The following video depicts two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters refueling from an HC-130J Combat King II during Ex. Angel Thunder 2013.
Watch the helicopters blades coming dangerously close to the refueling hose as the pilots struggle to get in the proper position to plug the IFR (in-flight refueling) probe into the low speed paradrogue (or “basket”).
Ex. Angel Thunder is the world’s largest Personnel Recovery exercise providing the most realistic PR training environment available to USAF Rescue forces, as well as their Joint, Interagency, and International partners from Brazil to Uruguay.
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
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2 Comments
They didn’t get helos because they were the sharpest knives in the drawer.
@Fighter Pilot: Careful what you say. During my tour of duty in Nam, we lost 3 Crew Members, 2 Helos, and saved 97 airmen from being guests at the Hanoi Hilton. Oh, it is not true that we kept “A No-Pick Up List.” As a Former Helo Pilot I can say that all a Fighter needs to know is that the pointy end goes forward.
They didn’t get helos because they were the sharpest knives in the drawer.
@Fighter Pilot: Careful what you say. During my tour of duty in Nam, we lost 3 Crew Members, 2 Helos, and saved 97 airmen from being guests at the Hanoi Hilton. Oh, it is not true that we kept “A No-Pick Up List.” As a Former Helo Pilot I can say that all a Fighter needs to know is that the pointy end goes forward.