Patent ID: 7309048

Claim:
A refueling vehicle having a refueling boom engageable with a refueling receptacle of an airborne receiver vehicle during an airborne refueling operation, the refueling vehicle comprising: a monitoring system for monitoring a position of said boom relative to a portion of said refueling vehicle; a processing system for processing information from said monitoring system and for generating graphical information relating to a position of said boom relative to said receiver vehicle; a display system responsive to said processing system displaying a graphics symbol set illustrating in graphical format a position of said boom relative to said receiver vehicle to assist an operator in performing said airborne refueling operation, said graphics symbol set including: a contact zone graphic representing a contact zone within which contact between said refueling boom and said refueling receptacle can be made; a receiver symbol linearly aligned with said contact zone graphic and movable linearly to indicate a relative distance between said refueling receptacle and the contact zone; a boom symbol linearly aligned with said contact zone graphic and moveable linearly to indicate a relative distance between a free end of the boom and the contact zone; and wherein a position of said receiver symbol and said boom symbol both within said contact zone indicates that engagement of said refueling boom and said fuel receptacle can be made.