At the request of a U.S. Navy strike squadron, a team of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division F/A-18E/F aerial refueling engineers recently expedited a clearance to allow Super Hornets to use the Centerline Drogue System on Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tankers. From left to right: Seth Shaw, Jim Payne, Mike Nowotny, Tom Cavallaro, Tyler Pegg, Nick Bartlett, Chris Nickell, Maj. Daniel Johnson, and Lt. Chad “Nature Boy” Henderson.
At the request of a U.S. Navy strike squadron, a team of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division F/A-18E/F aerial refueling engineers recently expedited a clearance to allow Super Hornets to use the Centerline Drogue System on Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tankers. From left to right: Seth Shaw, Jim Payne, Mike Nowotny, Tom Cavallaro, Tyler Pegg, Nick Bartlett, Chris Nickell, Maj. Daniel Johnson, and Lt. Chad “Nature Boy” Henderson.
A group of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division engineers recently expedited a flight clearance for F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets to conduct aerial refueling from Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft in response to an urgent request from a West Coast Navy fighter squadron. Thanks to their collective efforts, the clearance was approved in just five days and is now available to the entire fleet.
May 30, a Saturday, had been a quiet day for Naval Test Wing Atlantic flight test technical specialist Chris Nickell until he received an email from an officer in Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136 “Knighthawks.” The squadron had been on an extended deployment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) in the Atlantic, the email said, and were preparing to rotate home to Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. If the squadron could refuel in the air, they would not have to quarantine upon their arrival home. The Knighthawks had identified an Air Force KC-46A tanker squadron that would be able to rendezvous with them. But were Super Hornets cleared to refuel off the tankers’ Centerline Drogue System, or CDS?
