Fun in Towline 5

[Identified]

To all who came to play in TL5 tonight thanks very much it was great fun and just what you need when being standards checked!

PS Admin Guru please note the word tonight as in after 1700.

[Admin Guru]

Hmmm. Some of us were in work at 0730 when you were still fast asleep. You probably came in to work at 4pm for that sortie.. .Maybe if I worked 4pm until midnight aswell that would help people contact me when they were at work.

[Tonkenna]

Oh to be in AARA 5. Unlikely in a Tutor. Soon though, please <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> Still it is nice being on leave.

Hope it all went well with standards. They are not all bad <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

Admin Guru, you may well have hit the nail on the head. When your customers work very odd and flexible hours may be you guys should as well? Just a thought, even if it is only to get acces to SAMA (or whatever its called these days) or what is available to claim for. Oh, perhaps you could tell me why so many accounts personel think its their money that you are claiming and are so against giving advice on what can be claimed. Its not all of them, but very few are free with advice <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Tonks

[Max R8]

Aaah! AARA 5....like Tonks, after a pitiful Jan watching Tutors decorate our dispersal as the 1200ft cloudbase (tops at 3000ft but we can't get there!) scuds past, I would even enjoy a 3 hour NIMEX towline just to see what the sky looks like again...hope the trade was better than that. Mind you, I'd draw the line at a Herkex.

[BEagle]

Went to AARA 5 again yesterday - just thought that I'd let you know that it was quite nice above the clouds, ex-Lions! Sorry that Das Teutor is still restricted; any news as to when they're going to sort things out for you?

[Tonkenna]

No <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[BEagle]

The old name for air-to-air refuelling areas used to be 'Towlines'. That was replaced with the terminology 'anchor' or 'RA' some years ago - many in fact. Just as the terms 'Nimex', 'Hercex', were abandoned nearly 2 decades ago, there have been many changes in terminology with the advent of NATO-wide air-to-air refuelling procedures.

So, strictly speaking, the term 'Towline 5' does not refer to an 'air-to-air refuelling area'........

[ORAC]

I'm bored, so I might as well stick my oar in and confuse everyone. An AARA and an Anchor are NOT the same thing.

An Air to Air refuelling area (AARA) is an airspace reservation. The UK AARAs detailed in the en-route planning documents with the booking authority and control agency details.

These are not the only types however. If you peruse the ATP-56 you will find Altitude Reservations (ALTRV) which can be either static or mobile airspace reservations.

Neither are essential for AAR operations which can also be conducted using Tactical Towlines (TTL).

Within any of the above a tanker maintains a Track or Orbit. The terms can be used interchangably. If you want to be picky, an AAR Track is the pattern flown by a tanker within an area which passes through the Anchor at defined times. An Orbit is a defined point along a Track where a tanker can hold in an Orbit Pattern before departing for an RV with a receiver.

An Anchor is the defined reference point around which an AAR Track is orientated.

There are rules which define how the Track is orientated based on how the Anchor is defined and on timings. But these are not in the ATP-56A and whilst I do not think they are restricted I cannot put my hand on my heart and say so - so I will omit them. (For which you are probably thankful).

Lastly, none of these resemble how AAR is tasked using the ADatP-3 ATO format which is not even mentioned in the ATP-56a.

If you want to be really bored the ATP-56A is available at the link below. Which includes the observation:

"Any person finding this document should hand it to a British Forces unit or to a police station for its safe return to the MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, HQ SECURITY, LONDON SW1A 2HB, with. .particulars of how and where found".

So if you are really bored print out a copy and take it to your friendly local police station!!

<a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/publications/aar/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.raf.mod.uk/publications/aar/index.html</a>

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: ORAC ]</p>

[BEagle]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ - OK then, in colloquial usage the AARAs situated around the UK are often called 'Refuelling Areas'. Within these there are now defined initial and contact points, mainly to appease the Spams who love to make something easy seem difficult. They also coined the silly term 'anchor point' referring to a defined reference point within the area. So a fighter no longer says "I'm going to towline 5 ", but "I'm going to Refuelling Area 5" - or, if it's a Spam fighter,"Sir, yes Sir, we're aaah, proceedin' as at this aaaah time enn rowt the anchor to aaah hit the tanker, Sir".

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: BEagle ]</p>

[ORAC]

They've defined the CPs?

If you do it by the ATO every mission gets an individual AACP defined but the Tanker doesn't.

Why? The tanker goes round the track and each mission has a separate AACP and AACT where it moves behind. Irrelevant most of the time, but when transferring large amounts and on a very large track it can make a substantial difference in range from the datum. Of course, since most people have no automated planning system like TBMCS/C2IPS they cheat and just put the Anchor position in.

Only works when the tanker religiously follows the profile anyway. Which is unlikely with the RAF! Between turning early to pick a receiver up, extending to make up for a receiver being late, leaving the towline to meet someone short of fuel, sometimes they never made the towline at all!

(Though the K2 out of Marham who was joined by the Lighning F6 on the port wing as the undercarriage was retracting thought it was carrying it a bit far! (gave him the fuel though <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> ).

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: ORAC ]</p>

[15/15 flex]

BEags,

Quick question, albeit at a slight tangent...I assume that the operating pilot clears receivers for contact in the 10, much the same as the Trimotor? Just after some background info. While I'm here, I don't suppose UKAARNIs are available on line anywhere?

Cheers.

[ 02 February 2002: Message edited by: 15/15 flex ]</p>

[ORAC]

15/15 flex, all on-line as referenced above:

<a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/publications/aar/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.raf.mod.uk/publications/aar/index.html</a>

[BEagle]

15/15 Flex- Yes; in general the operating pilot directs the formation activity, including moving receivers astern and clearing them for contact whereas the air engineer does the physical switchery involved in the AAR process and provides a commentary on receiver positions. But that's not all they do, of course!

ORAC - hope you found what you were looking for. Some people make such a song and dance about positioning - all we need to know is where, when, at what height and going which way - and who wants how much. We can then use skill, cunning, JTIDS and flexibility to optimise the process rather than just going round on imaginery rails and providing an inefficient service to our customers.......

[ 02 February 2002: Message edited by: BEagle ]</p>

[Tonkenna]

Ooooppss,

Trouble is I kinda miss AAR so any chance to reminise. SO do we know what TL5 is yet??

Tonks <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[Identified]

I did of course mean AARA5 when I started all this.

[Art Field]

Tonks. Its an area roughly abeam that highly radiated piece of land called Flamborough Head and from 25nm to 80nm out on a bearing of 070, FL 70 to FL 290, allegedly reserved for AAR when booked. Known and loved by all Tanker Trash past and present, most Lionized VC10,s could find their way to it blindfold.

[BEagle]

Err, well no actually. Not any more. It's now situated +/- 18 minutes E/W about the Greenwich meridian between N5520 and N5620 - and from F70 to F240. Hence rather further north than it used to be - and orientated on True North. (The FMS track from OTR to the IP for AARA5 is about 010 deg M).

The location of all UK AARAs may be found at (takes deep breath) <a href="http://www.ais.org.uk/uk_aip/pdf/enr/20502.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.ais.org.uk/uk_aip/pdf/enr/20502.pdf</a> on page 5 thereof.

When the location of UK AARAs was changed some years ago, 'Mary' had them all renumbered (instead of heeding the sage advice of others and calling them something totally different to avaoid confusion - such as the normal US/European system of using names) - hence we had a few fun filled weeks of "Do you mean the old or the new Area 5?".....

All of which is nothing to do with Area 51, of course.......

[ 02 February 2002: Message edited by: BEagle ]</p>

[Tonkenna]

Art,

Ta, though I know where AARA5 is as ex "tanker trash" (and hopefully future tanker trash as well) I was just not sure if we had fully worked out whether we were all talking about the same thing <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

ID hope that staneval donn't find out you have caused so much confusion with this non SOP phraseology <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

. .Tonks "the retained" :)

[Art Field]

Tonks, I should have known better and me ex Staneval to boot. Yesterdays charts are only fit for flogging to the natives at Airshows as support for the Chocolate Spider and Harvey Wallbanger fountains required to see the day through. I expect I have spelt them wrong but I'm sure Beagle will correct me if I have, bless him. Good luck for your return.

[BEagle]

What's an airshow? I gather we did those, once upon a very long time ago....... Even went to USA, if memory serves!

[albert]

You won't find any TTL's any more becos there are not any Hercules tankers left. The only Tactical Tanker the RAF ever had!! And I say that from experience!!