T Campbell

Yes, in the late '80s they started installing a new digital autopilot. It had been adapted from a civilian autopilot and worked great most of the time but they had some issues. Air Refueling is not like an airliner cruising at altitude, the receiver pushes the tanker around with it's bow wave. The digital autopilot like to 'wind up' and then pop off with the aircraft out of trim. This would usually surprise the tanker pilots and it would take a few moments to react. It's likely what happened in this E-3 breakaway video. The E-3 stressed out the -135s autopilot by coming in quickly, and then doing a little boble (up/down motion). At the 0:10 mark, the autopilot kicks off, at the 0:11 mark, the Boom Operator is holding on to the pallet we layed on because he's going 0g.

165,350 views