Tobogganing is a maneuver where a tanker aircraft and a receiving aircraft fly in a coordinated, shallow descent during aerial refueling. This allows the heavier or slower tanker to maintain a higher airspeed, matching the minimum safe flying speed of a faster receiver aircraft like a fighter jet. It relies on gravity to help the tanker keep up.
Heard on the job
The fighter is heavy and struggling to hold formation, let's toboggan down to flight level 200 to give him some speed.
Insider tip
This is usually a last resort when the receiver aircraft is fully loaded with weapons and cannot safely fly slow enough to match the tanker's level-flight speed.