Tanker'd speed on ownship radar

[Alfred]

why do I have to maintain 300kts to maintain refueling while on my radar the Tanker is showing 310kts? the other Tanker show 280kts , and that’s in TE.

[Dee-Jay]

@Alfred Probably because speed is a radar evaluation/measurement then converted in CAS then rounded.
Radar is not made to fly in formation.

[Alfred]

which one of the speeds will show a match to the Tanker’s?

[jayb]

@Alfred
The tanker will fly a different speed and altitude dependent on what airframe is going to be refueling. The F-16 gets 300 kts. Plus when he has no customers, he is usually at 270 kts around 24000 ft. So before you contact the tanker, he may not be at 300 kts

[mirv]

Well kinda-sorta. The FCR provides calibrated speed (rounded to nearest 10 IIRC—I can check)…and it should be pretty accurate.

Maybe you were referring to being relied upon to fly close Trail formations…. It’s definitely made to fly radar trail formations…. Obviously the distance of 2NM between jets (in the weather) allows the pilot sufficient time to monitor and interpret the radar and his/her element mates…and provides sufficient distance and reaction time to prevent overshoots.

But yeah, it’s not really meant to act as a tool for precise close formations (I think maybe that’s what you were referring to).

If the tanker is at 300 knots, and his radar is showing 310, it might just be a little bit of a rounding error…

It’s not uncommon for jets (of different types) to show minor deviations in calibrated airspeeds, although it’s usually within 5 knots or so. How many times I have heard a tanker say they are doing 265 when I’m closing rapidly and doing 260??

@Dee-Jay said in Tanker’d speed on ownship radar:

@Alfred Probably because speed is a radar evaluation/measurement then converted in CAS then rounded.
Radar is not made to fly in formation.

[Dee-Jay]

@mirv said in Tanker’d speed on ownship radar:

But yeah, it’s not really meant to act as a tool for precise close formations (I think maybe that’s what you were referring to).

This is what I meant indeed.

And F-16 FCR (as per -34) rounds the value to the ten.