Page 1 - Aerotech News and Review, June 21, 2019
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KC-46 flies past latest milestone
by Giancarlo Casem
Edwards AFB, Calif.

   In the midst of its Phase III testing, the KC-46                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Air Force photograph by Christian Turner
Pegasus completed yet another milestone. The
Air Force’s newest refueling tanker made its         A KC-46 Pegasus tanker refuels the B-2 for the first time during developmental flight test over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and the Sierra Nevada
first mid-air connection with the B-2 Spirit in      Mountains on Apr. 23, 2019.
the skies over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.,
recently.                                            rons considered safety to be paramount. Both         test engineer for the KC-46/B-2 certification test    the KC-135, which is especially helpful when
                                                     teams were able to openly communicate safety         program.                                              moving both aircraft and their support personnel
   The Air Force took first delivery of the KC-      concerns with each other, said Maj. Dan Welch,                                                             and equipment across the ocean.”
46 earlier this year, the Global Reach Combined      419th FLTS test pilot, and it started with, “in         “This process allows the test team to thor-
Test Force and the 418th Flight Test Squadron        depth safety planning and using a well thought       oughly evaluate the dynamics of the pair dur-            The KC-46 enhances the AF’s Global Reach
has been at the forefront of the platform’s devel-   out test build up to ensure safety of aircrew and    ing aerial refueling and is our primary mitiga-       and Strike capabilities by providing the reli-
opmental testing program.                            strategic assets, and fostering a culture where all  tion to most dangers; mid-air collision, boom         ability of a new aircraft coupled with a stable
                                                     feel comfortable speaking up if a safety concern     strike outside the air-refueler receptacle, and       platform to fly behind and will reduce fatigue
   “Testing with the B-2 was a pretty big deal for   presents itself.”                                    fuel over pressurization, inherent to air-refu-       flying behind a tanker with a large boom enve-
us,” said Jamie Smith, 418th FLTS lead aerial                                                             eling testing,” Johnson said. “Additionally,          lope, Welch said.
refueling engineer. “It is the first aircraft that      “The entire team of engineers and test pilots     the 418th FLTS tests using an airborne con-
has such a dark paint scheme and it takes up         from both the 418th and 419th collaborated to        trol room who are actively monitoring instru-            While the B-2 pairing tests are still ongoing,
quite a large portion of the Remote Vision Sys-      develop the safety plan and buildup test ap-         mented test parameters and are able to make           plans are now being developed to pair the KC-
tem (RVS) screen. We were all really interested      proach that was integral in the success of this      real-time decisions.”                                 46 with the B-1, Johnson said. And according
to see how the RVS would react with the B-2.”        mission,” Gray said. “The expertise from both                                                              to the test pilots, the success of the first KC-46
                                                     organizations in their respective platforms and         The KC-46 further strengthens the Air Force’s      and B-2 pairing adds to the history of firsts here
   With the connection with the B-52 last sum-       in-test conduct was apparent in planning and         bomber fleet by enhancing their capability pro-       at Edwards.
mer, and now the B-2, the KC-46 has success-         displayed in execution.”                             viding improved support to the Warfighter.
fully connected with two of the three bombers in                                                                                                                   “It’s very exciting to be part of a flight test
the Air Force inventory. The Global Reach CTF           The testing follows a heritage safety-buildup        “The KC-46 provides significant added capa-        first. But with the KC-46 program, nearly every
is working with the 419th FLTS, who is in charge     process where the tanker-receiver pair build out     bility over the workhorse of the tanker fleet, the    sortie we do is a first in some way, shape, or
of the 412th Test Wing’s bomber fleet.               from the center of an altitude/airspeed/configu-     KC-135. It is configured all the time to configure    form,” Lambach said. “Some, like the first con-
                                                     ration envelope, defined by legacy tanker and        both boom (U.S. Air Force) and drogue (U.S.           tact with a B-2, are more exciting than others.
   “This was a first flight of sorts for both of     simulation data. Engineers then incrementally        Navy, foreign) receivers, whereas the KC-135          To some degree we become numb to it, but each
these aircraft,” said Maj. Matthew Gray, 419th       test the handling qualities of the individual air-   can generally only refuel one type or the other       time we go fly, we realize that we’re going to do
FLTS test pilot and flight commander. “Never         craft and then build to the handling qualities of    on a given sortie,” said Maj. Jacob Lambach,          something that no one has ever done before. It
before has a flying wing refueled behind the KC-     the pair, said Rachel Johnson, 418th FLTS flight     418th FLTS flight test pilot. “It has the capability  is a privilege and an honor, and requires us to be
46 and as such, we tested unique aerodynamic                                                              to carry up to 18 pallets of cargo, versus six for    on the top of our game.”
influences while proving system capabilities.”

   Gray serves as the B-2 flight commander and
said the mission presented unique challenges and
important engineering data. The data gathered
from the pairing during the developmental test-
ing phase will impact how the KC-46 operates
in the near future. Engineers are looking for in-
formation pertaining to flight characteristics as
well as other data.

   “We are looking for data such as the bow-
wave effect from the tanker on the receiver and
how it affects receiver handling qualities, boom
handling qualities, whether the visual reference
indications are satisfactory to both aircrews, if
the two aircraft are mechanically compatible:
no nozzle binding during contacts, if the fuel
systems are compatible with one another, and,
determine the aerial refueling envelope; altitude
and airspeed,” Smith said.

   The B-2’s distinctiveness combined with the
new KC-46 platform offers unique challenges for
flight crews and engineers.

   “The flying wing design of the B-2 poses
unique challenges to the flying and handling
qualities of the tanker-receiver pair,” Gray said.
“The up-wash at the leading edge of the flying
wing is dynamic compared to the bow wave at
the nose of a conventional receiver aircraft. This
dynamic airflow environment in close proximity
to the horizontal stabilizer of the tanker is some-
thing we are looking to understand and charac-
terize throughout all test missions.”

   To mitigate the inherent dangers of the mis-
sion, teams from both the 418th and 419th squad-

June 21, 2019 • Volume 33, Issue 10                  Serving the aerospace industry since 1986            Use your smartphone to
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