3 ms·

Out of curiosity, wouldn't refueling the helicopter in-flight require another helicopter (with the same range problem)?

londons_explore 7y ago
I don't know if this was done, but it's totally possible to get a helicopter to carry a tank of fuel and leave it floating midway in the ocean (or on ice strong enough to land on). You can then go back, refuel, and this time go the whole way, stopping off for fuel at your new midway point. You just need to make sure you don't forget where you put the fuel!
jsight 7y ago
Mid-air refueling a helicopter does not require another helicopter. It could be a KC-130.
mattkrause 7y ago
If you have enough equipment, you can set up a relay where tankers themselves get refueled by other tankers. This can dramatically extend the range of a small number of aircraft, though the logistics (and expense) gets out of hand quickly. The British did this during the Falklands War in 1982. In Operation Black Buck, a bomber from Ascension Island (near the equator), attacked Port Stanley Airport (~52°S, about 12000 km away). To do so, the bomber was refueled 7 times on the way out (and once on the return), while a fleet of tankers refueled each other 9 more times. Wikipedia has a diagram showing how this worked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/File:Refuelling.plan.black.buck.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/Fi...
- gwern 7y ago
  Is that equivalent to the 'rocket equation', where each tanker is analogous to another stage on the rocket? (You spend increasing amounts of fuel to get the fuel out to where it needs to be transferred in to be then burned.)
  - mattkrause 7y ago
    Seems very similar to me, though the constraints are a bit different: you want the tankers back, presumably, but you also don't have to move all of it together
ceejayoz 7y ago
No. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Pave_Hawk_refueled_by_HC-130_Hercules_over_Tallil_Air_Base_Iraq.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Pave_Haw...
- anamexis 7y ago
  Wow, that looks terrifying with the rotor so close to the plane!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

I don't know if this was done, but it's totally possible to get a helicopter to carry a tank of fuel and leave it floating midway in the ocean (or on ice strong enough to land on). You can then go back, refuel, and this time go the whole way, stopping off for fuel at your new midway point. You just need to make sure you don't forget where you put the fuel!

jsight 7y ago

Mid-air refueling a helicopter does not require another helicopter. It could be a KC-130.

mattkrause 7y ago

If you have enough equipment, you can set up a relay where tankers themselves get refueled by other tankers. This can dramatically extend the range of a small number of aircraft, though the logistics (and expense) gets out of hand quickly. The British did this during the Falklands War in 1982. In Operation Black Buck, a bomber from Ascension Island (near the equator), attacked Port Stanley Airport (~52°S, about 12000 km away). To do so, the bomber was refueled 7 times on the way out (and once on the return), while a fleet of tankers refueled each other 9 more times. Wikipedia has a diagram showing how this worked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/File:Refuelling.plan.black.buck.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/Fi...

gwern 7y ago
Is that equivalent to the 'rocket equation', where each tanker is analogous to another stage on the rocket? (You spend increasing amounts of fuel to get the fuel out to where it needs to be transferred in to be then burned.)
- mattkrause 7y ago
  Seems very similar to me, though the constraints are a bit different: you want the tankers back, presumably, but you also don't have to move all of it together

ceejayoz 7y ago

No. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Pave_Hawk_refueled_by_HC-130_Hercules_over_Tallil_Air_Base_Iraq.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Pave_Haw...

anamexis 7y ago
Wow, that looks terrifying with the rotor so close to the plane!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]