help for refueling AAR

[mosqui]

good morning

In addition to practicing, paracticing and practicing can someone give me some advice or trick to be able to carry out the refueling AAR flight supply. I have been trying for several weeks and I never manage to maintain the right speed and height so that they can supply me the fuel from the tanker .

Any help will be welcome and thanks

[BIGNEWY]

Hi

 

it can take a lot of practice.

 

Small throttle changes and try to relax is the best advice.

 

Practice using a tanker in level flight first before trying racetrack orbits.

[Knock-Knock]

Start with flying in formation with it. Ignore refueling to begin with. Just fly behind the tankers wing tip and practice that. When you can park it there and hold it steady for a few minutes, then you can progress to the actual act. No need to try and hook up, if you cant keep the jet in place for quite some time. Fuel flow is not very fast.

 

Stay relaxed, like very relaxed. Try and turn your attention to your bodies tension now and then, and when you feel you are tense, wiggle your toes and fingers. One of the keys to this is to stay relaxed, cause only then can you make the small inputs required.

 

Never chase the basket. Park it behind the basket, like in formation (remember wingtip practice), and ask for rejoin. When basket is rolled out, park some 10m or so behind it, and hold it there. When steady and you are relaxed too, just slowly progress forward, and only do very very small adjustments. And dont chase the basket, just slide forward.

 

When connected, roll up the hose a little, as in progress forward and up a few meters. Find visual fix points, somewhere its comfortable for you to look and keep looking. Fix point being something on your canopy rail or HUD and the tanker, align those, and keep it there - again, dont chase it. Small relaxed movements.

 

Half the trick of formation flying / AAR is anticipating your own jets movement / inertia / energy. Especially when its loaded up. Stop the motion before hand.

[Eaglewings]

It is more of a self acquired skill and once you get it, it sticks.

But to get it takes practice hence the popular practice, practice phrase as the first reply(@Bigwey) stated. I am afraid you cannot run away from this one.

 

Second reply(@knock-knock) laid out the intricacy and tactic to get the logic of it all. Formation flying gentle and small controlis key.

We all different systems and controls also factor into this. I initially started using autopilot to help stabilize, did some axis tweaking but I do not need any of those to refuel now. It is in practice you will find out what work for you in the recommended advices.

 

As an encouragement, it took me months of practices and when I finally got, it just stuck. I am sure soon you will be advicing someone how and what it takes to do AAR.

 

Have a good one

Edited October 29, 2019 by Eaglewings

[mosqui]

Thanks very much all

[rob10]

Never chase the basket. Park it behind the basket, like in formation (remember wingtip practice), and ask for rejoin. When basket is rolled out, park some 10m or so behind it, and hold it there. When steady and you are relaxed too, just slowly progress forward, and only do very very small adjustments. And dont chase the basket, just slide forward.

 

Having recently learned to AAR, these are excellent points. DO NOT chase the basket. Initially when you start moving towards it it will seem like it's suddenly become possessed and is bouncing all over the place. If it starts bouncing, it's you, not the basket (I was ready to swear there was a bug before I finally got the hang of it). When it starts bouncing, don't chase, just back off a small amount and stabilize everything then go back in. That is the most important trick in my books. I also found concentrating on a point on the aircraft and only watching the basket with peripheral vision helped not chasing it.

 

When connected, roll up the hose a little, as in progress forward and up a few meters. Find visual fix points, somewhere its comfortable for you to look and keep looking. Fix point being something on your canopy rail or HUD and the tanker, align those, and keep it there - again, dont chase it. Small relaxed movements.

 

These are also excellent points. Once you do make contact, make sure you move forward a little and also move UP. That will put a little bit of a dip in the hose and give you time to react to changes before you hit full extension of the hose and drop off (especially since the throttle doesn't react instantly). Once you get connected moving both forward and up was key for me to maintain contact.

 

As an encouragement, it took me months of practices and when I finally got, it just stuck. I am sure soon you will be advicing someone how and what it takes to do AAR.

 

And I found this was true too. It took me hours to get my first contact, then to get my first that lasted more than 2 seconds, but once you get that 1st 10-15 second contact it really doesn't get easier (or at least less frustrating -- most of the time. Sometimes it still just kicks your butt :doh:). Keep at it! It's very satisfying once you get the hang of it.