I was thinking about the rise of the large, twin-engine wide body airliners, such as the 777, 787, A350, and so forth.
In the olden days, the ETOPS requirements forbid a twin-engine airliner on long flights over oceans because, if an engine failed over the middle of the ocean, the plane could not fly far enough to reach an airport to land at. The new airplanes, with their HUGE twin engines, it is argued, are so reliable that they get to fly over long stretches of water with just two engines.
Then I thought about how the U. S. military regularly refuels military airplanes in mid-flight.
I wonder why commercial jet manufacturers never considered giving a commercial airliner an in-flight refueling capability. Even if the capability was never used, the mere fact that the plane could be refueled in the air would get around the ETOPS rules that prohibited twin engine jetliners flying long distances over water. No? There must be a reason (cost, probably), or the ingenious engineers and management at the world's plane manufacturers would have tried this already.
In the olden days, the ETOPS requirements forbid a twin-engine airliner on long flights over oceans because, if an engine failed over the middle of the ocean, the plane could not fly far enough to reach an airport to land at. The new airplanes, with their HUGE twin engines, it is argued, are so reliable that they get to fly over long stretches of water with just two engines.
Then I thought about how the U. S. military regularly refuels military airplanes in mid-flight.
I wonder why commercial jet manufacturers never considered giving a commercial airliner an in-flight refueling capability. Even if the capability was never used, the mere fact that the plane could be refueled in the air would get around the ETOPS rules that prohibited twin engine jetliners flying long distances over water. No? There must be a reason (cost, probably), or the ingenious engineers and management at the world's plane manufacturers would have tried this already.