According to NPR, the U.S. armed forces burn up 340,000 barrels of oil a day. That's about as much as the Philippines-- the country.
Travis Air Force Base has about 26 C-5 Galaxies, 27 KC-10 Extenders, and 13 C-17 Globemaster IIIs. I saw a couple of these beasts take off and wondered: What kind of mileage do they get?
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Its cargo hold is 121 feet long, one foot longer than the length of the Wright brothers' first flight. 18.6 GALLONS per mile.
MD KC-10 Extender. This refueling plane can hold 356,000 (!) pounds of jet fuel to refuel other planes. That's the equivalent of over 69 Bentley Eights. It gets a miserly 5 gallons per mile. If it used up the 356,000 gallons meant for other planes, it could travel another 71,200 miles, or about 1/3 of the way to the moon.
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III gets 12.8 gallons per mile. And I thought Humvees got bad mileage.CKY
You have a slight error in your calculations below saying that:
ReplyDeleteMD KC-10 Extender. This refueling plane can hold 356,000 (!) pounds of jet fuel to refuel other planes. That's the equivalent of over 69 Bentley Eights. It gets a miserly 5 gallons per mile. If it used up the 356,000 gallons meant for other planes, it could travel another 71,200 miles, or about 1/3 of the way to the moon.
At your stated fuel capacity of 356,000 POUNDS (not gallons) of JP-4 fuel weighing approx 6.84 lbs per gallon - that would give you roughly 52,047 gallons of fuel and NOT 356,000 gallons - as you so misstated. Not sure which Bentley V-8 you are comparing at 5 mpg (and not gallons per mile), as most Bentley V-8 models actually get upwards of 10mpg city. But just for fun using your misstated 5 mpg, and the corrected 52,047 actual gallons of JP-4 fuel in that MD KC-10 Extender - that actually comes out to 10,409 miles, and NOT 71,200 miles or 1/3 of the way to the moon as you so stated. If you are indeed accurate at 213,600 miles to the moon - then that would be more like (approx) 1/20th of the way to the moon instead.
To be more accurate of course!
Let's hope you calculate your own plane's fuel load more accurately then you did here - otherwise you may not be looking for a MD KC-10 Extender in the sky anytime soon!
As in crash and burn!
Sorry my error -
ReplyDeleteCorrection is below:
You have a slight error in your calculations below saying that:
MD KC-10 Extender. This refueling plane can hold 356,000 (!) pounds of jet fuel to refuel other planes. That's the equivalent of over 69 Bentley Eights. It gets a miserly 5 gallons per mile. If it used up the 356,000 gallons meant for other planes, it could travel another 71,200 miles, or about 1/3 of the way to the moon.
At your stated fuel capacity of 356,000 POUNDS (not gallons) of JP-4 fuel weighing approx 6.84 lbs per gallon - that would give you roughly 52,047 gallons of fuel, and NOT 356,000 gallons - as you so misstated. Not sure which Bentley V-8 you are comparing at 5 mpg (and not gallons per mile), as most Bentley V-8 models actually get upwards of 10mpg city. But just for fun using your misstated 5mpg, and the corrected 52,047 actual gallons of JP-4 fuel in that MD KC-10 Extender - that actually comes out to 260,235 miles, and NOT 71,200 miles or 1/3 of the way to the moon as you so stated. If you are indeed accurate at your stated 213,600 travel miles to the moon - then that would mean an overshoot of the moon by some approx 46,635 miles!
To be more accurate of course!
Let's hope you calculate your own plane's fuel load more accurately then you did here - otherwise you may not be looking for a MD KC-10 Extender in the sky anytime soon!
As in crash and burn!