I understand the general “how” aspect in that the planes use a special fuel line to get the fuel to the plane.
How can they do it safely with the engine on however? Thinking about refuelling a car you have to turn your engine off, when a plane/helicopter refuels mid flight they obviously have their engine on. Is there differences in how they get/store fuel that makes it safer or just differences in the type of engine?
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I don’t think it’s safer than refueling a car with the engine on, but the danger is tolerated because it’s not particularly large, and the benefit is deemed worth the risk. That’s why you only really see it on military aircraft. It allows you some flexibility in circumstances where you might not have a friendly base at which to land and refuel.
The biggest danger present in a car that’s absent with mid-air refueling is that the driver is usually the one getting out of the car to put the fuel in, and leaving the car running without someone in control brings in a whole new category of potential dangerous situations, like a kid or pet knocking the transmission into gear.
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