aircraft, with the majority of the mock war taking place in and around Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland.
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