Aerial Refueling Near West Point

Late this morning a pair of KC-46 Pegasus tankers from the 77th Aerial Refueling Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB flew over northwestern Harris County.

ADSBExchange screen shot

Having a single tanker fly over is not uncommon, but to have a pair in the pre-contact refueling formation is quite rare. This is the brief view I got from the Cataula area.

There are no published aerial refueling tracks over Harris County so this would be considered a random aerial refueling. The closest refueling tracks are north and south of here; AR-200 runs from east-central Alabama to southern Florida while AR-216 runs from east-central Alabama to southwestern Virginia.

The only other time I have witnessed an aerial refueling formation from Cataula was an overcast afternoon on 16 May 2009 when a KC-10 Extender flew over with six F/A-18 Hornets in tow.

Look close at the Hornet directly behind the tanker and you will see a white vapor starting near the nose and trailing behind.
This indicates it had just disconnected from the refueling drogue.