From this close up it certainly looks like the F-35B had an overtake and may have gone between the #3 and #4 engines - look at the damaged underwing tank hanging off that appears to have been sliced !

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9b31b52d9a.png

Yes, just not very far!

Because in the US, the word EMERGENCY means the same thing. Guess that is hard for you other English speaking folks to understand. We are taught from childhood to use the word EMERGENCY, simple as that.

Sycamore-from my short time in AAR I remember that ATP56 (or whatever it is called these days) allows boom receivers to join direct astern (although not from 70 miles!) It also strongly advises against such a procedure for probe and drogue. If the USMC don't follow said document, now might be a good time to start!

Also imagine the Marines will need to "buy the farm". Bet the (strawberry?) farmer gets a nice check to cover the crop loss associated with the incident, investigation and eventual recovery. Wonder how JP-5 tastes on strawberries.....

It is impossible to say that, even from the photo. The underwing could have been hit by hose whiplash, prop blade or associated shrapnel, internal mechanical failure or indeed by an impact from the receiver aircraft. Same goes for the prop damage - when you start to shed a prop then anything around it is fair game. The metal-bladed Herc demonstrated a number of times the ease in which a shed blade from one side could take out an engine on the opposite side of the airframe. Prop blades don't find fuselage structure as an impediment to their energetic travels.

I think us English speaking folk understand completely. Thankfully young children do not get to fly aircraft or pick their own RT procedures:

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_3.html
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_1.html
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_3.html

Joe Smith
 

What a great post. Smug and wrong all at the same time. Bravo.

BV

H-Q,and Vasco, it all depended on the relative weights and heights of both tanker and receiver,not so much on stallspeed for `tobobogggganning`,or if there was weather ahead on the route,or `lo-speed/high speed` drogues...
We could t/o at 188k ,op .necessity,but it was a painful climb`,darn Sarf,limited by Vno3 and internal fuel transfer/usage.Only used it once for tanking from `IceStation Kilo` to refuel a `brown weather balloon`somewhere N of ` a North place`....Not so much of a problem for fast jets....
To this incident,intrigues me how you get a F-35 under/through the props/tanks without hitting the tailplane,or did it go over the wing ,hit the props,and they took out the stbd tank,but the stbd refuelling pod appears undamaged......maybe an ex-Blue Angel...?

The airplane is about 1000 meters from the end of runway 35 at Thermal airport.

Why would this be an issue? Like any other rejoin to any position, astern or to the wing, you always put your flight path marker below, beside or behind to aircraft you are joining, until very close and close to co-speed. If you hit it while on your way to the astern position, you would probably also hit it if cleared to the inside wing during a turning rejoin....

Distress Calls
 

In the 70s, as an ATCO at Eastern Radar, I was tasked with giving lectures to new USAF crews in the UK at LKH, BTW and UPH. I thing I still have the slides! Part of the emphasis was on using the proper terms (MAYDAY or PAN), explaining the UK D&D organisation and reassuring them there was no fee. Interesting to see that 50 years later US Mil continues to plough its own furrow (literally), regardless. :ugh:

Perhaps my best/worst case was in ‘68, with a TF-100 pilot who had ejected ... and while floating down into the North Sea east of Strubby used his PLB to transmit on 243.0 and say “This is Wiggins, anybody there?”. He was triangulated and recovered by SAR from Coltishall ... sadly his colleague was never found.

The C130 is a tactical tanker in the Marine Corp. As such the tanking is done under quite different conditions than strategic tanking. As a example tanking is often done as low as 500 feet AGL and often EMCON so no radio use is allowed.
It may also turn out that this accident is not pilot error. A bad basket or ruptured hose could sends hundreds of lbs of fuel down the intake. I have no idea how a F35 engine would react to that but it has created serious issues in other aircraft types. The probe on the F35 is in a bad location relative to the intake.

Bob Viking - ROFL:ok::)

I agree Bob V, funny and spot on.

typical Bob V humour - brilliant!

Ah thankyou.
 

I’m here all week.

BV

Don't leave the room yet then Bob!

So, the argument here is if it's better to declare an emergency by saying:
a) Mayday!
or
b) Emergency!

Seriously? :ugh:

Afraid so TD, there are emergencies, and then there are emergencies, to differentiate there are two distinct words to inform the world of your state, MAYDAY and PAN. The first is self evident, PAN calls take priority over every other calls on the radio except MAYDAY calls and should be used when someone is not in grave an imminent danger and does not require immediate assistance, but has an urgent situation. The urgent situation may be the result of degradation of aircraft systems , you spot a boat, vehicle or aircraft needing urgent assistance, you get lost or need navigation assistance, when you need to break rules to stay safe etc etc. In the civil world ICAO doesn't recognise the word "Emergency", cases of pilots using "Emergency" or other phrases other than "pan-pan" and "mayday" have caused confusion and errors in aircraft handling by ATC.

https://www.hkatc.gov.hk/HK_AIP/aic/AIC21-12.pdf