Corporal Kelli Schneider and Flying Officer Simone Batchelor with their KC-30A Multirole Tanker Aircraft. Picture: Alex Coppel
THE two F/A-18 Hornet fighters approach the 27m-long hoses trailing from the wings of the Airbus airliner like hungry calves seeking out a mother's teat.
High above Lakes Entrance in East Gippsland yesterday afternoon, the latest inclusion to the RAAF's inventory, the KC-30A multirole tanker transport, demonstrated how Australia was now able to project air power around the globe.
As the hose and drogue swayed in the turbulence, the fighter jets, from 77 Squadron at Williamtown in NSW, nosed in for what 24-year-old Hornet pilot Flying officer Brent Jones from Lake Macquarie in NSW described as a "tricky" job.
"Most things about flying a fighter are fast and reactive and based on adrenaline, but tanking is slow and deliberate," Flying Officer Jones said.
A fighter pilot delicately positions an F/A-18 Hornet for refuelling.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the modified Airbus A330 passenger jet, the two pilots fly a smooth pattern and watch proceedings live on a video screen.
Flying Officer Simone Batchelor was born and raised in Germany and came to Australia as a 19-year-old backpacker and she never left.
One fighter locks on for refuelling as another holds position in formation with the tanker. Picture: Alex Coppel
Now an Australian citizen and married to an RAAF fast jet pilot, she joined the air force in 2008 with the aim of being a fighter pilot herself.
Like many graduates, she didn't make the grade for fast jets and was assigned to 33 Squadron for the introduction of the $2 billion KC-30A fleet.
"This is a fantastic capability," Flying Officer Batchelor said.
"There is no other aircraft that can carry 270 passengers and 109 tonnes of fuel to refuel other jets."
Air Commander Australia Air-Vice Marshal Mel Hupfeld was on board the tanker yesterday and he was ecstatic about the new capability.
The former fighter pilot and Iraq war combat veteran said the most challenging tanking job was at night in bad weather.
"Turbulence causes the basket to oscillate and at night there is no horizon line so you must stay in formation with the tanker," he said.
Air force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown describes the KC-30A as a "flexible use asset" that will give the RAAF global reach.
Due to problems with the refuelling boom mounted to the tail of the aircraft it remains on the government's list of projects of concern. It should be fixed this year.
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