Some Very useful tips for aerial refueling

[Ddg1500]

Hello, I’m gonna give those fresh f14 pilots some useful tips for aerial refueling, I will provided in a list of tips. You could correct me if I’m wrong, I’m happy to accept your opinion

1 TRIM THE AIRCRAFT, tomcat doesn’t have fly by wire which requires some but not constant trimming to balance the aircraft’s AoA and vertical speed, if you don’t trim but instead wrongfully use full stick to control the aircraft then you will be impossible to refuel as it will pitch up&down drastically, so LEARN TO TRIM.

2 CONSTANT THROTTLE ADJUSTMENTS, tomcat both A&B requires CONSTANT &small while sometimes slightly excessive throttle adjustment to control the approach and leave speed to the basket, if you only make slow and nearly static throttle control, then you will quickly realize that you will either overspeed, or simply to slow to react to the speed of tanker, if you make constant adjustments, you will realize that tomcat is much easier to control in speed than a nearly static throttle , furthermore, the throttle also exert a massive impact on the unpredicted sink or rise due to turbulence, correctly adjusted the throttle up and down together with slight stick control will magically and effectively reduce the effects of turbulence, trust me

3 Don’t be rushy to catch up the tanker, many fresh f14 pilots are rushy to catch up the tanker and result in excessive overspeed and outpace  the tanker, like I said, constant throttle adjustment is the magic wand to approach to tanker steadily without excessive overspeed.

4 The correct way to control the throttle is like pushing it forward slightly to certain extent to engage an approach and return slightly when it is too fast,  and with constant small adjustments to throttle up and down will make f14 apparently more controllable in approach speed, and you will also find that you don’t need too much stick adjustment to stabilize to aircraft.

5You would need some slight but not too much stick movement before the contact and after to stabilize, you would need experience to learn it

5 The DLC thumb wheel will also help you to extent and retract the leading edge slats to compensate the undesirable pitch, heatblur didn’t mention this functionality in the manual but it act works. Trust me

6 You will realize that throttle adjustment will result in significant oscillation which is reasonable since you are not flying perfectly flat but with a little pitch up as seen in your hud ladder, if you realize that you have pilot induced oscillation, try to correct it with small throttle adjustment and small stick movement, you need experience to learn it so be careful, many people don’t realize this issue and had caused serious problems when contact so BE AWARE

And lastly, get yourself a good flight sim rig, it’s straight impossible to refuel with keyboard 

Edited April 11, 2024 by Ddg1500

[Rokkett]

You left out the most important one: wing sweep - use bomb mode or a manual sweep angle of your choice to prevent the wings from auto-sweeping. This prevents pitching of the nose up and down that occurs with the variable sweep.

Also, don't focus on the basket. I like to watch the refuelling pod, but people have different frames of reference to assist with lining up the basket and then maintaining contact.

[Lt_Jaeger]

For me, the two most important things

 

1. Lower the seat, it gives way better references to the tanker

2. Fly the plane with only two fingers on the stick. Actually I grab the whole stick, but only very light. If you tense up, you will introduce PIO. 

 

 

For the wings, I figure CADC knows best. So as soon as I'm stable on holding on the left wing of the tanker, I give wingsweep just one click backwards and I'm set. We don't have to content with getting higher AOA to get the tail out of the wake, so why bother to make the plane more unstable as necessary. 

Edited March 15, 2024 by Lt_Jaeger

[Ddg1500]

8小时前，Rokkett说：

You left out the most important one: wing sweep - use bomb mode or a manual sweep angle of your choice to prevent the wings from auto-sweeping. This prevents pitching of the nose up and down that occurs with the variable sweep.

Also, don't focus on the basket. I like to watch the refuelling pod, but people have different frames of reference to assist with lining up the basket and then maintaining contact.

Yeah, for me I would like to leave the wing sweep to CADC as sweeping too backwards creates too less lift and it would more likely to pitch down a lot during refueling and that’s why I usually would sweep the wing forward to keep the some more lift

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Ddg1500 said:

Yeah, for me I would like to leave the wing sweep to CADC as sweeping too backwards creates too less lift and it would more likely to pitch down a lot during refueling and that’s why I usually would sweep the wing forward to keep the some more lift

The lost lift from swept wings calls for more power with greater AoA, so the nose goes up when you trim it. Also the bomb mode is easier because of less response on the pitch. I don't think the tiny change in wing sweep, if any happen at all in refueling speeds is gonna spoil your stability.

Talking about the speed - it normally should be around 250KIAS, mid alt. Also the easiest is to take fuel from KC-130.

When you get how to do it - you can fly in Auto, any tanker, any speed, any bank angle and it won't matter to you.

Throttle is tricky as you have to make small corrections and go back to previous setting before you even see the resulting change in position.

[Ddg1500]

15分钟前，draconus说：

The lost lift from swept wings calls for more power with greater AoA, so the nose goes up when you trim it. Also the bomb mode is easier because of less response on the pitch. I don't think the tiny change in wing sweep, if any happen at all in refueling speeds is gonna spoil your stability.

Talking about the speed - it normally should be around 250KIAS, mid alt. Also the easiest is to take fuel from KC-130.

When you get how to do it - you can fly in Auto, any tanker, any speed, any bank angle and it won't matter to you.

Throttle is tricky as you have to make small corrections and go back to previous setting before you even see the resulting change in position.

It’s been a while no see dude, I have basically solve those tomcat speed problems  through some aggravating mistakes and pain, I have to say refueling is probably harder than case1, it’s a precise work, you could smash on to the deck if you want, but it would be highly unlikely for clumsy players to stay in position of refueling for long

[draconus]

10 minutes ago, Ddg1500 said:

I have to say refueling is probably harder than case1, it’s a precise work, you could smash on to the deck if you want, but it would be highly unlikely for clumsy players to stay in position of refueling for long

True, but AAR is way safer than trapping. One wrong move and you can easily crash into the stern.

[Ddg1500]

1小时前，draconus说：

True, but AAR is way safer than trapping. One wrong move and you can easily crash into the stern.

Those tomcat pilots are more capable than those hornet one, the complexity of using dlc with stability augmentation system  with a steam gauge and a rudimentary hud with no auto trim and is just deadly for a those hornet guy today, and those tomcat guy need to do this everyday, which simply say they are fearless elite 

[markturner1960]

May I add also to the tips, the throttle useage I have found is variant dependant.......if in the B model, the engines spool up way quicker and when matched at tanker speed, its very difficult to be precise using both - leading to lots of over / undershooting.........in the B, I match speed in the left observation position and get trimmed out....then just use one throttle for all further movements of the jet......

In the A model, you will need to use both, I find that at tanker speed, you are just below the AB detent...and you need both throttles for any speed adjustments.....depending on weight of the jet I sometimnes have to blip in and out of AB, again using one throttle only if going to reheat. 

[Ddg1500]

5小时前，markturner1960说：

May I add also to the tips, the throttle useage I have found is variant dependant.......if in the B model, the engines spool up way quicker and when matched at tanker speed, its very difficult to be precise using both - leading to lots of over / undershooting.........in the B, I match speed in the left observation position and get trimmed out....then just use one throttle for all further movements of the jet......

In the A model, you will need to use both, I find that at tanker speed, you are just below the AB detent...and you need both throttles for any speed adjustments.....depending on weight of the jet I sometimnes have to blip in and out of AB, again using one throttle only if going to reheat. 

Yeah, you need constant and quite frequent throttle adjustment to keep tomcat stably approaching, to exactly how, I’ve mentioned above and of course there will be dramatic differences between A&B, you will need a lot experience to pull off that maturely, so good luck

Edited March 19, 2024 by Ddg1500

[freehand]

On 3/15/2024 at 3:52 PM, Ddg1500 said:

Those tomcat pilots are more capable than those hornet one, the complexity of using dlc with stability augmentation system  with a steam gauge and a rudimentary hud with no auto trim and is just deadly for a those hornet guy today, and those tomcat guy need to do this everyday, which simply say they are fearless elite 

My dad used to fly a Sopwith camel and carried his balls around in a wheelbarrow beat that!