Patent ID: 11964773
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G  H  Y | IPC B  G  H

Claim 2:
3. A method for transferring electric power, comprising:
establishing an electrical connection between a receiver aircraft and a donor aircraft during flight; and
transferring electric power from the donor aircraft to the receiver aircraft via the electrical connection,
wherein establishing an electrical connection comprises:
navigating the receiver aircraft to a position where a trapeze bar mounted to a donor aircraft is disposed inside a hook mounted to the receiver aircraft; and
latching the trapeze bar inside the hook, and
wherein latching comprises:
moving the trapeze bar and hook relative to each other so that the trapeze bar contacts and then pushes a pivotable latch of the hook from a closed position to an open position; and
exerting a spring force that pushes the pivotable latch from the open position to the closed position to maintain the trapeze bar in a position where electrical conductors of the trapeze bar are in electrical contact with electrical conductors of the hook.