Same-Cycle Airborne Recovery Tanking Operations
‘Yo-Yo’ Tanking Operations Continued….
As you can see, this results in a much more efficient use of fuel airborne based on the average overall daily fuel burn (185K versus 235K) and a significantly reduced amount of fuel dumped in
In addition to his presentation concerning COE and Blue Water Certification, CDR Marc
order to reduce aircraft gross weight prior to recovery. Additionally, the time to refuel on deck is
“Stoner” Preston also gave an excellent brief concerning the use of Same-Cycle (commonly known drastically reduced. One of the main drawbacks of utilizing 5-Wet tanking results from not being able
as “Yo-Yo”) Tanking during C2X. Traditionally, CVWs have utilized 3-wet or 5-wet recovery tankers to have the jet ready for the following cycle because of the 50 minutes required to fill both the interon full-cycle missions, often with an early launch. Although tanker pilot workload, ease of planning, nal and external tanks during the turn. Mission tankers also have the ability to support other Air
and an overall reduced number of dedicated sorties makes this a very attractive approach, this meth- Wing missions after passing their mission give and covering their secondary front-side duties.
od also results in a higher amount of gas dumped, minimal alternate mission capacity (1+30 C2X cycles require max conserve), and increased on-deck fueling time (In excess of 50 minutes is often reOn the downside, not only does this particular plan increase the number of total sorties to exquired to refuel a 5-wet Rhino).
ecute a tanker plan but it also drastically increases the workload of the tanker pilots conducting the
‘Yo-Yo’ missions. The ‘Yo-Yo’ recovery tanker mission becomes much more dynamic as the pilot
has only a few minutes to launch, conduct a check of the store, and be on-station for the recovery.
The pilot must also effectively manage the amount of fuel in the ARS both on-deck and in the air in
order to ensure the ARS is both ready for launch and ready to come aboard. Because of the higher
level of general situational awareness required to conduct this mission, squadrons may find themselves limited on the number of pilots with the requisite amount of experience required to reliably and
effectively execute these missions.
http://www.hrana.org/documents/PaddlesMonthlyJuly2011.pdf
Typical 5-Wet Tanker Air Plan Lines
In addition to increased pilot workload, the demands on maintenance, the flight deck, and tower are also significantly increased. However, during CVW-8’s recent C2X they found that the coordination and training time required to shift tanker strategies was minimal and the CV/CVW team executed it relatively seamlessly.
During the course of a typical C2X fly day, a 5-Wet tanker plan results in the following:
x
6 Tankers Configured to Make 5
x
Average Available Mission Give: 3,000 to 4,000 pounds per Event
x
Average Tanker Fuel Dump: 3,000 to 5,000 pounds
x
Minimum Daily Fuel Required to Execute (Burn + Give + Dump): ~235,000 Pounds
x
20 Tanker Hours / 11 Tanker Sorties
Why is this particular strategy worth considering? Overall, ‘Yo-Yo’ tanker operations are more
efficient in terms of aircraft and fuel utilization. While the number of sorties flown with tankerconfigured aircraft increases by 35%, the full-cycle mission tankers buy you another alternate mission every cycle. While the planning and execution for this mission is definitely more challenging,
the higher efficiency and increased fuel savings pay serious dividends.
Now, examine the Air Plan below that utilizes four ’Yo-Yo’ mission tankers (ARS-only, no external
tanks) with three dedicated mission give, full cycle SSC tankers (Configured 3-Wet):
For any questions, please contact the LSO School Staff. A copy of the full brief is also available on the LSO School Website.
“...The tanking mission accounts from anywhere from 25 to 30 percent of Super Hornet
sorties,...”
21 Mar 2017
Using this plan during the course of a typical C2X fly day, this tanker plan results in the following:
x
x
x
x
x
6 Tankers Configured to Make 4 Required (+1 Redundancy than 5-Wet Plan)
Average Available Mission Give: 4,000 to 5,000 pounds per Event
Average Tanker Fuel Dump: 1,500 to 2,000 pounds
Minimum Daily Fuel Required to Execute (Burn + Give + Dump): ~185,000 Pounds
18.5 Tanker Hours / 17 Tanker Sorties
https://news.usni.org/2017/03/21/
skunk-works-head-latest-navymq-25a-requirements-pushingcompetitors-redesign-offers