"Henry J Cobb" wrote in message
...
Guy Alcala wrote:
A boom receptacle, OTOH, is theoretically only limited in diameter by
the fuel flow
rates that the a/c's internal fuel piping is designed to deal with;
since the flow
rate in A/B is quite high, and since none of this is adding weight/drag
outside the
airframe, transfer rates can be much higher with little/no weight
penalty on the
receiver. The tanker is paying the weight/drag penalty of the boom, but
it's a lot
larger and can afford it.

And then you've got three pilots.

One pilot for each aircraft and then somebody in the back of the tanker
to fly the boom.

The boom operator is neither trained nor paid as a pilot, so your point
would be...?

Brooks

-HJC