Hi All,
Ok, so I want to bounce an idea off of you guys, and see not only if it is practical, but economical, possible and worth while.
So, I have this idea - that instead of making planes haul all of their fuel in-flight, that we develop a way to allow aircraft to fuel after takeoff via in-flight fueling. Sorta like a fueling station in the sky. I was earlier thinking of having KC-135s flying around out there, but perhaps another format would serve better.
It would allow aircraft to take off with more weight, and then burn less fuel in the take off process. It would also allow certain aircraft to fly much longer routes, and would allow some airport to deal with emergency situations differently.
So, am I being completely daft here? Has this been discussed/studied elsewhere already? How could this work out? And, should it?
Ok, so I want to bounce an idea off of you guys, and see not only if it is practical, but economical, possible and worth while.
So, I have this idea - that instead of making planes haul all of their fuel in-flight, that we develop a way to allow aircraft to fuel after takeoff via in-flight fueling. Sorta like a fueling station in the sky. I was earlier thinking of having KC-135s flying around out there, but perhaps another format would serve better.
It would allow aircraft to take off with more weight, and then burn less fuel in the take off process. It would also allow certain aircraft to fly much longer routes, and would allow some airport to deal with emergency situations differently.
So, am I being completely daft here? Has this been discussed/studied elsewhere already? How could this work out? And, should it?
Comment