Night Refuel & Nose Illumination

[Zodiacc]

Yes, we can safely approach a tanker with NVG.However AFAIK pilots do not use NVG while refueling (maybe in combat zone).Therefore we have nose illumination which supposed to help us to see the boom as the manual says, but it is not functional.

I just want to fly properly with my good old hog which is 10+ years old module.....

[Snoopy]

Even on the real jets nose illumination on bright isn’t that bright and wearing NVGs for night air refueling is the norm now days not the exception.  

Edited March 24, 2022 by Snoopy

[jaylw314]

15 hours ago, Zodiacc said:

Yes, we can safely approach a tanker with NVG.However AFAIK pilots do not use NVG while refueling (maybe in combat zone).Therefore we have nose illumination which supposed to help us to see the boom as the manual says, but it is not functional.

I just want to fly properly with my good old hog which is 10+ years old module.....

It's there and working, it's just REALLY hard to see under typical room conditions.  In VR with an Odyssey+, which uses OLED's, I preferred night AAR with no NVG's because the nose lighting seemed adequate.  In the G2, which uses backlit LED's, it's almost impossible without NVG's. 

In any case, I thought I recalled reading in the flight manual that NVG's were allowed in all phases if the tanker lights were compatible

[ASAP]

pretty sure the main reason for the refueling lights is so the tanker can see the receiving aircraft better. In the A-10 at least you are authorized to be on NVGs through the entirety of the refueling process.

[SmilingBandit]

On 3/24/2022 at 10:55 AM, jaylw314 said:

It's there and working, it's just REALLY hard to see under typical room conditions.  In VR with an Odyssey+, which uses OLED's, I preferred night AAR with no NVG's because the nose lighting seemed adequate.  In the G2, which uses backlit LED's, it's almost impossible without NVG's. 

In any case, I thought I recalled reading in the flight manual that NVG's were allowed in all phases if the tanker lights were compatible

And the KC-135s aren’t.

One missing thing is the lighting on the tanker.  Underbody, underwing, and floodlight brighten things up irl.

[Caldera]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:58 PM, SmilingBandit said:

And the KC-135s aren’t.

One missing thing is the lighting on the tanker.  Underbody, underwing, and floodlight brighten things up irl.

Hoist your beer glass to this!

Caldera

[Ready]

On 3/24/2022 at 4:55 PM, jaylw314 said:

It's there and working, it's just REALLY hard to see under typical room conditions.  In VR with an Odyssey+, which uses OLED's, I preferred night AAR with no NVG's because the nose lighting seemed adequate.  In the G2, which uses backlit LED's, it's almost impossible without NVG's. 

In any case, I thought I recalled reading in the flight manual that NVG's were allowed in all phases if the tanker lights were compatible

Inside the G2 I only manage AAR without NVG's when I crank up the gamma.