A KC-10 Extender has lost its flying boom. Someone’s found it in his hay-field….

According to an official release from Travis AFB, California, where the aircraft is based, the KC-10 was conducting training in support of Mountain Home AFB’s Gunfighter Flag Exercise when the refueling boom separated from the aircraft near the range complex.

Used as the standard aerial refueling system for U.S. Air Force fixed-wing aircraft the flying boom is a rigid, telescoping tube, maneuvered by a “boom operator” by means of a control stick.

This method has the advantage to eliminate the requirement for the receiver pilot to plug the probe into the hose’s drogue: once the aircraft has reached the refueling position the operator moves the boom to insert the tube in the receptacle of the receiver aircraft.

Interestingly, the photographs of the remains of the boom, taken by someone on the ground, emerged on social media.

Top image credit: U.S. Air Force. Above embed from Air Force amn/nco/snco

Related articles