Check Out This View From The 101ST MAINEiacs Refueling Wing

Ever wonder what the view looks like when the 101st MAINEiacs are doing their thing, thousands of feet up in the air?

As someone who has spent a majority of their life in Bangor, watching the refueling planes take off and land from the airport, I have always been amazed by the concept that these huge, metal flying gas tanks (that's what a friend of mine used to call them, and it stuck) could be maneuvered, in such a precise way as to find a tiny hole and actually deliver fuel into another moving aircraft, without spilling it all over the place.

I mean, I get the nervous sweats trying just trying to parallel park my minivan on Maple Street! I can't even imagine the pressure these pilots are under to do what they do every day.

Years ago, I got to visit the Air National Guard base by the airport. I was taken for a tour to see one of those amazing refueling planes, up-close. While they showed me around, the gentleman in charge invited me to sit down (it was more like laying down, if memory serves) in the part of the plane they look out to do these amazing maneuvers. I could not imagine how this would work in the sky. And I remember thinking I'd likely freak out if I were several thousand miles up in the air, looking down like that. Thankfully, that particular plane was parked on the ground, nothing like how it really is when its up in the air.

If you want to see, first hand, just how impressive this feat is, check out the video below. The United States Air Force put it up on their Facebook Page.