Greybeard has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about the potential of old airliners such as the 757 being turned into tankers. As has been stated previously, the 757 is all but useless as a tanker due to its low fuel capability, small wing span and the disproportionate effort which would be needed to add a boom to the fuselage structure....
I note from the latest ARSAG newsletter that Boeing are still spouting the same old nonsense:
A ‘Pilot-in Command’ philosophy has been noted as a hallmark of the Boeing flight deck design, with familiar flight controls that provide pilots with important multisensory visual and tactile feedback on airplane behavior. This flight deck philosophy provides pilots with predictable and consistent flight control at all times, reducing response time in normal and emergency situations. The NewGen Tanker also allows the pilots access to the full flight envelope with no artificial computer law limits, giving the pilots immediate combat maneuverability whenever needed.
Finally, Boeing officials proudly point to the NewGen Tanker providing 21st century crews and their aircraft survivability enhancements unprecedented in a tanker aircraft, allowing them to safely operate in harm’s way.
What complete and utter drivel. What they really mean is "The NoGo tanker would have an old-fashioned control yoke and no flight envelope protection, giving the pilot the potential facility to destroy the aircraft during unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvring should the USAF be daft enough to employ the aircraft contrary to ATP-56(B) doctrine".
Face it, Bubba, you're going to need better reasons to back up your unflown 'paper plane' tanker.
I hear on the grapevine that the Italian KC-767I system despatch reliability is pretty lousy - and that the pods/flutter/buffet problems still haven't been fully solved.
Over 5 years late and ol' Bubba
still can't get it to work? What confidence would anyone other than the most jingoistic redneck have in the 767 NoGo development schedule?