Inside the Air Force's Flying Gas Station | KC-135 Stratotanker

This is the KC-135 Stratotanker, and at first glance it might not look too different than your typical commercial airliner, but it definitely is. The KC-135 is a modified Boeing 707, capable of refueling other aircraft 30,000 feet in the sky. It's essentially a flying gas station. Now this aircraft is also super special to me because my dad flew the KC-135 as an Air Force pilot, instructor pilot, and later as an evaluator pilot for over a decade. So dad, come on, get in here. I'm super excited to have him join me and be reunited with his old jet for the first time in what, 25 years? Yeah, this January will be 25 years exactly. I just can't believe it's been that long. Well, I can't wait to learn all about this aircraft from both you and the crew, and we're even going to have the chance to go up for a flight and experience refueling F-16 fighter jets. This one's going to be fun. It's going to be awesome. Can't wait. Let's do it. So dad, what's it feel like to be back in front of your aircraft almost 25 years later? Does it look like much has changed? It's almost surreal. The aircraft, for the most part, looks almost identical to the aircraft I flew 25 years ago. Well, when we were getting ready for this video, we actually dusted off and found some old family photos. These were taken in January of 1999, then Captain at home. That's actually me right there in the blue beanie hat. So it's sort of a full circle moment. But dad, when you look back at your Air Force career, all the flying you got to do, what was it like? It was amazing. I feel very, very lucky that I got to fly the KC-135. This airplane has taken me safely to places all over the world. There's a saying in the Air Force everybody knows, nobody kicks ass without tanker gas. It was incredible to be a part of that mission. I felt very rewarded and it was exciting at the same time. Now, it's hard to believe that this aircraft has been flying for almost 70 years and is projected to fly until it reaches close to 100 years old, meaning the last Air Force pilot to fly the KC-135 has yet to be born. Making its first flight back in 1957, the KC-135 was the Air Force's first jet-powered aerial tanker, and it was revolutionary. Before it was introduced, fighter and bomber aircraft were severely limited by their fuel endurance, having to land repeatedly to gas up and then take off again before reaching their final destination. But with the introduction of a flying jet-powered gas station, the range of these fighter and bomber missions could be extended indefinitely. In fact, you could argue that besides the introduction of the aircraft carrier, nothing has shaped U.S. foreign military projection more over the past 60 years than the KC-135 Stratotanker. A staggering 800 KC-135s were built between 1957 and 1965, with almost 400 still flying in the U.S. Air Force Guard and Reserves today. The last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965, a year before I was born, so it's obviously an old aircraft. But in terms of flying hours, these aircraft are relatively new, and that's because early in their career, probably for the first 30 years, they were a lot of the time sitting alert, fully loaded with gas, on an alert pad, ready to launch and refuel a bomber in case of a nuclear war. Now the alert mission is super interesting to me, and I know you did it a lot, so can you talk a little bit more about that? What was it like, kind of the experience, the whole alert missions? Pretty crazy. Yeah, so the first part of my career, about a week of every month, I had to sit alert, and you were in alert facilities that was heavily guarded, and your airplanes were there next to you, and it's located very close to the runway. So the whole point was, in case we had to launch rather quickly, we could get in our aircraft, start engines, taxi out, and launch our aircraft along with the bombers in case of a nuclear war. I only had to do that for a short stint before that mission went away, after the Soviet Union dissolved, we no longer had to do that. Now outside of the boom pod, which we'll talk about here in a sec, my favorite feature on the KC-135 are these massive turbofan engines. There's four of them, they're iconic, and dad, I know you have a lot of experience flying with this engine, both in the 135, as an airline pilot, so what's it like flying with these things? Well, when I first started flying the KC-135, I flew A model, which had A model engines, were about half the size of these engines here, and roughly about half the thrust, and in order to get the amount of thrust we needed to take off fully loaded with all our fuel, we had to inject water in the two-minute period just during the takeoff roll, water was injected right in the core of the engine to increase the density of the air and give us more thrust. Once I transitioned to the R model engine, it was amazing. They have so much thrust, the airplane flies very well on two of them, it can even fly on one engine at lower gross weights, and as you mentioned, I fly a variant of this as used on one of the Airbus models I fly today. Now what really sets the KC-135 apart from other aircraft is what goes on in the back, or what I like to call the business end. A massive 28-foot-long pole known as the boom is attached to the underside of the tanker and can be extended out as far as 48 feet to connect to other aircraft in the sky while traveling at speeds upwards of 500 miles per hour. Fuel is then transferred at a rate of 600 gallons per minute, more than the average family car consumes in an entire year. In fact, the KC-135 boom can transfer more fuel in just 8 minutes than an entire gas station can pump in 24 hours. The boom can also be equipped with a special shuttlecock shaped drogue that attaches in trails behind, which allows the KC-135 to refuel aircraft that don't have a vertically mounted fuel receptacle. This means that in addition to refueling the US Air Force, the KC-135 also provides refueling support for the Navy, Marine Corps, and other allied nations. To safely manage the refueling operation, the KC-135 is designed with a boom pod in the rear of the aircraft that a single boom operator controls. Lying in a flat prone position, the boom operator is in charge of communicating with the receiver pilot and actually flies the boom to ensure it's in the proper position for transfer. While there are a ton of unique jobs in the Air Force, this one in particular gives you just about the coolest office in the world with more spectacular views than you could possibly imagine. I'm Senior Airman Justice Ryan. I'm a boom operator for the KC-135 Shadow Tanker. Yeah, it's very challenging and rewarding flying 30,000 feet in the air, 500 miles per hour, going up there supporting the air fuel emissions, it's just me back there rocking the mesh. Walking you through the refueling process, we lower the boom whenever we get radio contact with our receivers. It's usually about two miles out, maybe further. Make sure they have all their switches off for their ammunition and whatever they might have on board and safely bring them up to us and refuel them as needed. So to actually get inside the KC-135, the entrance is a little bit different. There's not a staircase, there's not a jet bridge, it's just a ladder that comes down right here at the nose. So, Dad, as someone who's done this many times, what's with the unique design? Well, I think it was designed for crews to get up in the aircraft very quickly, close it up, start engines, and get out to the runway to take off for that mission to go support the bombers. Interestingly, it was also designed when this aircraft was, we were first flying, when I was flying it, we carried parachutes and there's a handle you pull and then what actually happens here is this thing will jettison down, stop the air, you hang from the handle up there, and you would drop into the slipstream and that's how you would bail out of the aircraft. To my knowledge, no one's ever bailed out of a KC-135. The Air Force figured, hey, it's flown this long without a bail, we probably don't need parachutes anymore, so today they don't no longer carry parachutes. Yeah, it's definitely unique and I think it's time that we head inside. Let's do it. Go! Just like when the KC-135 first rolled off the line, the primary mission remains aerial refueling. However, today the aircraft can also support cargo transport and can move 83,000 pounds of cargo or six standard size pallets loaded up inside. Additionally, up to 36 passengers can fit on these seats lined on either side, including aeromedical evacuation in which stretchers can be loaded on board to transport patients wherever they need to go. Now for some reason, every video I make, everyone wants to know where the bathroom is, so for everyone interested, it's right here. And dad, I imagine you're pretty familiar with this area, huh? Yeah, funny story. When I was a young lieutenant, I was on a long mission and I really had to go to the bathroom and take care of business. What was interesting, after I went, everybody on the crew had to go. The aircraft commander, the boom operator, the navigator. It wasn't until after we landed up that I figured out why, because they told me that the rule was, the first guy to use it had to empty it out. That's just kind of an example of some of the things we did and the crew coordination we had going on to make this job so much fun. Now we'll have to ask if that's still a rule to this day, but yeah, for anyone wondering where the bathroom is, right here. Back when I was flying this aircraft, we had a crew of four and included a navigator who sat in this seat here and his responsibility was telling us where to go and coordinating rendezvous with our receiver aircraft. He also monitored the weather radar. Interestingly, we used to practice celestial navigation, navigating off the stars and the moon. That was the nav's responsibility, work with the boom operator. They put a little stool here and they used this sextant, which is like a manual GPS. They took angles off the sun and the stars and then they charted it out and used that to determine where we were. And they were very good at it. And the reason we did that was because they thought that if a nuclear war happened, we wouldn't have the traditional means of navigating. So we had to use celestial navigation to navigate. We're here with Captain Elliot, one of the KC-135 pilots at MacDill Air Force Base, also going to be one of our pilots when we go up for the aerial refueling flight in just a bit. So Captain Elliot, can you give us a brief overview on the flight deck and some of the controls here on the KC-135? For our air refueling mission, this is our fuel panel. We can see how much fuel we have in each of the tanks at any given time and manage it for our offloads. And this aircraft also has four engines. So we use these throttles right here to control each of the engines. They're very powerful and we use those to go off and do the mission. So what is the range on the KC-135? Because I've always wondered if you can offload all of the fuel you guys carry or if you have to keep your fuel for the aircraft like stored in a separate tank. How does that work? How far can we fly? I would equate it to about 16 to 17 hours. It'll really depend on how high we go and how fast we're going. So that could vary a little bit. And then can we offload every drop? Absolutely. This plane can carry about 200,000 pounds of fuel, which equates to about 30,000 gallons. And we carry it both in our wings and underneath the center of the aircraft. So Dad, does everything look pretty much the same from when you were flying? Can you still remember where everything is? Well, I can't say I could find everything quickly because some of it is different. A few different switches, but for the most part, it looks very, very similar. They made some changes in the avionics because when I was flying, we had a navigator and they moved some of the equipment up here so they could fly without a navigator. But for the most part, it's very, very similar. And Dad, I know you've flown a lot of different aircraft. So what are some of those more unique differences between the newer aircraft you've flown and something like the KC-135? I think one of the most unique things about the KC-135 is that all the flight controls are connected by cables. I can move the yoke here and the ailerons are turning on the outside of the aircraft. I can step on the rudder pedals and the rudder is moving. Even the throttles are connected by cables. And that's very unique in today's modern aircraft. And it's still crazy to me that this aircraft can fly as high as 50,000 feet, which is significantly higher than pretty any other commercial airliner. So what is the highest both of you have ever flown in the 135? Well, the highest I've ever flown was 45,000 feet. I did go to 49,000 feet one time. That was very unusual. The winds were a lot stronger than forecasted. We were going over the Pacific, going to Tokyo, and that was the only way we were going to make Tokyo. The downside of going that high is when you go that high, you have to wear an oxygen mask. And the reason you have to do that is because if you lost pressurization that high, you would not have time to put your mask on before you passed out. All right. Well, at this point, I think it's time for us to get briefed up and get ready for our flight. Captain Elliott, thank you so much. We're excited. We'll see you soon. All right. Good morning, Dante Flight. So today we're Dante 3-1 and 3-2. We'll be doing formation out on AR 465, refueling F-16s. We'll have six of them. We have a two ship going out for a six ship AR. Planned time for the flight is about two and a half hours. So that's big picture. And we'll get into the details here now. So Dante 3-1, AC for that's going to be myself, Captain Elliott. AC for Dante 3-2 is going to be Captain Reed. 6-1-0-2-9-5 is going to be 3-1 and 5-8-8-000-1 is going to be 3-2. We're parked on spot Bravo 12 and he's on Alpha 15. We got 90K on board for each jet. If for some reason one jet does slip, it should be enough fuel to offload the fuel, full offload to the fighters. Planned runway is runway 5, 7CRN, 20 flap, maximum takeoff. Plan for MITO takeoff, 12 second interval. And after that, if you have an abort, call sign abort three times. All right. So that's everything. Do you guys have any questions? Yeah. I think the only question I have is, is he able to fly? Are we going to let him get in the seat? Unfortunately, no. All right. Well, he can be there to supervise. Yeah, let's go with that. So, Dad, 25 years later, back here in front of the KC-135, do you ever think you'd have a chance to go for a flight again? How are you feeling? Oh, I thought the last flight I took in January of 1999 was my Finney flight. Never thought I'd have this opportunity. I'm really excited about it. All right, let's get it. Right now, we're headed down towards the south of Florida, near the Florida Keys. We'll be entering a MOA to refuel some F-16s. So you'll be able to get a chance to see that and how we do our operations out here. It'll be pretty stable. We have another tanker out there as well. They're already established. So we'll be meeting up with them, a mid-mission join up, and then they'll take three of the F-16s and we'll take the other three. Sounds good. We're definitely excited to be here. Dad, does that sound pretty similar to your missions you flew? Yes, very similar. And a MOA stands for military operating area, which is nice because we'll have a lot of airspace we can use. Yeah, well, it's going to be awesome. Definitely looking forward to the flight. Should be some fantastic views and thanks for having us on board. No problem. Glad to have you here. Okay, I saw you did some calculations there. I know you must be thinking about moving around fuel, getting ready for air refueling. What are some of the things you're thinking about and what's your plan to move and offload fuel? Sure. So our receivers are asking for 20,000 pounds of fuel. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to configure our fuel panel. So this is showing where the fuel is in each tank. And so I'm going to move fuel around to make sure that we maintain a CG that's within limits. So CG makes sure we're stable in the air essentially. And then from there, we're able to give them our receivers fuel from our aft body tank and our forward body tank. So when we do AR, I'm going to be giving them, I'll be turning these switches on and then that will be pumping them gas. Okay. I know we talked a lot about how this engine can fly well on two engines. We're up here at 27,000 feet. Is there any way you can demonstrate that for us? Sure, absolutely. Let me go ahead and turn autopilot off so you can really get a good idea of what's going on. So autopilot's coming off. All right, autopilot's off. So I'm hand flying now. And so with our two engines, what I'm going to do here, I'm going to pull back the number one and number four engines. And I'll pull back number one so you can see how the asymmetric thrust will have our plane turn on its own without me moving the yoke. So right now pulling back number one. So the plane's going to want to turn like it is now, but in order to avoid doing that, I'll pull back number four so we can fly symmetrically, level us back out, push up some power with the two engines. And now we're straight and level holding our speed with just two engines up here at 27,000 feet. Plane has a lot of power. As we approached our rendezvous point with the F-16s, that meant it was time for me to head back to the boom pod to meet up with the boom operator. I guess I didn't fully realize how tight of a fit it was back here, but at the same time, it's also quite comfortable. And I've even been told that on long haul flights, this is the place to be to catch a quick nap and check out some incredible views. All right, I'm here with senior airman Justice, who's got probably the coolest office in the Air Force. For those of you watching right now, there's about a three, four foot glass panel. We're out over the ocean. It is a spectacular view. Dude, what's it like getting to work here? It's surreal. You know, you take it for granted, but this is a beautiful view and you got to take it in. And I know we're getting ready to link up with the F-16s right now. So can you kind of walk me through the process of what you're looking for? Right. So we have radio contact with them right now, waiting for them to come up. Once they do, we will lower the boom. And once we have a visual, we'll guide them in and get ready to give them some gas. So how actually do you guide them in? I'm looking at this panel right here in front of you. It almost looks like a mini cockpit. Can you walk me through some of that? Right. So we have some pilot director lights down here. And over here, we have our light indicators. So when they're getting close to us, we'll start guiding them and using these little levers. We'll correct them with an up correction, down correction, or forward and aft. So I assume you've gotten to refuel a bunch of different aircraft. What would you say your favorite aircraft to refuel is? I got to say the B-1 or what we're going to be refueling right now, the F-16s. I love some fighters. Well, I cannot wait to see these F-16s, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. So at this point, I could see the F-16s off in the distance, beginning their approach to link up with our aircraft for the aerial refuel. The boom operator is critical here because they're the ones communicating with the F-16 pilots, ensuring they're in the right position and flying at the right speeds to make a successful contact. Approaching the stern. 40 feet. 30. Up two, please. 10. MAKO 1-2 has good indications in the jet. Copy all. 1-2, clear to contact. 1-2. MAKO 1. Coming. 1-2 copies. Right now, we're just looking, making sure we have rotor vator control and waiting for our elevation to get 30 degrees. And I know they call the boom like a flying boom. It actually has like winglets on it, right? And kind of like little, little wings. So can you actually kind of guide it and fly it and have to know a little bit about aerodynamics? Yeah. You know, it depends on our speed, but you got, as you see right there, you got some rotor vators and that's how you fly the boom. So can you show me kind of left, right, how much movement you've got with it? Yeah, for sure. So when we come do our control check, we'll extend it out 10 feet because that's our pre-contact position. So that's what it looks like 10 feet out. So what's the longest a refuel will be? Like, let's say you've got something like a C-5 and it's almost empty. Like what's the max time they'll be on you connected? I mean, it can get up to 20, maybe 30 minutes. So it really depends on how much you're offloading and how well they stay on the boom. So I imagine it's a lot harder to refuel when you're in weather or you're in clouds. So what's that process like, or even at night? I mean, is it pretty stressful for you? Like that seems crazy. Yeah, definitely can be. A lot of it comes down to us and however comfortable we are with getting the mission and, you know, kind of just taking those risks as a crew to, you know, what risks are we going to take and to make sure our receivers can get their offload. Once the refuel is finished, the process essentially repeats. In today's case with the multiple F-16s that we're refueling. But in some flights, a tanker may actually fly across the entire ocean with the receiver aircraft to refuel them continuously so that they can make the entire flight without landing. The tanker mission is both incredibly efficient and incredibly vital and just so fascinating to see up close and in person. All right, everyone, how's it going up here? From the back, it was an incredible view. Dad, everything goes smoothly. Refueling, how'd it go? Yeah, everything went great. There were a few adjustments that had to be made because some of our receivers didn't come. So, and we had to change lead positions. A lot of things happened that is not really that unusual. These guys did a great job of handling some different contingencies. Yeah, well, from the back, I was telling the boom operator, pilots get a lot of hype, but I think that's one of the coolest jobs in the Air Force back there, especially seeing that view. So thanks so much. I know I'm going to get strapped in here, get ready for landing, but thanks for having us up. No problem. Glad to have you. How was it? It was awesome. Great. Well, I can speak for the booms. They absolutely crushed it. But Dad, you were an evaluator pilot back in the day. How would you rate the flying of our crew today? Well, I'd give it an outstanding performance. They did a great job. I want to thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to fly with you. Our country's in good hands with this crew flying for us. And to the sixth air refueling wing and everyone here at McDill Air Force Base, thanks so much for having us out. I hope you learned something new and I'll catch you next time.