Aerial Refueling Bug, or...?

[TacoGrease]

 

 

I'm curious why I'm not able to get contact - part of me hopes that it's because of an apparent bug with aerial refueling for me (like tankers not releasing the refueling drogue to me) - but presumably I'm just not doing it right.

 

Any feedback? I've watched quite a few tutorials, both for the F-14 specifically and DCS generally.

 

Best,

Taco

Edited March 30, 2019 by TacoGrease

[Larkis]

As i understand, the basket dont hav e a collision model. So you really need to hit the black spot in the middle. On your video it looks like you make a good approach but on the final, you just overcorrect and get out of the "target area" seconds bevor you could connect. But maybe its a bug, the first try looked very good in my eyes.

 

 

 

For advices, i dont know how fast the real tankers are. On our training area, they have a speed of 250kn. But even with your 300kn wings in bombs mode feels very unstable to me. Having wings manual on 20° feels much more stable to me.

 

 

 

I know the natops said bombs mode. But i really dont care.

[Deano87]

When you come up behind the tanker you need to open the radio menu and say "Ready pre-contact", just because the basket is out doesn't mean that its ready for you to attempt tanking.

 

If it replies with "Return Pre-contact" it means you're too far away or out of position. You want to be behind and below the tanker a little.

[TacoGrease]

What should it be saying instead of pre-contact?

 

Thank you both, btw :)

[Southpaw]

"Cleared Contact"

[TacoGrease]

Ah, thank you! I haven’t heard that sound bite in the aerial refueling tutorials I’ve watched, so that would explain it.

 

Would not being close enough when declaring pre-contact also help explain why the tankers often don’t present me with the drogue? If I remember correctly, on the Georgia instant action aerial refueling practice mission, the KC-135 retracts the drogue as soon as my AI wingman has received fuel...leaving me sad and flying on fumes lol

[TacoGrease]

 

Please feel free to scrub through - I don't expect or want anyone to actually have to watch the whole thing lol - but I can't seem to get the "Cleared Contact" radio call regardless of what I do - any thoughts?

Edited March 30, 2019 by TacoGrease

[Tricky11]

you have to get behind the left wing on the tanker before calling ready pre contact

[Tricky11]

same as any other DCS world plane.

[TacoGrease]

you have to get behind the left wing on the tanker before calling ready pre contact

 

So in the second video, at the 0:42, 3:00, 3:10, 3:16, 3:36, 3:44, 3:48, 4:00, 5:27, 6:20, etc. marks, where else was I supposed to be?

Edited March 28, 2019 by TacoGrease

[Tricky11]

you need to be behind where the basket will come out on the left wing as per Mavericks video

[Deano87]

You need to be pretty close, say an aircraft length back from the basket.

 

Also stay below the tanker a bit so you're not sitting in its wake turbulence, and generally when formating on an aircraft don't be above it as you can lose it under the nose and then fly into it while trying to find it again.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Deano87

[probad]

lol good lord it's no wonder the tanker isn't clearing you for contact when you keep rising and falling 200ft

 

most important factor for getting contact permission is making sure all your velocity deltas are low

in other words that you need to already be holding a relatively steady formation with the tanker

 

trim it out and use your keyboard for menu navigation

Edited March 29, 2019 by probad

[TacoGrease]

 

Thanks to everyone for the feedback/help/support/encouragement! Feels better than the first time I had sex xD

 

Also me:

Edited March 30, 2019 by TacoGrease

[Deano87]

There we go!

 

FYI its generally easier on bigger aircraft like the KC-135MPRS and KC-130. As there refuelling lines tend to be longer and they have a bigger "box" that you can float around in without falling off the end. Other tip is to lock your wings back into bomb mode so they don't move around and change your trim settings etc.

 

 

btw to post a youtube link you just have to copy the bit after "watch?v=" in the youtube URL. thats the only bit you put in the youtube embed thing.

 

So for your first video it looks like this (without spaces)

 

[ YOUTUBE ] RE1j385SQbc [ /YOUTUBE ]

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Deano87

[TacoGrease]

Thank you, Deano! Went through and fixed them all lol.

 

You weren't kidding though - definitely a lot easier with the KC-135MPRS than the S-3; it felt like a breeze in comparison.

 

There we go!

 

FYI its generally easier on bigger aircraft like the KC-135MPRS and KC-130. As there refuelling lines tend to be longer and they have a bigger "box" that you can float around in without falling off the end. Other tip is to lock your wings back into bomb mode so they don't move around and change your trim settings etc.

 

 

btw to post a youtube link you just have to copy the bit after "watch?v=" in the youtube URL. thats the only bit you put in the youtube embed thing.

 

So for your first video it looks like this (without spaces)

 

[ YOUTUBE ] RE1j385SQbc [ /YOUTUBE ]

 

[PhilTheBeat]

When you come up behind the tanker you need to open the radio menu and say "Ready pre-contact", just because the basket is out doesn't mean that its ready for you to attempt tanking.

 

If it replies with "Return Pre-contact" it means you're too far away or out of position. You want to be behind and below the tanker a little.

 

 

+1

[PhilTheBeat]

Reading this, i post few "voice and sound" bugs

 

The basket stay "down" even if you´re far away distance , not refueling and you can ear times to times "break away, break away" .

 

Also during the refueling process on a second refueling let say. If you re joining the tanker on a high speed and you use your "speed brakes", the air noise is off.