#aerial refueling plane

[ghostwarriorrrr]

[nocternalrandomness]

Refueling over New Mexico

[padparadzha]

[sylusonychinus]

Coming in for a Landing

Summary: Caleb and plane you get it

Pairings: Caleb x Reader

a/n: came up with this headcannon while talking to @jinwoosbabyboo <3 this is specially for you sweetie

Chibi Caleb who treats the house like his personal airspace. He has designated "no-fly zones" (like the bathroom when someone’s using it) and "high turbulence areas" (any room with a ceiling fan on).

Chibi Caleb who gets stuck in the ceiling fan at least once a week. He flies too high, miscalculates, and—bonk—his tiny plane spins out of control, leaving him dangling by his seatbelt, yelling, “Ground crew, I need an emergency rescue!”

Chibi Caleb who kamikazes into cups of water. He’ll zoom across the kitchen, lose control, and—splash! His tiny plane nose-dives into my drink. He then climbs out, shaking off water, muttering, “Hydraulic system failure… need repairs.”

Chibi Caleb who steals snacks mid-flight. He flies low over the counter, reaches out of his cockpit, and yoinks a cookie before speeding away. If I try to stop him, he yells, “Aerial refueling complete! Returning to cruising altitude!”

Chibi Caleb who parks his plane on your keyboard while I’m working. He’ll roll up, set the parking brake, and say, “This is my new gate. Please do not disturb the aircraft while passengers deplane.” Then he just sits there, eating a tiny bag of peanuts.

Chibi Caleb who plays air traffic controller when his plane is under maintenance. If his plane is "broken" (aka he’s just resting), he’ll make me do hand signals before he lets me touch anything. If I don’t do it right, he refuses to let me "fix" his aircraft.

Chibi Caleb who does dramatic crash landings on pillows. If I’m sitting peacefully, he’ll suddenly scream, “ENGINE FAILURE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!” before nose-diving into my lap. Then he’ll just lay there like a ragdoll until I "tow" his plane back to the hangar.

Chibi Caleb who uses your backpack as a makeshift hangar. If I leave it open, he’ll taxi inside, shut the flap, and call it his maintenance bay. If I try to take my stuff out, he’ll yell, “Unauthorized personnel! Security breach at Hangar 5!”

Chibi Caleb who treats my cat like an air marshal. He’ll land his plane next to the cat, salute, and say, “Welcome aboard, Officer Whiskers. You’re in charge of security.” The cat just blinks and walks away while Caleb takes off again.

Chibi Caleb who insists on having a control tower. If I stack some books into a tower shape, he’ll fly past and ask for landing clearance. If I don’t respond immediately, he yells, “Tower, do you copy?! I’m running low on fuel here!”

Scene 1: The Coffee Spill Disaster

I’m sitting peacefully, sipping my morning coffee, when I hear the faint sound of tiny propellers whirring. Before I can react—

Chibi Caleb: "Diving in for an emergency water landing!"

His miniature plane zooms straight toward my mug, and before I can move it, he skims the surface, sending coffee sloshing over the rim. He pulls up just in time, avoiding a full crash, but the damage is done.

Me: "Caleb! You just splashed coffee all over my desk!" Chibi Caleb: "The rescue mission was a success! The crew survived! Minor turbulence, but we’ll recover!"

He shakes off a few coffee droplets and taxis away like nothing happened.

Scene 2: The Ceiling Light Incident

Chibi Caleb is on a high-altitude mission, circling the living room at full speed. He climbs higher and higher—until suddenly—

Bonk.

His tiny plane smacks into the hanging ceiling light, sending him spiraling into an uncontrolled descent.

Chibi Caleb: "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! CONTROL SYSTEM FAILURE!"

I rush forward just in time to catch him mid-air. He blinks up at me, a little dizzy.

Chibi Caleb: "Phew… good thing I had a parachute."

Me: "You did not have a parachute. I caught you."

Chibi Caleb: "Same thing."

He gives me a thumbs up before wriggling out of my hands to take off again.

Scene 3: The Unscheduled Cat Landing

Chibi Caleb is doing low-altitude maneuvers over the couch when suddenly, my cat leaps onto the armrest—directly in his flight path.

Chibi Caleb: "Oh no! Uncharted terrain ahead!"

He tries to pull up, but it’s too late. He belly-flops onto the cat’s back, clinging to his tiny plane as the cat freezes in place. For a moment, there is only silence.

Then—

The cat rockets across the room, shaking wildly, trying to dislodge the surprise "passenger." Caleb yells in delight.

Chibi Caleb: "Unexpected turbulence! Hold on to your seatbelts, folks!"

After a few wild spins, the cat finally manages to fling him off onto a pillow. He lands with a soft thud and sits up, grinning.

Chibi Caleb: "That was the best ride EVER!"

The cat glares at him and storms away. Caleb simply dusts himself off and gets right back into his plane.

Scene 4: The Sneaky Midnight Flight

I’m lying in bed, about to drift off, when I hear the faintest little whirrrrrr from above. I crack one eye open to see a tiny silhouette zipping across the room.

Me: "Caleb… what are you doing?"

Chibi Caleb: "Shhh… this is a top-secret night mission. Just routine patrols."

He swoops under my blanket, loops around my pillow, then lands gently on my nightstand.

Chibi Caleb: "Refueling break."

He climbs out of his cockpit, grabs a stray cracker from my snack stash, and munches quietly. Then, as if nothing happened, he hops back into his plane and takes off again, flying low to avoid my swatting hands.

Me: "Go. To. Sleep."

Chibi Caleb: "Sorry, Captain, I have a strict flight schedule."

I sigh, roll over, and accept the fact that tiny planes will be buzzing through my room for the rest of the night.

[girlactionfigure]

🇮🇱SOME ISRAEL->IRAN ATTACK INFO, ACCIDENTAL EARTHQUAKE - Real time from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🚨ISRAEL RETALIATORY ATTACK ON IRAN.. The IDF carried out Friday night a retaliatory operation for the ballistic missile barrage about a month ago.  They destroyed factories for the production of missiles, launchers of surface-to-surface missiles and air defense systems.

.. Simultaneous attack against Iran and sites in Damascus, Syria.

.. Sites in capital Tehran and nearby city of Karaj, among others.

.. 20 military targets were struck across Iran in three waves.

.. Iran's Fars news agency says several military bases near Tehran hit.

.. Reports of use of Israeli loitering munitions as well as jet airstrikes.

.. Air defense sirens in Tehran sounded.

.. IDF statement: "The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil," the military says.   Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.  The reprisal strike was completed, and its objectives were achieved.”

.. IDF also targeted Iran’s surface-to-air missile arrays and Iranian aerial capabilities that were intended to restrict Israel's aerial freedom of operation in Iran. Israel now has broader aerial freedom of operation in Iran.

.. Syrian opposition sources reported that Israeli jets attacked radar systems at "Tel al-Kalib" in southeast Suwayda (southern Syria) and the 19th battalion of Syria’s air defense in Homs, central Syria.

.. Dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refuelers, and spy planes, participated in the strikes some 1,600 kilometers from Israel. The aircraft safely returned to Israel following the “complex” operation.

.. RUSSIA reportedly shared intelligence & warned Iran hours before the Israeli strikes.

.. US officials now believe that Iran will retaliate for the retaliation “in a subdued way.”

.. Iran is making significant efforts to downplay the impact of the Israeli attack in their media.

♦️LEBANON - Israeli fighter jets also struck Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital of Beirut overnight, 8 attacks.

♦️LEBANON - IDF captures four truck-mounted rocket launchers, loaded with 160 rockets. Separately, around 130 Hezbollah launchers were struck by the Israeli Air Force in the past week.

♦️GAZA - The IDF says it has expanded the designated "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza , where the vast majority of the Palestinian population in the Strip currently resides.  The zone is where most humanitarian aid is directed, and where several field hospitals were established. 

♦️GAZA - IDF attacking heavily in the north of the Gaza Strip - the echoes of the explosions can be clearly heard in many areas in the south of the country.

♦️SAMARIA, TULKARM - A Hamas operative planning an "imminent" terror attack was killed by special forces, following a firefight.  He was found with weapons and bomb parts.

▪️ACCIDENTAL EARTHQUAKE.. on Shabbat morning 6:30 AM, the IDF demolished a large underground Hezbollah Radwan invasion force base in southern Lebanon using 400 tons of explosives.  That huge explosion set off earthquake detectors in northern Israel, which set off Home Front Command EARTHQUAKE alarms across the northern 1/3 of Israel - sirens and alert apps going off in over 100 towns and cities.  Oops.

Story and photos of the base: IDF finds huge Hezbollah base primed for invasion https://www.timesofisrael.com/under-a-lebanese-border-village-idf-finds-huge-hezbollah-base-primed-for-invasion/

⭕HEZBOLLAH ROCKET STRIKE KILLS 2, injures 13+ (some critical) in northern Israeli Druze town of Maid al-Krum.

⭕HEZBOLLAH ROCKET STRIKE injures 9 in Nahariya.

⭕DRONE FROM SYRIA intercepted in the Golan on Shabbat.

❗️END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME TONIGHT in Israel, at 2:00 AM go back to 1:00 AM.  Computers and phones should auto-adjust.

▪️ON THE IRAN ATTACK - ESCALATION OR NOT?

.. Foreign sources: 

…. Israel destroyed at least 12 special mixers - a critical component in the production of the solid fuel for Iran’s ballistic missiles. 

…. 4 - S-300 Russian advanced anti-aircraft batteries were attacked and disabled. 

…. Secret facility in Parchin where research and development activities related to the nuclear program were carried out in the past was attacked.

.. Videos shared by civilians in Iran show Israeli jets low-flying over areas in Iran, making their presence known.

.. According to Sky News, Iran told Israel that it would not respond to the attack. In Russia, some say that this is a type of "dogburniak", a Russian word that cannot be directly translated and means - a type of secret agreement between enemies who are not interested in uncontrolled escalation and secretly guard communication channels.

.. Prime Minister's Office: The report (above) is false and absurd. Israel did not inform Iran before the attack - not about the time, not about the targets, not about the strength of the attack.

.. Following Israel's attacks on military targets in the Islamic Republic, at 3:40 in the morning, the citizens of Tehran took to the streets and formed long lines at gas stations throughout the city.

.. The Saudi news site "Ilaf" reports that in attacks on Iran, Israel hit a factory for the production of solid fuel used to propel the ballistic missiles. It was also reported that the price of each solid fuel mixer that was in the factory is estimated to be at least 2 million dollars. "About 20 of them were destroyed," it was claimed. Sources familiar with the Iranian missile industry said that it would take at least two years for the plant to return to capacity, and that Israel had significantly disrupted Iran's ability to produce missiles.

.. AFP report: sources in Iran claim that only a radar array was damaged in the Israeli attack.

.. US President Biden responded to the attack in Iran: "I hope this is the end.”

.. German Chancellor Schulz: "My message to Iran is clear - we cannot continue with widespread reactions of escalation, it must end now."

.. The media in Iran: Significantly minimize the Israeli attack on the one hand, on the other hand and in the same breath they claim there will be an unlimited response.

♦️LEBANON - During the last day, the Air Force attacked more than 70 terrorist targets of Hezbollah, some of them directed by the Northern Command, among the targets that were attacked: anti-tank positions, military buildings, ammunition depots, terrorist squads and military headquarters.

⭕SAUDI SHIA TERROR GROUP.. claims to fire a suicide drone at Israel.

🔹Report in Lebanon: American envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Israel tomorrow.

▪️3 HERO SOLDIERS HAVE FALLEN.. in battle in Gaza:

Barak Israel Sagan, 22, from Petah Tikva

Ido Ben Zvi, 21, from Shomrat

Hillel Ovadia, 22, from Jerusalem (we previously reported, but didn’t have age or city)

May their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge their blood!

▪️WOMAN DIES RUNNING FOR SHELTER.. elderly woman passes away in Beit HaEmek.  May her memory be a blessing.

▪️CORRECTION - MAJD al-KRUM.. we said Israeli Druze town, we are told it is a majority Israeli Arab town.  13+ injured, 2 killed by a Hezbollah rocket strike - may the dead receive mercy.

[usafphantom2]

Y-20 and J-10A/S aerial refueling!

@yeuingfung via X

usafphantom2 : Two Chinese planes getting take out

[crazycurly-77]

Quantico in Danger - pt. 1

Spellbound and worried to no end you all stood in front of the screen and watched the reports concerning the big fire because of the heat at the Marine corps base in Quantico. 

You observed that the wind was constantly changing so that the fire threatened to get out of control. 

“The fire must be prevented from spreading any further” you mumbled. 

Tim looked at you with a frown and spoke up “sure, but how should that be possible? They already do what they can.”

Staring at him you had an idea “there is a possibility” and you grinned. 

“That's it! Thanks, Tim!” you hugged him tightly and kissed him briefly on the cheek. 

Then you grabbed your mobile and called the fire fighters

“This is Y/N Y/L/N and I'm a pilot. We have two CL-215 Firefighting Aircrafts, do you need help?”

“Yeah, the wind changes constantly so the fire grows. There are tanks with gasoline and ammunition storages. We need to protect them from the fire or the whole camp will blow up.”

“Hang in there, we're coming.” You answered hurriedly and hung up. 

The whole team stood there stunned and observed what you were doing. 

You ignored them and called your colleagues on the airfield next. 

“Ray here” the other pilot of the second fire fighting airplane answered the phone. Exactly the man you wanted to speak to. 

“Hi, this is Y/N. You heard of the big fire in Quantico?” 

“Yes” 

“Good. We will fly there to help. So get the two CL-215s ready for take-off, refuel one manually, we don’t have time to take on water. I’ll fly ahead with the first plane. In the meantime, you can take on water with the second plane and come to help.”

“Okay, will do.”

With that you both hung up. 

Ray got to work and you turned around to meet the worried glances of the team. 

You felt with them and your heart flew out to them, but you had to go. 

“What are you up to?” Gibbs asked with a frown.

You sighed “the fire is spreading quickly and it needs to be stopped before it reaches the tanks with the gasoline.”

“Yes,” he said, but it sounded questioningly and absolutely worried. He was starting to get an uneasy feeling and he didn't like it one bit. 

“I called the chief of the fire fighters and he said the wind is constantly changing. So they are fighting a nearly lost cause. Aerial support can help stop the flames.” You continued. 

“Good” he stated, starting to suspect what you were getting at based on your phone call. His blood started to run cold out of fear for you. 

“I have to do it. I simply have to, Gibbs. I'm one of the few people who can fly these aircrafts.” you argumented. 

He huffed out, shaking his head. Walking towards you he grabbed your upper arms and spoke softly “you know what you are risking?”

You simply stood there, looked at him and nodded. 

He didn't give in and continued, intensifying his argumentation worriedly “you risk everything. You could be blown up by an explosion and crash because of it.”

“Yes, I know. We always have this risk” you stated, breaking free from his grasp. 

He shook his head, grabbed your hand and pulled you to the elevator, ordering “come with me.”

As soon as the elevator moved for two seconds with you both standing inside, he pulled the emergency switch and the cabin came to an abrupt stop. 

The stopping caused the metal box to shake and you landed in the arms of Gibbs, who held you tight to his chest wrapping his arms around you and pulling you to him, reveling in the feeling of your body against his. 

Your cheeks began to burn out of embarrassment, so you tried to get a little bit away from him. But he still held you close and didn't want to let you go. 

Beneath your palm on his chest, you felt his heart beating just as fast as yours. 

He couldn't help himself, but kissed you briefly right on your lips and then said 

“As a valuable member of the team, I cannot lose you.” 

Then he kissed you once again, but with more passion.

Breaking the kiss once more he whispered, winking at you “That's for encouragement to come back to us and most importantly to come back to me. And then we'll talk about both of us.” 

He paused and then continued “And if you can kiss Tim, then I can kiss you” he said grinning sneakily. 

“But I…” you began, but were stopped by his lips which were pressed on yours again. 

Breaking the kiss after a few moments he whispered “no buts.”

“So you kiss every agent of your team to encourage them to take care before a mission?” you mused smiling. 

He laughed “no. Only the ones I'm in love with.”

You were speechless. 

He leaned his forehead on yours and you both savored the feeling of the other. Both your hearts were racing and you were feeling lightheaded because of all those intense feelings you felt. 

Eventually he mumbled “I only ask you one thing: take care of yourself”. 

You tried to answer, but he softly laid his index finger on your lips. 

“Don't say anything. We’ll talk when you get back.”

You shared a sweet and tender kiss full of promises for the future, then you broke away from each other and Gibbs started the elevator again.

(To be continued...in Chapter 2)

------------------------------------------

Here you will find the other chapter of this story and the other stories I've written to date.

------------------------------------------

Tags: @ilovemark1951, @hobby27

------------------------------------------

[hra-official]

Graves from CORSAIR Mercenary Company.

My Swallowtail is getting run down, I'm curious about your Rangertails. I would like a comparison of their stealth capabilities as I would prefer to keep my no damage deployment streak continuing.

When it comes to stealth, the main difference is that the active camo of a conventional Swallowtail relies on the mech standing still so as not to disrupt the light-bending effect, while our Ranger Variant uses more conventional camouflage to blend into the environment to the point it becomes impossible to acquire if even partially obscured.

A Swallowtail can go invisible anywhere so long as it stays there.

A Rangertail needs soft cover to blend into, but it doesn't require complete immobility, and even without an active camo it can disrupt its silhouette so well it's impossible to acquire so long as it doesn't give away its position.

Also, the full-spectrum smoke canisters it comes with can offer.complete concealment to any mech or vehicle on your team. We even tested it on a Tokugawa in full Radiance Mode with the reactor exposed and at full heat capacity, and until it actually fired a weapon not a lumen of infrared was coming through.

In "conventional" warfare, SSC's Swallowtail is easier to to work with and is less dependent on its environment (though not completely, you do still need a good spot to park it), while the Rangertail requires either good intel on the battlefield to choose a good spot to leverage its capabilities, or a helping hand from smoke charges, but it afford some mobility to get out of a compromised position without exposing itself, and can extend the same concealment to allies in a pinch. The mech itself is also fitted with additional long-range observation equipment to facilitate locating and reaching a good spot before your enemy can.

Where our model completely overtakes any competition, however, is when access to a printer is not guaranteed: our mechs were made to be built in conventional factories and repaired on the field; there is not a single component that can't be made to specification in a conventional workshop, and the construction is such as to afford generous tolerances so that precision equipment is not required to make it work.

Our new print codes also include customisation options to use components identical to those from widely used machinery across Union space: you can have joint servos interchangeable with engines from a GMS extended family size washing machine, scope lenses identical to those of a HA Rockefeller aerial refueling plane, or haptic controls interchangeable with those of an IPS-N Paromola high-gravity power loader, depending on the theater you'll be operating in, so that even without any ability to make new components, you can repair it just by scavenging the right pieces of civilian equipment.

[dangerousthingobservation]

F/A-18E Super Hornet serves as aerial refueler for French combat planes operating from Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier. The images in this post were.

[boeing-787]

i need to add an aerial refueling joke to the plane post somehow

[ghostwarriorrrr]

Fighting Falcon...

[nocternalrandomness]

22,000" above the Colorado River

[radarsteddybear]

There are so many good choices, but this little guy is probably my favorite thing in the Air Force Museum.

It's a McDonnell XF-85 Goblin.  Its job would be to sit in the bomb bay of a B-36, and if/when the bomber was attacked en route to go bomb something, it would open the bomb bay doors and out would come the Goblin to fight off the attacking aircraft.  Once the attacking aircraft were taken care of, the Goblin would hook back onto its trapeze in the B-36's bomb bay and the bomber would continue on.

That was the plan, anyway.  In reality, it turned out that the air underneath the B-29, which is what they tested the Goblin with, was too turbulent for pilots to reliably be able to hook back onto the bomber, and the program was scrapped when aerial refueling solved the problem by allowing conventional fighter planes to accompany bombers for greater distances.

The yellow landing gear seen in the photograph is not part of the Goblin, as it (theoretically) didn't need landing gear since the plan was that it would hook back onto its bomber.  I'm not sure what they did for the emergency landings they had to do during testing when they couldn't get the Goblin to hook back onto the B-29.

[taraross-1787]

This Day in History: The Broken Arrow Incident of 1961

On this day in 1961, a B-52G Stratofortress disintegrates over the skies of North Carolina. As it breaks up, it inadvertently releases two Mark 39 thermonuclear bombs.

Miraculously, neither exploded.

The world was then in the midst of the Cold War, and the United States kept B-52 bombers in the sky at all times. These bombers were armed with nuclear warheads.

On the night of January 23-24, one such plane was in the sky, commanded by Maj. Walter Tulloch. The crew was about halfway through its shift, and the bomber was preparing for an aerial refueling.

It wasn’t to be: The tanker’s crew could see that the bomber was leaking fuel.

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-broken-arrow-incident

[andronetalks]

Signs U.S. Massing B-2 Spirit Bombers In Diego Garcia

TWZ – The War Zone By Joseph Trevithick, Howard Altman Posted March 26, 2025 A significant force of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers looks to be currently wending its way to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Satellite imagery shows at least three C-17 cargo planes and 10 aerial refueling tankers forward-deployed in the last 48 hours to the highly strategic British territory, which has been used…