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Old 26th Jul 2016, 01:11
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Um... lifting...
 
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I think he meant t'other way around, where the helicopter delivers the fuel, which in my view would be a rather rash thing to do. Inflight, anyway.

But if not, C-130 tankers quite commonly deliver fuel inflight to helicopters of many types. KC-135s have done it as well, though that's a bit dodgier operation due to the typical speed disparity. C-130 overwing kits are used at remote island areas to extend helicopter range. I think I used one once, ever.

HIFR is a bit of a sketchy operation, as you have to pump the fuel UP to the aircraft, so to get adequate flow rate at your typical hover height, you need a great deal of pump pressure at the ship just to get it to the nozzle. I never liked doing it even one bit, but did it enough to develop a healthy distrust for it. I know of a crewman who had a seeping leak in the HIFR rig, and rather than hand signal for pump stoppage, shut off the valve in the rig... that little error raised the hose pressure to the point where atomized fuel sprayed under his helmet visor blinding him, all over the aircraft cabin, and could have gone in the engine intakes had not an alert deck crew stopped the pump. Nope, never liked HIFR one bit.
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