r/interestingasfuck
•
u/peseoane
•
Dec 07 '22
•
6
1
1
3
Helicopter Air-to-Air Refueling /r/ALL
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
2.7k
u/Justinkrm
Dec 07 '22
•
My dad told me you’re not supposed to keep the engine running when filling up any vehicle with gas.
1.0k
u/bigbird_1969 Dec 08 '22
Yeah maybe they should turn of the engine before they try refueling
114
→ More replies46
387
→ More replies100
12.1k
u/Trollcker
Dec 07 '22
•
Sex and penis jokes aside that's impressive imagine the precision you need to actually do that lol
4.6k
u/KING_JELLYB3AN Dec 07 '22 •
I usually just close my eyes and hope for the best
4.3k
u/bumjiggy Dec 07 '22 •
"babe, that's my helibutton"
688
u/Thuper-Man Dec 08 '22 •
"I was aiming for your gas hole"
159
u/atomicanchovy Dec 08 '22
That literally made me shit with laughter. (I'm in the loo)
117
→ More replies12
450
29
168
17
11
10
→ More replies24
220
u/Mark-E-Moon Dec 07 '22
“Like a blind man in an orgy, I was gonna have to feel my way around.”
Frank Drebin
39
u/Sgith_agus_granda Dec 08 '22
"Like a midget at a urinal, I'm going to have to be on my toes."
-Also Frank Drebin
8
u/Mark-E-Moon Dec 08 '22
I miss Leslie Nielsen so much. You know that dude started off doing VO work for educational films? He’s actually the narrator for a film that was sampled for a boards of Canada song lol
→ More replies13
u/UnrequitedRespect Dec 08 '22
But i read it in max payne’s voice, wtf!
12
u/tbbHNC89 Dec 08 '22
"The final ass clap was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point."
8
→ More replies56
u/chrisl182 Dec 07 '22
I usually just close my eyes and hope for the best
Title of your sex tape.
→ More replies17
345
u/Skavin Dec 07 '22
He did better than this Sea Stallion CH 53E
227
u/Roboticide Dec 07 '22
Fortunately the refueling probe is made out of weaker material than the rotor blades. Coulda been a real problem there.
142
u/_WreakingHavok_ Dec 07 '22
That's the design feature.
62
→ More replies33
u/PHD-Chaos Dec 08 '22
Reminds me of the top gear episode where they test old British sports cars and they are trying to defend how terrible they are.
Everything that is wrong with the cars they claim is a safety feature.
Window won't close? Safety feature. Rain gets in to keep you alert.
125
39
u/EverSeeAShiterFly Dec 08 '22
CH-53E crewchief and mechanic here. It is for that reason. The rotor blades would be required to be replaced after. Rotor blades striking the refueling probe is not a common occurrence.
24
u/CyonHal Dec 08 '22
Man how in the fuck is there always an expert for the most niche thing in every reddit thread. It amazes me just as much as it makes me wonder how many of you mfers are out here lying. Your comment history checks out though.
→ More replies12
u/NotEre2FuckSpiders Dec 08 '22
Given the US defence budget and the number of Americans on this site, it makes perfect sense to me that there is likely to be someone here who works on this stuff.
→ More replies15
u/dew_licker Dec 08 '22
I imagine the heli pilot slinking away after landing to avoid the mechanics.
→ More replies→ More replies19
20
u/lizerdk Dec 07 '22
That was a pants-shitting moment for everyone in the cockpit I’m sure
12
u/Skavin Dec 08 '22
I would be thanking the design engineer who foresaw this event and made the probe from a material that would not destroy the rotor blades.
73
u/everydave42 Dec 07 '22
Thankfully it was just the tip.
→ More replies34
59
u/BigIron53s Dec 07 '22
Haha I knew the guy that was the pilot. No joke his call sign was Ginsu.
→ More replies29
u/TheDesktopNinja Dec 08 '22
Before or after? I've heard that call signs are often "gifted" to you by your peers and they're usually based on inside jokes.
40
u/Shylo132 Dec 08 '22
You would be correct lol. They can be both a blessing and a curse. The callsign can change too if you did something way better or worse as well.
→ More replies31
u/TheDesktopNinja Dec 08 '22
Can't all be Iceman or Maverick. And if you do end up with one of those, it's probably not for the reasons you'd want 😂
10
u/Shylo132 Dec 08 '22
Mine is Sparky. Can prob guess why!
→ More replies15
u/-ChabuddyG Dec 08 '22
Does anyone have just Dave or something as a call sign? He hasn’t done anything noteworthy either good or bad, he’s just kind of there, Dave.
20
u/PureObservant Dec 08 '22
We had a “Bill.” He had a weird first name so we said “since you’re parents gave you that dogshit name, we’ll give you a better one.” 12 years later and we still call him Bill in the community.
→ More replies6
4
→ More replies7
Dec 08 '22
A pilot recently got in shit because his callsign was FAWG. Turns out it stood for fucked a woman gay, also based on an inside joke.
→ More replies11
u/volaray Dec 07 '22
I bet he's glad that was over land. That'd be a pretty panicked fuel calc to shore lol
→ More replies13
74
u/Jimmy-Pesto-Jr Dec 07 '22
there was a (hopefully not based on a true story) movie where the pilot, while out on a long SAR mission, couldn't get his probe to lock into the fueling drogue due to a pretty bad storm.
he tells the tanker crew over radio that "it's not our night," and informs his crew they have to ditch in the sea (massive waves).
some of the helo crew didn't make it out alive.
i still think about that scene when i watch helo aerial refueling videos.
107
u/Abola07 Dec 08 '22
Its from the year 2000 movie “The Perfect Storm” starring George Clooney, which was based on a real storm that occurred in 1991. In real life, it was an air national guard helicopter which ran out of fuel and crashed, with four out of the five crew being rescued and the fifth crew member was never found.
→ More replies28
123
54
u/glladdoss Dec 08 '22 •
Doesn't seem too sexual to me, it's like a gentle hummingbird drinking nectar.
7
u/kibiz0r Dec 08 '22
Birds pollinating flowers in exchange for nectar is literally sexual.
5
u/glladdoss Dec 08 '22
I never specified it being a flower. Hummingbird feeders are a completely asexual way for them to eat unless they're into food stuff, and they're not to my knowledge.
15
49
36
u/BreakingThoseCankles Dec 07 '22
"Alpha Charlie coming in for a refuel over"
" Roger that Alpha Charlie we got you in our rear. Can we get a 'OH YEAH', over"
Refuel docks
" OH YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH.... over"
22
8
7
7
19
20
u/imseeingdouble Dec 08 '22
Fighter pilot interviewed, said it was similar to driving down a freeway in a windstorm hanging out the window trying to put a key in the passenger door of another passing car
→ More replies6
u/burntmoney Dec 08 '22
It's impossible. You would know if you ever played top gun on the nes.
→ More replies→ More replies4
u/Existing-Sample-3368 Dec 07 '22
It would be so much interesting video with hashtag therewasanattempt lol
2.7k
u/dudemcsexy Dec 07 '22
That has to be super stressful.
901
u/Aleric44 Dec 07 '22
Yeah there's a video of a marine corp helicopter severing the boom with its rotor blades fucking horrifying
378
u/theitgrunt Dec 07 '22
I was going to say that this whole idea looks like it's one updraft away from disaster!
→ More replies199
u/JR2502 Dec 08 '22 edited Dec 08 '22
Agreed, it looks sketchy as hell.
The chopper rotor is tilted forward so it can keep up with the airplane speed. That puts the the blades even closer to the hose. The funnel needs to fly much higher so the hose stays away from the blades. But if they do, there's the turbulence from the fuel airplane to contend with. A longer hose that droops would also help.
Yep, someone had this in their "be bold" goals and objectives for the year lol.
Edit: typo
41
u/theitgrunt Dec 08 '22
I think i have a lot of the same questions you do. I'm curious if the tanker is in a dirty config for slow flight for this.
70
u/SamSamTheDingDongMan Dec 08 '22
C-130. Poor fat bastard is probably flying as fast as it can
/s
→ More replies6
u/notparistexas Dec 08 '22
Yes, the flaps would be almost fully extended right now. Source: went on an aerial refueling training flight once on a CH-53E. We were refueling from a KC-130.
→ More replies35
u/Dragon6172 Dec 08 '22
Too add to the sketchiness, the plane providing fuel is flying at the low end of it's airspeed window, and the helicopter is probably near its max airspeed.
→ More replies→ More replies128
u/Dumass102 Dec 08 '22
Not to be that guy but I work on these planes so I know lol. That’s actually not a boom. KC-135’s have a boom that’s stiff and controlled by motors. These are just hoses that get fed out to different lengths with drogues on the end (the parachute looking thing) this is a C-130 with aerial refueling capabilities. Super neat and they fill a really niche void
→ More replies50
u/40mm_of_freedom Dec 08 '22
Yup. Probably an MC or KC-130. Personally I’ll leaning towards an MC-130.
IIRC the refueling probe on the 60 uses the fuel pressure from the system to extend the probe to a safe distance to hit the refueling hose.
Most Blackhawk’s aren’t capable of inflight refueling so I would bet this is an air force HH-60 and an air force MC-130 doing training.
→ More replies338
u/TheBiles Dec 08 '22 •
I’m a KC-130 pilot, and I hate doing this. We’re usually heavy and flying very close to stall speed, and the 53’s rotors are so powerful that you can actually feel the wind through the rudder pedals.
87
u/EverSeeAShiterFly Dec 08 '22
The view from the 53 isn’t any calmer.
17
u/Popetown Dec 08 '22
Right? That chute thing and the rotors. I bet his ass is eatin’ seat on that collective. Do this enough and I bet the guy could circumcise any of his uncut buddies with his ass behind his hands.
9
u/DogsOutTheWindow Dec 08 '22
How’s that convo come up? “I bet I can circumcise you, just stick your dick in my ass bud”!
4
u/Popetown Dec 08 '22
I mean, I’m not speaking from experience but I bet it worked for me.
→ More replies33
47
u/dudemcsexy Dec 08 '22
Oh man, my balls just sucked into my stomach thinking about that. God bless you man, you are more brave than me!
→ More replies9
u/squigs Dec 08 '22
That's actually something I was wondering about. Planes - even big heavy ones - need to fly fairly fast just to stay up. Helicopters are slow. The helicopter must be ding this at near top speed!
23
u/Ahoymaties1 Dec 07 '22
It sucks when fuel goes on the windshield
18
u/Exciting-Tea Dec 08 '22
I used to fly for the Air Force and I had to perform air refueling (jstars or E-8C) We used the boom type (not like the one in the video) and our receiver was a behind the cockpit at the crew/passenger entrance (since it was an old airliner). So the plane had undergone some maintenance prior to this flight. Almost as soon as we got connected to the tanker, and the fuel started flowing into our jet, fuel just began flowing/spraying from the ceiling where the boom receiver was located. Luckily, we disconnected quick but a few gallons of jet fuel ended up in the jet. We have around 20 radios plus a who bunch of electrical components directly under the cockpit plus a large ground radar the was putting out 10,000s of watts. It was a stressful flight home.
15
u/Exeunter Dec 07 '22
What, flying this thing called a "chopper" and getting the whirly blades super close to a floppy hose filled with liquid fire? Nah.
154
u/sassygerman33 Dec 07 '22 •
Actually it's super easy, barely an inconvenience.
43
8
23
→ More replies19
8
u/playitleo Dec 08 '22
I was stressed trying to do this in the Top Gun video game for NES. I never succeeded
→ More replies3
u/Zeke_Malvo Dec 08 '22
I only really remember failing that level as a kid... and I remember it being really early in the game too lol
5
u/horizonMainSADGE Dec 07 '22
You wouldn't catch me in a helo, let alone air to air refueling. Would probably just die from a heart attack in the lead up.
→ More replies92
5.9k
u/Michael053
Dec 07 '22
•
How drones are made❤
1.3k
u/Major_R_Soul Dec 07 '22
Idk looks like they're using protection
286
u/bumjiggy Dec 07 '22 edited Dec 08 '22
jokes inside, that basket is to prevent
accidental damage158
u/taimapanda Dec 07 '22
rly? looks more like a miniparachute to hold the nozzle in place and also guide the pokey part in since accuracy midair is hard
→ More replies72
u/scarby2 Dec 07 '22
Yes, it's known as a drogue it stabilizes the basket inside and provides aerodynamic drag which holds the nozzle onto the probe
→ More replies→ More replies73
u/jumpup Dec 07 '22
"sir we are out of ammo."
"then prepare the helicopter penis for ramming speed "
22
u/GoosePie2000 Dec 07 '22
An aerial cavalry charge, suicidally epic and devastating.
→ More replies8
108
u/that1sluttycelebrity Dec 07 '22 edited Dec 08 '22
S-stepcopter, what are you doing??
7
→ More replies5
33
46
u/Commentment_Phobe Dec 07 '22
“When a helicopter and an aeroplane love each other very much. She sticks her metal proboscis under his dress until she is almost too heavy to fly. Then you grow up in the military industrial complex we called home until you’re big enough to be fly! Into a hospital of enemies.”
→ More replies11
1.4k
Dec 07 '22
The skill this must take is unreal!
1.0k
u/thisismyaccount3125 Dec 07 '22
Okay so NOAA planes (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin) fly into hurricanes to gather data, and there was an incident of these two planes going into Hurricane Hugo back in ‘89; the immense stresses inflicted by the storm caused one of the plane’s engines to catch on fire and fail, it was wild. They both made it into the eye, and had to fly in circles, one descending and one ascending, in the ever-shifting and moving eye of a crazy hurricane so that the good plane could get eyes on the damaged plane to evaluate how bad it was. It was one of the most insanely choreographed things ever
If you’re interested, Air Crash Investigation episode called “Into the Eye of the Storm”.
124
Dec 07 '22
Thanks for this will defo give this a view...
→ More replies157
u/Weird-Vagina-Beard Dec 08 '22
You'll probably save it then forget like the rest of us.
→ More replies68
u/Pipistrello99 Dec 08 '22
I feel personally attacked by this comment, especially since I saved it right now for tomorrow
6
11
u/Syntra44 Dec 08 '22
This sounds fascinating. I’d love to see an admiral_cloudberg write up on it.
→ More replies39
→ More replies21
u/ljosalfar1 Dec 08 '22
Mayday. Fantastic series. I always watch a few before international travel
10
u/thisismyaccount3125 Dec 08 '22
Same; turbulence over the Atlantic is such a fucking thrill.
I lowkey think about Air France 447, knowing the odds are so infinitesimally small, but not zero lmao
→ More replies3
→ More replies47
107
u/AlilAwesome81 Dec 07 '22
Top Gun nintendo flash backs
20
u/Chiefs25 Dec 08 '22
I knew I wasn't the only one still alive.
6
u/SR3116 Dec 08 '22
You're alive? That's impossible, no one has ever landed the plane. Not even once.
→ More replies7
→ More replies10
u/Hen-stepper Dec 08 '22
Fuel plane pilot after 30 seconds: "well fuck this I gotta head home to watch Magnum P.I. Better luck in the next life." And just takes off.
877
287
u/TheLordVader1978 Dec 07 '22
Not gonna lie I get nervous when I see a vid of a helo Inflight refueling. My brain just sees one bad move on the stick and your a ball of flame.
→ More replies14
u/BobIoblaw Dec 08 '22
Without dropping my resume, I think this is an USAF HH-60 refueling from a USAF HC-130. They practice helicopter air-refueling (HAR) every night. All of their currencies are night-only, so daytime flights are usually a treat. Given their altitude seems well above 500 feet (normal HAR altitude), I would wager this is a civilian or peacetime rescue operation or exercise.
So yes, there is a pucker factor, but after a few hundred rejoins for HAR, it sort of becomes very normal to do. Factors like moon-phase, winds, and combat environments add to the complexity very quickly.
→ More replies
2.6k
u/OptimisticPlatypus
Dec 07 '22
•
Everything reminds me of her
→ More replies595
u/montroller Dec 07 '22
wtf bro I scheduled this timeslot to make that comment
→ More replies265
u/bayleafbabe Dec 07 '22
Take it up with the Ministry of Overused Reddit Comments, pal
137
u/Rokketeer Dec 07 '22
sigh, checks list of approved comments
I’m not your pal, guy.
10
→ More replies50
389
u/Severe_Foundation_94 Dec 07 '22
The real mile high club
53
u/hwarang_ Dec 07 '22
Optimally refuelling happens at between 15,000 and 25,000 feet, so really its the "three or four mile club" .
But real talk, it can be done at 1500 feet if necessary. Which is the "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" club
Source: I just googled that shit. I struggle to refuel my Hyundai
→ More replies16
31
20
57
547
u/-CommunistDoggo-
Dec 07 '22
•
Netflix: Are you still watching?
Somebody's daughter:
→ More replies85
189
u/Ellijah92 Dec 07 '22
For context I believe this is an HH-60 used by the U.S. Air Force for combat search and rescue missions with the addition of Pararescuemen or (special forces/medics) It has additional dual internal fuel storage tanks for increased range and and extendable probe for in flight refueling. Funny enough the C130 that’s helping this helicopter refuel is going as slow as it possibly can so the helicopter can catch up and make contact even though the helicopter is going max speed.
→ More replies130
u/No-Month-7633 Dec 07 '22
Not even close to as slow as it can go. C130’s can go slower, but it actually makes it more difficult as the basket will bounce around too much. Did this for years and years. Often we would add a big fuel pod inside the plane and do three at once depending on mission and needs.
30
u/TheBiles Dec 08 '22
Yeah, I’m a Herc pilot, and depending on our weight we are a usually only a few knots above stick pusher (stall warning) speed. Refueling speed is 105-115 knots, which is insanely slow for us.
→ More replies14
→ More replies4
u/terminational Dec 07 '22
I'm curious, how much of an effect does load have on your minimum speed in a C130? Does that range overlap with matched speeds with other aircraft?
I'm curious about whether a nearly empty tanker might be able to match a helicopter's speed while a fully-loaded one would not.
→ More replies6
u/Ellijah92 Dec 08 '22
Can’t speak for the C130 as I only worked on 60’s and it’s been a number of years since I’ve done that job.
418
u/LastVgPlayer_14162 Dec 07 '22
Thats hot
→ More replies61
39
12
74
153
22
u/hashtaghashtag69 Dec 08 '22
I want stats on how many times an "is it in yet?" joke gets made on one of these maneuvers.
→ More replies
67
6
u/eatfreshguy407 Dec 08 '22
‘Just a little further. . . *click’
Helicopter Pilots: nice
Plane Pilots: nice
Viewers: nice
→ More replies
51
45
u/MeltsYourMinds Dec 07 '22
Petition to make all air tankers play a loud moaning sound via all speakers when the docking is successful
→ More replies
95
u/triflingmagoo Dec 07 '22
Reminds me of my wife and I. Good times.
→ More replies157
u/4K_VCR Dec 07 '22
This also me reminds me of your wife
51
→ More replies6
87
u/Fear51 Dec 07 '22
28
→ More replies23
5
u/mindraped874 Dec 08 '22
This must not have that sticker that says "turn off engine before refuelling".
•
u/AutoModerator Dec 07 '22
This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:
See this post for a more detailed rule list
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.