You’re running low, and you need to refuel. No big deal, right? You pull into the nearest gas station, stop at a pump, grab a hose and in five minutes, you’re back on your way again.
Now imagine your “gas station” is 30,000 feet up in the air –
- you’re refueling on the fly (literally), traveling more than 300 miles an hour
- the “gas station attendant” has to drop a 20-foot hose down to your fuel tank
- pumping a thousand gallons a minute
- oh, and you’re doing all this over the middle of the ocean.
That’s life for Navy fighter pilots. But now, those pilots are about to get a new gas station…