P8 inflight refuelling

[jetnoise]

It’s quite interesting how this topic originated with the P-8 and has moved onto the Nimrod and RC-135W.
The loss of XV230 (which was the subject of the Haddon-Cave Enquiry) was not due to the AAR installation. The aircraft was lost (albeit soon after AAR) due to a fuel leak in a wing bay. The fuel came into contact with a part of a hot engine bleed air duct that was not properly insulated, as per the original design – a case of differences between “as designed/as built/as maintained”. H-C found that the safety analysis was deficient as it only considered the ‘as designed’ case and was not updated based on in-service use / state of the aircraft. Various parties were criticised in the report. (This is based on information I have gleaned from friends who worked on Nimrod at the time).
With regards the RC-135 for the RAF, an AAR probe was ruled out on cost grounds (the UK was skint at the time of the order). To have introduced changes to the fuel system would have meant that the entire fuel system would have to be qualified / certified to the latest UK requirements, which are far more stringent than the standards used when the C-135 series was designed / built 50 odd years ago. All that work would have been VERY expensive.
Someone mentioned transferring the P-8s to the Royal Navy – this may get round the ‘contractual obstacles’ associated with Air Tanker mentioned in earlier posts – however, it does not alter the facts that the UK has no tanker to refuel boom/receptacle equipped aircraft.
Incidentally, had the Nimrods been operated by the RN rather than the RAF, it is possible that the MRA4 may not have been cancelled. The primary role of the aircraft was to provide top-cover for the Navy’s Trident subs, so the senior service may have put up a better argument to keep the jet, rather than the RAF for whom its main mission was not “core business”.
The lack of AAR for the UK P-8s may not be an operational limitation in its own right. It was mentioned in the mainstream press recently that the P-8 does not have a galley. There’s no point in refuelling the aircraft if you can’t ‘refuel’ the crew! (Apart from an emergency of course.)
The Nimrod had a galley –both in the MR2 and the MRA4 – the latter also included a fridge.

[Stroudy]

No tea and buscuits.. no work!

They had better get down to B&Q swiftly for a cheap kitchen

[big john]

It'll be cheaper to go to Millets and get a camping stove and a kettle!

[Stroudy]

Sounds like that's what they'll have to use!