Booms Away! Airbus MRTT Losses Part Of Refueling Boom In Flight | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-10.06.25

AirborneNextGen-
10.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-10.08.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-10.09.25

AirborneUnlimited-10.10.25

Sun, Jan 23, 2011

Booms Away! Airbus MRTT Losses Part Of Refueling Boom In Flight

Company Says Cause Is Not Yet Clear

As the announcement for the awarding of a contract for a new Air Force tanker nears, Airbus has suffered what some analysts are calling a setback in the $35 billion program.


File Photo

An MRTT tanker involved in training off the coast of Portugal reportedly lost a large portion of one of its refueling booms in flight, according to the New York Times. The tanker, which is the same type as Airbus has proposed for the KC-X contract, was set for delivery to the Australian Air Force. The accident damaged both the tanker and a Portuguese F-16 fighter, and the piece which broke off fell into the ocean. Both aircraft landed safely.

Airbus spokesperson Guy Hicks told the paper that it was too early to say whether the incident would affect the competition to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 tankers. The primary candidates for the contract are EADS/Airbus and Boeing. Each has its supporters in Congress, and it's pretty unlikely that one incident is likely to sway very many votes.

FMI: www.airbus.com

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (10.16.25)

“This integration marks a significant step forward in cockpit connectivity and safety. It is one of few solutions offered to business aviation and rotorcraft operators that p>[...]

Airborne 10.15.25: Phantom 3500 Confounds, Citation CJ3 Gen2 TC, True Blue Power

Also: Kodiak 100 Joins USFS, Innovative Solutions & Support Renamed, Gulfstream Selects Honeywell, Special Olympics Airlift The Phantom 3500 mockup made an appearance where the>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.16.25): Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS)

Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) An EFVS is an installed aircraft system which uses an electronic means to provide a display of the forward external scene topography (the natur>[...]

True Blue Power and Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics Power NBAA25 Coverage

Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics and True Blue Power ANN's NBAA 2025 Coverage... Visit Them At Booth #3436 True Blue Power Unveils 50 Amp-hour Lithium-ion, Main Ship Battery >[...]

NTSB Final Report: Bellanca 17-30A

Shortly After Takeoff, The Engine Completely Lost Power Analysis: The pilot reported that the engine start, run-up, and takeoff were without incident. However, shortly after takeof>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC