By Craig Hoyle at RAF Fairford
This year’s RIAT show is playing host to a unique debutant in the competitive field of inflight refuelling, with Omega Air’s first modified McDonnell Douglas DC-10 multipoint tanker-transport making its big stage debut ahead of a static appearance at next week’s Farnborough air show.
Recently modified with Cobham 900E-series wing hose and drogue pods in Bournemouth, the aircraft arrived at Fairford on Friday, having conducting four previous flights to test for hose behaviour and flutter.
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Omega Air acquired 20 secondhand DC-10s from JAL and hopes to secure a deal to provide power-by-the-hour tanker services to the US Navy – and potentially to the US Air Force – using the aircraft. The modified DC-10 on display could be used to provide tanker services from September, with a second now in modification to also be equipped with a boom for test flights from early 2007.
The USN currently leases services from Omega Air using one Boeing 707-based tanker, with the platform last year amassing 1,500 flight hours and providing a dispatch reliability rate of 99.6%, the company says. A second aircraft is now being modified, with another four ex-Italian air force 707 tankers to potentially be adapted.
Source: Flight International
