Why can jets and helicopters do a midair refuel with their engines running while cars and trucks are supposed to turn their engines off when getting gas or diesel?
In: Other
It’s the extremely tiny risk of static discharge, better safe than sorry. In mid air refueling the drogue makes contact with the airplane, and is built to pass on any static discharge to the tanker’s airframe (which must be able to handle a high voltage). Refueling starts after all that is secure, no more chance of discharge.
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