Omega Aerial Refueling Services
| Omega Aerial Refueling Services | |
|---|---|
|
|
| IATA code : | |
| ICAO code : | OME |
| Call sign : | OMEGA |
| Founding: | 2001 |
| Seat: |
Alexandria , United States
|
| Home airport : | Washington Dulles International Airport |
| Company form: | Corporation |
| Management: | Bill Schaefer |
| Fleet size: | 4th |
| Aims: | international |
| Website: | www.omegaairrefueling.com |
Omega Aerial Refueling Services is a commercial airline that provides aerial refueling . Its headquarters are in Alexandria (Virginia) , USA , and the home airport is Washington Dulles International Airport . Flight operations began in 2001.
history
The brothers Ulick and Desmond McEvaddy started trading in hulls and spare parts for Boeing 707s from 1980 . Together with BAE Systems and Tracor , a former Boeing 707 of Pan American World Airways was converted into a tanker from 1996 in Mojave Air & Space Port . The machine was certified in 2001 to refuel United States Navy and United States Marine Corps aircraft . In 2006, a second Boeing 707 was converted and in 2007 a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 followed , which had originally flown for Japan Airlines and began flight operations in 2008 (the DC-10-40, which is still active today, with the registration number N974VV ). In 2008 the first refueling of an aircraft from another nation was carried out, a Boeing 707 refueling a McDonnell Douglas F / A-18 of the 75th Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force . In April 2015, an unmanned aerial vehicle off the coast of Maryland and Virginia, a Northrop Grumman X-47 , was refueled in the air with around 1,800 kg of fuel from a Boeing 707 operated by Omega Aerial Refueling Services . The refueling took place autonomously with the help of a system consisting of data from a differential global positioning system and images from an optical sensor. At the end of 2018, the company plans to first put inactive tankers back into operation and only later procure new tankers. The reasons for this are a report by the United States Transportation Command about a lack of capacity and the delay in the Boeing KC-46 program (replacement of the Boeing KC-135 tanker aircraft of the United States Air Force ).
fleet
As of February 2020, the Omega Aerial Refueling Services fleet consists of five aircraft with an average age of 40.9 years:
| Aircraft type | Aircraft registration | active | inactive |
|---|---|---|---|
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 | N974VV | X | |
| N264DE | X | ||
| N824VV | X | ||
| N826VV | X | ||
| N853VV | X |
Incidents
- On May 18, 2011, an Omega Aerial Refueling Services Boeing 707 (aircraft registration number N707AR ) had an accident while taking off from Naval Air Station Point Mugu . The tanker was to refuel machines of the type McDonnell Douglas F / A-18 of the US Navy off the coast. After the aircraft took off after around 7,000 feet on the 11,000-foot runway and was a good 20 feet above the runway, engine number 2 detached from the wing and hit engine number 1. The one-sided thrust pushed the Boeing off the runway back up and came to a stop in a swampy area. The three-man crew was able to save themselves unharmed, although a fire broke out and destroyed most of the aircraft. A possible cause was identified as a fatigue crack in a fitting part of the wing center spar that should have been replaced. The previous owner had incorrectly documented the exchange.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Andrew McLaughlin: TBT: Omega - Inflight Refueling Where and When You Need It. In: Australian Aviation. November 15, 2018, accessed December 22, 2018 .
- ↑ X-47B creates air refueling. In: FLIGHT REVIEW. Motor Presse Stuttgart, April 23, 2015, accessed on December 22, 2018 .
- ^ Omega to compete for US Air Force commercial tanker service. In: FlightGlobal. December 13, 2018, accessed December 22, 2018 .
- ↑ Air Omega Air Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. February 20, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 .
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-321B N707AR Port Hueneme-Point Mugu NAS, CA (NTD) in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on December 21, 2018.
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