DCS World Air to Air Refueling Guide For All Aircraft! 

I remember one particular CF-18 pilot who got a new callsign because he started to oscillate while A/A refueling. He sheared the business end of his refueling probe off, earning him the callsign, "Bobbitt".

D Jones LOL!

@@Spudknocker Hey, Spud, are you aware of the fact that the FEDS (firing evaluation display system) HUD symbology is modelled in DCS? I guess it isn't classified anymore...

Hi man, this is very helpful thank you! Is there a difference between the steam and web version? Can I access all servers either way? (i.e. can play with some on the web version from the steam version?)

A-10 could be nice :)

Haha well come fly some DCS with me an we will get it figured out!

Cool

3 crucial tricks that helped me. 1. Curvature of 20 - this greatly depends on your hardware joystick I am sure. Try higher and adjust down eventually. Maybe start with 30? The problem with low curvature is small movement on the hardware translate to such big inputs in the game where it is impossible to maintain stability and the tanker and your plane with keep swaying left and right and up and down. When this happens you just want to kill yourself. 2. Vertical Speed (VS) indicator - look at all the youtube tutorials and how stable their VS is, it is always stable as in it doesn't fluctuate quickly and also doesn't go to a high value. high value being maybe 80-100+. this is the KEY in maintaining stability and the ability to creep forward to the basket. Stable numbers are slow changing and they go from 0,10,20,30,40,50, at a very slow and stable pace. 3. Autopilot ATTH. Otherwise known see Attitude hold - DO not confuse with BALT. I notice this really helps in keeping the Vertical Speed stable otherwise it fluctuate up and down too much for me. You can try with and without but i always able to maintain basket connection easily with this turned on. The other thing I like to do is keeping a good distance from tanker, not caring about the basket first. Then achieve my VS stability first and foremost. If I feel the tanker swaying left or right too much I say F you to it and keep my eye to the heading indicator making sure it is stable and doesn't change. Eventually the tanker will behave and not move as much because it knows your eye is on a fixed heading. Then you use throttle adjustment to creep forward - this is where it gets super hard because you kind off need to adjust it constantly (this is a true SKILL to master) - the effort is almost like landing on carrier where you keep adjusting the throttle to adjust pitch. But obviously here the throttle don't adjust pitch (with ATTH turned on, and that is why its easier). Once you connect to basket, remove ATTH and turn on BALT (barometric altitude hold) and your challenge from here is to match the tankers speed. This is where you use reference points and whatever to help you. I find using BALT after basket connection so be super easy. HOWEVER, BALT does not work for me when the Tanker is banking - if the tanker does that banking thing you might as well not try since it is way more difficult to do. Once you successfully do this you can try mucking about with Automatic Throttle Control (ATC) to make things even easier but using ATC in refueling is also a skill that needs developing. I rarely turn on ATC unless I am in a situation where the speed of my plane and tanker is matching perfectly - which means I am not adjusting throttle stick as much and I 'feel' I could apply ATC. It's all about feeling. Man I can write more but I hope the above will help NEWBIES who sucks at refueling. So the above tricks is only for when the tanker is flying straight.

@@erfguuipo8084 I will try changing the curvture as you advised. thank you.

@@erfguuipo8084 The ATTitude Hold can help, certainly, so long as you remember to take out what you put in. If feels jerky because of that sometimes. The best fix for PIO I've found is to get those curves changed. Just a little to lengthen the input-to-output ratio a bit will pull the over-correction out of the small inputs. I used to ATT hold all the time in the -18, but since I changed my pitch curve a bit I haven't needed it. I prefer not to use it, actually. The other item is the speed. A knot or two of speed added or lost will change the pitch up and down, causing PIO. Getting that speed matched and trim set for that speed is key and should be done prior to the approach on the basket and will require a little less input on the stick over time.

Yeah dude. It's RIPE!!

_"Oh, Honey, you've slipped out again."_ -Eva Lovia

Awesome man I’m so glad to hear it!

giggity

John Tack hahahahaa nice

Wife thought "At least he is trying to learn it" ;)

Freedom Trooper this will definitely help!

@@Spudknocker Ok this should have been your Number 1 point. Go learn to fly close formation with your buddies. Once you have that mastered then you can try tanking. Watch your overtake at the tanker when you prod. If you are falling out after you get in its because you had too much overtake. DCS will let you get away with way more than real life where its less than 5kts but if you are that fast then you will drop out once you have connected. Ideally imagine you are walking the probe into the basket don't rush and never ever look at the basket just fly your formation references on the Tanker as you close. .

Yes I gave up and so did 3 of my flight buddies we always find a place to land and refuel. I would rather land at a enemy base and refuel then to try this shit. I gave up after a year of trying

Awesome man!

Just to advice you, in the meantime i heard my first „Transfer Complete - Disconnect“ with my Hornet, gets better and better. And the Viper is also refueled mid-air. I think i get the thing working 😁

Yes. It is essentially that. After you intercept the tanker, you take up position off its left wing. It is here you get settled in, taking note of the tanker's airspeed, altitude or bank angle. When you are ready you slide into position by dropping below the tanker altitude, and behind it. Once your airspeed is stabilised behind, you are ready for pre-contact. The observation position is thus important for you to start getting into the groove so to speak.

Thanks man!

I will help you 1 on 1 if you give me a ZF-1!

@@Spudknocker ZF-1 is great, flamethrower is my favourite. Unfortunately the mangalores stole the rest of them, and I suppose they are busy blowing themselves up now… with the little, red button and all… a real killer always asks about the little, red button.

TACAN is discussed at 2:55

I agree, theres way too much useless blah blah that one feels tempted to skip to the interesting parts.

Instigator yes sir of course!

Im still struggling with it.

I have the twcs throttle and nxt gladiator I had to add 3 dead zone And change the curve to 20-21 range I also change the vertical springs to gmx#30 not the left and right spring though and I'm on table top I have the core hawk 3d mod for the twcs throttle on etsy polymer bushings For instance when she bank right I match the turn as close as possible add 1-3 knots to keep with the turn and not get closer or farther while I'm hooked in and lastly to not slide right I put the a very small amount of left pedal or (rudder) into the aircraft just a little very tiny bit on my setup anyways so I'm banking right at 45 degrees and yaw is slightly left to counteract my sliding so I look cool and stay it or atleast can fly formation I literally couldn't do it until I change my curve and dead one and tried it today after 5 months of dcs tried myself 2-3 times and my 4th time was today 5/15/21 and I got it fully fueled fa-18 in 6-7 connections and fuel transfers... It takes a long while maybe bit the stick setting are what really helped a fuck load now its super easy tried the tomcat and harrier and f15c the eagle was odd but so us the other airframe I also did what spud knocker said and stroked the throttle up and down like 1% rpm and I stroked the throttle so she was around 315-316 and I kept up and had a solid 37 seconds of being fueled with one bag too almost finished it up

XD

Awesome man!

That is friggin’ hilarious 😂

@J Burke 5) Knowing your aircraft

@J Burke i personally find VR does make it easier better depth perception sense of speed and scale all the things you need when performing this kind of task doesn't mean its you don't need practice though

I would agree but I don’t think that legacy Hornets ever got a buddy refueling system I think that’s relegated to super Hornets and growlers. That’s why it’s not in the game

Alt hold on the 18 myself. Unless you overuse throttle adjustments, it works perfectly

You could turn off Wake Turbulence in the Settings menu.

Don't feel bad, it's probably because the F16 in DCS has significant non linear input lag in the surface controls. I think they were trying to model the inertia but accidentally inputted the mass of the F-14.

@@ziljanvega3879 interesting...

i wait a few seconds to try again and then it works for me. Hopefully you were able to figure it out already

Well hopefully this video will help you out!

@@Spudknocker you've inspired me to giver a go

Tombstone 4 awesome!

@@tombstone4362 man I managed to do an AAR with a keyboard, if you’re using a HOTAS you should have no difficulties Edit: revisiting this comment now, I was being a ****head there

I would look at your curves. If you are using a short desktop stick you should have at least 30% curve on it. Remember most aircraft have a 8 inch/20cm extension. If you are using a desktop stick you will be over sensitive. Also look at curves for the throttle. A lot of times the default is not correct.

I would have payed more attention if they disguised it with jet euphemisms!

Yeah that would be nice like BMS, lol.

"I said hold still, beeper!" Brrrrrrr

Haha well #1 you should never have a crosswind on a carrier, the carrier should be sailing into the wind! Haha

@@Spudknocker But they're fun.

I little AAR hack that I use is activate the BALT hold when approaching pre contact. Then I'm able to better subtly make small input corrections with the stick getting to the boom and staying attached. All I have to focus on is throttle corrections. Makes me look like a pro when I'm anything but lol

Depends on which aircraft you are in. Getting into the basket is unintuitive and it takes practice to memorise the position of the basket relative to your canopy. At the same time you are not supposed to look at the basket. Not at all... It's just supposed to sit in your peripheral vision and you adjust your aircraft's formation position to the memorised basket positions. Thus, AAR familiarity is sheer will and practice.

​@@woodleyjohnson I did that in the Hornet since writing that post and have been able to AAR in that.