KC-46 Gets Remote Start - Jealous Fighter Pilots React

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The latest USAF tanker, the KC-46, gets remote start! Is this worth it in a military aircraft? Waste of taxpayer money? Tanker guys get all the money and toys? Bring back the KC-10? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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[ericshue]

Retired
Kc-10 crew chief

I thought we were the remote start apu

[CHARLIET]

Prior C-17 Crew Chief here. Yes at times we had the APU fired up and ready for the crew. All plugs and covers were removed prior to crew show.

[stephenbritton]

Some new pilots’ gonna get the call sign “Fob” for loosing it! 😹🙀

[TheRealCFF]

Maybe not common in other types of aircraft, but strategic bombers going all the way back to the B-52 had a ‘go’ button installed on the nose landing gear. The first crewman who reached the airplane would push it. This would power up the ship’s electrical system, start the APU, and start aligning the INS. Made scrambles much faster.

[wrayday]

Future Accident Investigation Boards are going to be real interesting.

[Bad_Wolf_Media]

4:14 - If they start rolling these out across all aircraft, they ABSOLUTELY need to go with the late-80s, early-90s alarm system for the F-16, so when they push the button, very loudly, you hear "Viper Armed."

[derekprzybyla]

The KC135 has a alert switch for the APUs that when the crew is running to the plane, they hit the switch before climbing the ladder. The switch activation would start both APUs so when the crew got into the seats, the APUs were ready for engine start. There was an EWO switch in the cockpit that spooled both APUs to a higher temperature that gave extra air so the pilots could start 2 engines at a time. The F108 (CFM56-2B) did start relatively quick.

[TheProps]

Hope those plugs are removed before initiating that remote start. 😆

[steveanderson]

Yea, great. One of my fondest memories (not) was walking line watches at zero dark thirty at my P-3 squadron back in the 70s and have a frigging APU door doing a thermostatically triggered close sequence while I'm standing under it trying to stay awake. Now they're going to START them remotely. Better stock up on diapers for line personnel!

[barrygrant]

The U-2 ground crew had a 396 El Camino when I was in Thailand in '72. Just the perfect chase vehicle for catching the U-2 wingtip upon landing.

[dewizle]

On the S-3, we would start the apu, run up the avionics, unfold the tail if it was folded, and cool down the inside of the bird. All the aircrew had to do was crank engines, do a wipeout, and So the ground crew was the auto-start I even remember the aircrew getting out of the bird and mech sitting in the pilot seat until the new crew showed up on a hot seat crew switch...

[benshakespeare]

There was literally a Sienfeld sketch about the pilot losing the keys 😁

[DeanstuD]

'89 Bermuda TACAMO EC-130Q Truly, I was busy and don't know what the pilots do to 'get ready', so many buttons and do dads on the flight deck, but we enlisted crew always got to the plane before them and usually the FE had a few engines going too. The planes were under armed guard and we left them 'ready', we would really just hop in and go . Usually I would be the guy on the fire bottle though, and then I would get in and the'yd be rollin, as soon as I could get the door shut. The door is heavy, I remember I should have practiced closing it before the first time I ever closed the door was on an alert launch!

[BeechSportBill]

Automated new tanker… crew is a pilot and a dog. The pilot is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man from touching anything.

[ohheyitskevinc]

Aside from the $ for this being better spent on, you know, anything else - you’re not really saving time pre-departure as someone will still have to do the pre-flight walkaround. For Pegasus maintenance, I guess this will help get systems online without the hassle of getting onboard, but it does feel like a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.

[rogerd]

This was very funny, but I think they will only be using these devices when they are on alert duty and then it won't leave the alert area.

[MasterBakerVideos]

Ok so Hack RF - I use now and then to confuse my neighbour by starting his car when he comes near it. He still can't figure out why it does this, lol!

[ws.talbot]

Does it have find my plane feature, too?😂

[andrewpullin]

Do the Nav Lights "Blink" to let you know it is on? Is that how you find "your" aircraft in the flight line?

[pauld]

First off, this is a bad idea.
Second, just return to SAC standards for alerts and ground crew.
Lastly, if this absolutely has to be a thing, have the remote start activated by someone in the Tower/Command Post.