Patent attributes
A system for refueling has a boom having a rigid portion and, extendible portion and a fuel nozzle at an end of the extendible portion, the fuel nozzle mates with a port on an aircraft. Control circuitry in the tanker aircraft has input elements by which an operator controls actuators moving the boom left, right and up and down, and a first imaging device proximate the end of the extendible portion of the boom, capturing images and transmitting the captured images to the control circuitry, where the images are displayed on a monitor visible to the operator. The operator controls extension and attitude of the fuel nozzle at the end of the extendible portion, according to the images displayed, mating the fuel nozzle with the refueling port, and transferring fuel from the tanker aircraft to the aircraft to be refueled.
