>>3652004 pb

>>3651962 pb

Little background on military air refuleing and formation flights

>Damn! There was 1 flying with OILER11 AND another flying with OILER12! OILER1 & CADDO99 were together. OILER12 & CADDO88 were together! Didn't EVEN see CADDO88 until they split from each other.

Miltary aircraft often fly as formations (group of airplanes with a single designated leader (flight lead). Only the lead aircraft "squawks" the IFF code to Air Traffic Control, ATC assumes all the other formation members are within 1 mile of the leader unless told otherwise.

When the formation of C-17s gets within 1 mile of the formation of tankers (KC-135s), the pilots of both formations will declare MARSA (military accepts responsibility for seperation of aircraft) with ATC, the C-17s then become part of the tanker formation and thus turn their IFF (squawk) to standby mode…leaving the tanker lead aircraft as the only aircraft sqawking

When they want to break up a formation into smaller formations, or individual aircaft, they cancel MARSA and the new leaders (or individual aircraft) turn their IFF back on and ATC interacts with them individually vice collectively

Also attached a pic of the normal air refueling tracks/anchors over the US, but aircraft may refuel along any random or pre-planned route when it 's coordinated with ATC

I'm sure this is basic info for planefags, but I find way cool