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Made my first attempt at AAR today...


MustanGrande

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Or at least, my first in a very, VERY long while. Also, my first attempt while using the CV1. 26 attempts later, I finally had a full tank of fuel.

 

I've really got to tip my hat to those of you who make this sort of thing look easy! :joystick:

 

Until then, I guess it's just practice, practice, practice!

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LOL, great video! :D

 

You already said the most important thing: practice, practice, more practice.

 

Oh, just one thing: It's okay to shoot down the tanker every now and then. Sometimes they deserve it. But if you want to avoid doing it by accident, set all weapons to safe prior to refuelling. :smartass:

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LOL, great video! :D

 

You already said the most important thing: practice, practice, more practice.

 

Oh, just one thing: It's okay to shoot down the tanker every now and then. Sometimes they deserve it. But if you want to avoid doing it by accident, set all weapons to safe prior to refuelling. :smartass:

 

Hehe. Yeah, I hadn't even noticed that they were armed until I was setting things up for landing. But believe me, when he yanked that boom away for the 3rd or 4th time, I considered giving him a burst. :lol:

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So I've run into a new problem. Or rather, I've identified a problem that I had in the previous video. The boom operator on the tanker seems to want me dead.

 

I get the plane into position, I ease it up, viewing the replay in external view shows the boom going right into the fueling port, but I don't get a connection. Instead, the boom seems to vanish somewhere within the plane's flight model, at which point the operator starts smacking me around like Ray Rice in an elevator.

 

Any tips on not.. angering the tanker? Do I need to bring it chocolate or something? lol

 

EDIT: Nvm, I figured it out. I was actually trying to make contact, but that's not how the sim handles it. Seems there's a detection box around the refueling port. When the nozzle is held there long enough, everything just "snaps." It's not good enough to come in slow. You need to come in SLOOOOOW.

 

And once I figured that out, everything clicked!

 


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Wow, that's incredible progress in a short time. Congrats! :thumbup:

 

And yeah, the current DCS boom operator does a pretty terrible job. As far as I know, a boom operator shouldn't chase you all around. Instead, your job is to get into a box and hold your aircraft there. Then the boom operator connects you and you just make sure not to kill anyone.

 

To put it differently, if AAR in DCS gets an update, it's probably going to get a lot easier than it is now. ;)

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Thanks! I started to lose it and oscillate a bit towards the end, but I'm still proud of it. :) And yeah, this was actually my second all-in-one refuel. At the end of the first, the boom operator knocked me out of the sky when he disconnected. Had to do it all over again. :lol: Couldn't put THAT up on youtube, after all!

 

It's a good thing Nellis was over 100 miles away when I finished, too. Gave my hands time to stop shaking before the landing. lol

 

AAR is challenging, but I kinda like that about it.

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I can make a contact easily but to keep it for longer is difficult.

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

 

When they say "Hold formation with the plane, not the boom," they're not joking.

 

I was using the CV1, so I had the advantage of depth perception to aid me. Still, if you look at the video, the center of the view is where I was focusing. Once I had contact, I spent most of my time staring straight up, trying to reference the edge of the refueling boom mount on the KC's belly against the edge of my canopy rim.

 

And I didn't DARE risk glancing at my fuel gauge. It'll be over when it's over. XD

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That's actually a very good hint!

I occasionally notice that when doing refueling practice I grip my stick until my knuckles become white. Doesn't help with precision. You have to try and relax, keep that breath under control.

 

Yeah. The biggest enemy seems to be Pilot-Induced Oscillations. Need to get that "buck fever" under control. :joystick:

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Guys, I'm totally lost on this, can't keep my bird stable enough to get close. I wonder whether I missed a step along the way.

Is it best to learn some formation flying before even trying to do this? If so, can anyone recommend a simple MIZ to learn and get some experience on formations to get me to the next level?

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Is it best to learn some formation flying before even trying to do this?

 

The short of it: yes. :)

 

I've seen a couple of documentaries about military pilots in training. These guys fly every day and are turned into decent formation pilots before they ever get close to a tanker. And they *all* struggle with AAR. Add a bit of turbulence and accomplished pilots will start sweating as well. AAR is among the most difficult things you can do in a simulator.

 

Formation flying is a topic of its own. I'd suggest, like everything else, to take it slow. Just place a tanker or a C-130 or another jet in the air, give it a 100 mile straight and level leg and place your aircraft next to it. And then just try to fly in formation. Not a close formation, just pick a spot where you'd like to be in relation to that other aircraft and try to hold it. As you oscillate, try to anticipate what's happening and minimize the oscillations.

 

Then pick another spot, move to it and again maintain that position as best you can.

 

Once you feel that you can maintain such a spot relatively well, do the same with a tanker in an actual refueling mission - don't refuel yet, just pick a spot off the tanker and maintain it - while the tanker goes into orbit!

 

There's simply no way around practice, practice and practice. With AAR, the spot you'll have to hold is really tight, so if you have no prior experience with formation flying, you'll have your hands full. ;)

 

My experience says that after many hours it'll "click" and suddenly the hands start to work on their own. It still won't be pretty, but with the oscillations in check and a good feeling for the speed and how much throttle to apply, you'll be able to make contact and get that tank filled up.

 

So don't worry if this feels impossible. It is. Until it isn't. ;)

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