Aerial Refueling Sighting

[eorange]

This was on 5/3/2006, around 8:00pm EDT in Eastlake, OH (northeast ohio). I saw two planes flying nearly wingtip to wingtip. One plane looked like a larger tanker plane, and the other plane was a smaller-looking version of a tanker.

The planes were CLOSE; you could barely see any distance between them and they flew in perfect formation. I am estimating they were at about 15,000 feet; the larger plane was about the size of my thumb at arm's length. They were headed in a southeast direction, presumably towards Pittsburgh. By the time I spotted them, they were gone in about 40 seconds over the horizon.

Unfortunately, I had no radio with me.

 

[MacombMonitor]

That must have been cool to see! Too bad no scanner, and no camera!

I've been seeing some pretty cool stuff in the air around Selfridge Air Base in Michigan lately. I might start carrying my camera in the truck and see if I can catch any of it. I have a 12X zoom with image stabilization, so it might work. (Hope I don't get arrested!) :roll:

Years ago my parents rented a cabin on Lake Huron, in Oscoda, Michigan. This was when Wurtsmith Air Base was very active. I will never forget the sound the re-fuelers made when they were taking off! They flew right over the cabin we were staying at, and were still very low to the ground. The sound was like no other, deafening!

 

[dparana]

Erik,
I'm pretty sure that was Steel 62 (KC-135 171st ARW Pittsburgh) and Hagar 70 (C-5 Dover AFB) working. I first heard them around 7:00PM last night. They were working AR220 on a freq of 352.60. I believe they were working at about 20,000 FT. Frank posted to the pamilitarymonitors yahoo group saw the tanker down in Pittsburgh as well. If you want to check when the track might be active, use this link: http://www.faa.mil/ops/docs/x_next24sua.html
It's a little different compared to the sua.faa.gov link in that it lists aerial refuelling as well as MOAs, Restricted, and Warning Areas.

Dave

 

[eorange]

Dave, that's an awesome link! I was searching (in vain) for that kind of information a while back. I am a member of pamilitarymonitors and will log in to check messages tonight.

The sight was definitely neat, but in a strange way it was also anticlimatic for lack of a better word. I'm not sure what I expected to see if I ever spotted an AR operation (in my mind, I envisioned fighters buzzing around a tanker ), but the planes silently - and without contrails - just glided off into the distance. At least I now know what to look for.

 

[VernM]

If they were wingtip to wingtip, they were doing something other than refueling. Especially if the receiver was a C-5. That makes it bigger than the tanker. Refueling of air force and most navy and marine aircraft is tail-to-nose with the refueler guiiding the probe while laying on his belly in the aft end of the tanker and smiling at you out a window ahead of the probe when you get hooked up. I believe only helicopters and A-10s refuel off the wing baskets.

 

[eorange]

The right wing of the smaller plane looked like it was underneath the left wing of the larger plane. But their closest common points were their wingtips. They were NOT in a single file formation.

 

[VernM]

Then, they were not refueling.

 

[eorange]

Yes, I am certain they weren't actually refueling when I saw them, because of their position and no boom was visible that I could see. But I am pretty confident the aircraft were part of an AR exercise and likely flying the track.

 

[SCPD]

I hear AR activity almost daily but never have seen any aircraft.

When the CAPs are active I often actually hear the F-16s but have yet to see them. I know they are near because of the sound and radio signal strength. Sometimes they actually refer to local landmarks.

 

[KC8WLZ]

Hello,

One a related note, last night around 7:00pm (local time), I saw what looked like a C-130 travelling alone at a low altitude (maybe > 10,000' agl???). It flew right over my house travelling north from the south towards Lake Erie. I didn't have any binoculars, camera but I could see that it was a large transport/tanker with 4 propeller driven engines. It was also remarkably quite.

I assumed that the plane may be from Mansfield ANG base travelling to the AR220 track but who knows??? Shortly after my sighting, I turned on a couple of radios, monitored 352.6 but heard nothing. This was the first time that I have seen anything like this while standing in my front yard. It was quite a thrill. Did anyone see or hear anything???

Cool picture of a C-130:
http://www.luftfahrt.net/galerie/new/bilder/1104247844_Lockheed C-130 Hercules.jpg

 

[eorange]

Last 4th of July, we took a lunchtime cruise on the Goodtime, and I saw two F-16's traveling east to west over Lake Erie. Not something I expected to see that day!

 

[dparana]

KC8WLZ and all,
AR220 was active again last night, but it was later, around 9:00PM or so. Fuzzy 43 (107th ARW Niagara Falls) was working with two C-17s out of 437th AW from Charleston, SC. I didn't catch their callsigns but one had a tail number of 96-0002. They were working on 352.60 again. That was the only refuelling scheduled on AR220 last night according to the http://www.faa.mil/ops/docs/x_next24sua.html website. AR220 is supposed to be active from about 11:45AM to 1:15PM local today.

Dave

 

[eorange]

I heard activity well into 10:30pm last night, including Huntress on 228.9; callsign YALTAS on VHF; and progressively fainter traffic on 352.6. Seemed like a busy night.

 

[dparana]

Just an update to my post above. TAZ 51 (OH ANG -Rickenbacker AFB) and BOLAR 72 (Dover AFB) were working the AR220 and wrapped up at about 1:10PM. They were on 352.60 and switched to 126.725 to talk to Cleveland Center when they were done. At 1:16PM TAZ 51 switched to 120.60.

Have A Good Afternoon,
Dave

 

[KC8WLZ]

TAZ 51 (OH ANG -Rickenbacker AFB)

Any idea what type of aircraft Taz 51 was???

 

[TinEar]

TAZZ belongs to KC-135R tankers of the 121st Air Refueling Wing, OH-ANG, Rickenbacker ANGB.

There is a link in the Wiki at this site to look up military callsigns. The link takes you here:
http://henney.com/chm/callsign.htm
There are many versions of that callsign list floating around. Some are constantly updated, others have been sitting there since Ron put the original list together some time ago. The best thing to do would be to download it and then keep updating as you hear new callsigns or see them identified on the various MilAir forums.

Alan

 

[CORN]

Back to the original question/comments. It could have been the end of an AR exersise with the aircraft paralleling each other for a while. I saw the end of an AR a few months ago between a SODA KC-135E and a TUFF B-52H and they flew alongside each other, kind of staggered, for a little while before Memphis Center turned the tanker back toward Knoxville. And in addition to what was mentioned above, A-10's do refuel with a boom receptacle just like all other USAF aircraft do, it's in the nose right in front of that titanium "bathtub". And Navy/Marine aircraft do USE the hose and drogue method, aka basket. I have yet to see a Navy/Marine aircraft that does not use the hose and basket.

 

[DPD1]

True... AF - Boom... USN - Basket. Some of the 135s have the ability to attach wing basket pods for Navy/Marine fueling though. That way they don't have to rely on KC-10 or KC-130. I've listened at night from in the hills overlooking the ocean when they are practicing helo AR with the 130s, and it's hard to imagine people willingly doing that when you look out in that darkness. Pretty crazy.

An interesting thing about the JSF program is that Boeing decided to go with the basket, while Lockheed went with the AF boom method. The Boeing aircraft had a big problem with some sort of aerodynamic issue that made the basket fly around when it came close, and I don't think they were ever able to do AR during the tests. I don't know if they plan to do a basket version on the production F-35B/C.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
- Custom Scanner, MURS, GMRS, & Ham Antennas -

 

[Yokoshibu]

kc8 you prolly saw a 911th bird from YARS ... they fly low level from southern portage co up into the old ravenna arsenal to drop and then head back out north and around back to home.. prolly didnt see them in AR

remember AR 220 actually goes out over lake erie so if you saw anything it would look like 2 planes at parallell cause of the paralux of offcentered viewing