Gents, I hesitate to mention this in case it detracts from the real issues here, but do you think the practice of remaining 'in contact' after fuel transfer is complete might have an impact on the seals in the AAR system? I understand that AAR enroute to the Falklands was generally 'offload complete, disconnect', but more recently receivers, in general (as I do not have knowledge of specific procedures/techniques of relevance), tend to stay in contact after fuel transfer, thereby burning the tanker's fuel, sort of, until some relevant point in time or space. Just a thought.