Aerial Refuelling

[KirtjE]

How do military aircraft request ATC assistance for aerial refuelling? What is the procedure for aircraft and ATC?

[Knackers]

We have a procedure called MARSA - military authority assumes responsibility for separation. We maintain separation between the tanker and the F18 formation, providing whatever clearances, vectoring, etc, is required to get them together - usually none, they can do it themselves. When they are ready to forgo the civil separation standard, they report going MARSA and do their own thing. Once they have completed the job and are in positions or levels that we can once again accept as a civil separation standard, MARSA is cancelled and normal civil separation resumed.

That's the procedure in civil controlled airspace. Alternatively the RAAF can declare temporary blocks of restricted airspace or even temporary blocks of moving restricted airspace, but I've never seen the latter.

[BOAC]

What sort of "ATC assistance" do you ask about?

[KirtjE]

I was thinking how the conversation would go between the aircraft and the ATC, and what kinds of things would have to be discussed, as I assume some sort of weather update would be required incase the planes ran into turbulance etc.

[Lon More]

Over Benelux and Germany they would normally be working a Military radar unit, the flight plan would have the details of their flight into a tow-line, once there the chicks close in and feed.
ATC not really involved.

[anotherthing]

Au contraire... In the UK, London and Scottish Mil ATC very much involved depending on where the tow-line is.

It was (and probably still is) part of the ARTS (Military Area Radar Training School course) run by the RAF and RN at Shawbury.

[Fox3snapshot]

Par for the course in the Middle East, in fact tanker traffic makes up almost 20% of the traffic and 95% of the emergencies!!! Yip, they are getting old!

Operations with the tankers are pretty straight forward although sometimes the place they choose to tank is messy so we shove them along a bit, typically to the next FIR! :E

[BOAC]

KirjE- the weather side of it would be well briefed and I'm sure the Mil ATC would forward any sig weather reports. As folk are saying, it depends where the refuelling is taking place - it could be on a Notamed 'towline' or on a straight line 'en-route' ferry type trip. In the first case mostly under Mil ATC, for the second, presumably mostly in an altitude block under whichever control is appropriate. There are enough bodies in most large tankers to cover several R/T channels.

[BDiONU]

KirjE- the weather side of it would be well briefed and I'm sure the Mil ATC would forward any sig weather reports.
Hhhmmm I had a KC135 heading to the states from EGUN cross the West coast of Scotland whilst the chick, another KC135, was playing catch up. Had them positioned nicely with the lead at FL270, I called the chick "tanker is 12 o'clock 10 miles 1000' feet above report visual (for MARSA)", response was "Negative sir". My next call "Tanker is 12 o'clock 5 miles 1000' above are you visual?". "Negative sir" at which point the penny dropped and I asked the tanker for his flight conditions "We're IMC sir" DOH! Followed by the process of dropping the chick down until he was VMC plus a 1000 feet lower and taking the tanker down until they were visual and separated by 1000' until they accepted MARSA.

BD