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AAR Tips and Tricks


pistolpete01

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hey i filled it up for the first time tonight, i disconnected a couple times because i was sloppy but I saw some actual improvement. Up until tonight I've never stayed connected for more than maybe 10 seconds. The two tips that helped the most was not trying to stab it in at the last second if you are off, backing up and re-trying and taking a little curve out of my x and y axis. A big relief I thought I wasn't gonna be able to do it at all.

Nobody likes me because I'm unsafe.

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Same for me: I finally was able to see "Transfer complete"! I'm still learning, but for me the key things were:

- to look mostly at the tanker engine as a reference point;

- minimal joystick and throttle movement;


Edited by lester

Все написанное выше является моим оценочным суждением

Everything written above reflects my personal opinion

 

Занимаюсь "активной пропагандой Американцев на данном форуме" © Flanker

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hey i filled it up for the first time tonight, i disconnected a couple times because i was sloppy but I saw some actual improvement. Up until tonight I've never stayed connected for more than maybe 10 seconds. The two tips that helped the most was not trying to stab it in at the last second if you are off, backing up and re-trying and taking a little curve out of my x and y axis. A big relief I thought I wasn't gonna be able to do it at all.

 

 

 

 

Congrats! and it'll get easier and easier each time, as you'll get less nervous and less muscles stiff on the stick :)

 

 

 

 

Proper curves adjusment/joystick used or the understanding of it's importance, i'D say is, quite a huge amount of reason for some people AAR (specialy ont he Hornet, as i personaly find where the probe is located to be the easiest ever refueling bird due to it's positioning, even looking straight you can clearly keep eyes of it in your FOV, and it's almost straight front the nose) is hard, so you did quite a good thing adjusting them, you'll see, once you get the hang of it and it gets easy, you'll even be able to turn back to default your curves.

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For people who are in the early stages of learning to do aerial refueling in the F/A-18C one of my first tips would be not to use the mission in Instant Action, but to either download one created by the community or make your own.

 

For a start, the Instant Action mission features the S-3B tanker. This is more challenging to refuel from than the KC130 - far less forgiving in terms of maintaining position once you're

connected. I've wondered whether the S-3B has a shorter hose, but not got around to checking this.

 

Secondly, in the Instant Action mission you're flying a clean Hornet - no tanks or munitions. My advice - increase the weight of the aircraft so as to make it less responsive to pitch

inputs - give it a bit more inertia so that it will be less inclined to bounce around.

 

One of the most challenging things about learning is that your airspeed for a given throttle position never seems to remain stable for more than a few seconds - you're constantly

either accelerating or decelerating. The result is that you'll either find yourself closing too fast with the tanker or slowing down just as you thought you were about to make contact

with the basket. Frustrating!

 

Maybe it's just my hearing, but I can't detect any change in engine sounds as I make minor throttle adjustments. I don't know whether this mirrors what happens in real life, but I found this frustrating when I was learning.

 

So, I was constantly having to divide my attention between my approach to the basket and monitoring my speed as shown in the HUD. This makes for an increased workload.

 

One recommendation I'd make is that if you miss the basket while your airspeed is in the accelerating phase, don't immediately throttle back/airbrake to fall back for another attempt, but continue as if you had successfully connected, and then try to stablilise your position behind the tanker. This will involve throttling back so as not to overshoot. You're going to need to learn this skill to stay connected, so you might as well treat missed approaches as an opportunity to practice this.

 

Don't try to inch up to the basket foot by foot - your lack of binocular vision as the basket is in the last few feet of your approach makes it impossible to judge distance. You''ll have the frustrating experience of being sure that you're about to make contact and then the basket just passes magically through the side of your probe. Possibly in VR this isn't an issue?

 

So, my advice: go for a steady confident approach and learn how to manage the higher rate of closure which this entails.

 

Don't ever dart at the basket - if you do connect your sideways/upwards/downwards acceleration will be hard to manage and you'll end up being even more frustrated than if you just missed the basket. Plus, you're possibly going to collide with the tanker.

 

Another thing - which I've learned through painful experience - is to force yourself to be patient. If you miss an approach, fall back a decent distance, stabilise and then make another

deliberate attempt. Trying a second rushed attempt without stabilising will only add to your frustration. Aim to have the line of the hose vertical in the gap in your pitch ladder

before you start each approach.

 

When it comes to joystick input - less is more. Try to position yourself in what you judge to be the right place for your approach and then see what happens - better to learn to recognise a picture of what a successful approach looks like, than to be constantly making adjustments. With experience I can now see - very early in an approach - that I've got a good line and I then

just leave the stick alone, despite what might appear to be an arcing path between the probe and the basket.

 

I won't give advice on what you should be lining up with what - everyone will use different features of their aircraft/HUD and different features of the tanker - use whatever works

for you. (Actually, for what it's worth, I put the caret on the heading tape at the 8 o'clock position on the refuelling pod as my starting point.)

 

Watch the tracks of your missions in external view - you may find that you're actually doing better than the view from the cockpit suggests. This way you can get a more 3-dimensional

view of how you're doing - you may be closer to success than you think!

 

The first time you stay connected for 30 seconds is a milestone, and then, finally, those magic words "Transfer complete" are a reward for all the effort you've put into learning this challenging task.

 

This is the best post in this thread yet. Everything he says is what I had to learn. The one thing I will add that helped me is when I get close to the basket to stop holding the stick in my hand and begin using my fingers. By that I mean I don't grip the stick with the palm of my hand making contact. If I hold it that way my inputs are too much. I back my hand off a bit so my fingers are making contact with the stick about halfway between my finger tips and the palm of my hand. This makes it easier to just nudge the stick for small inputs. And the next thing you MUST do is relax. Remember to breathe, untense your arm and hand and just be calm, hard to do but makes a world of difference. Concentrate hard on staying calm and relaxed, actually tell yourself out loud to calm down. You will see a difference just by relaxing. Relaxing will become easier as you gain confidence, but your confidence will increase the more you remain cool and calm. It's a game, so enjoy it!


Edited by Sparky1b09
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As someone who struggled with PIO attempting AAR, this thread has helped me a lot.

 

Managed to plug into the basket 3 times in a row and even though I didn't maintain contact for more than a few seconds this was a big improvement for me.

 

Having the controls window visible on the screen helped. This showed that I sometimes had split throttles which would cause slight turns.

 

The other thing that helped was the recommendation to back off and approach again rather than attempting to chase the basket. A lot of the time I would find I was 10ft high or 10ft low approaching the basket and would start to porpoise as a result of chasing the basket.

 

Next task is to try and stay connected for more than a few seconds at a time.

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I is not manys week ago I did my first ever AAR in DCS (using the F18). Back in the day I tried quite a few times in the A10 but never managed to stay connected and simply stopped trying. With the F-18 I decided I wanted to learn AAR, as there are many missions where AAR is an important aspect. I watched a video where the creator basically said don't follow the basket, but in stead focus on the pod under the wing. That advice and setting up curve (15-20) for both pitch and roll did the trick ... not in the first try, but still had to practice.

 

Be sure to set yourself up prior to reaching the tanker, so you don't have to deal with anything during the tank-session. E.g. I put my radar to standby, I put LDDI to the Fuel-page. I make sure that engine anti-ice is enabled to I don't get a warning in the middle of the tank-session. And especially if you use realistic radio setting be sure to dial in the correct frequency for the correct radio, and if you so desire setup the TACAN, and feel free to extend the probe, so you know EVERYTHING is ready for taking fuel.

 

Download or create your own mission where you start in the air relative close to the tanker (so you don't have to spend a lot of time, each time you restart the mission). If you want to, you can make the racetrack-pattern VERY long, so you don't have to deal with the tanker turning in the middle of a refueling-session. I suggest that you pick the KC130 as its wings are relative close to the horrizon when it flyes straight. I've tried with the KC135 a few times but instintivly I want to roll the aircraft, to fly alligned with it wings.

 

I never touch the autopilot nor the trim, while I do AAR, is all about small correcting with the stick and throttle. Remember not to follow the basket too much - don't "hunt" it, and don't try to "stab it" with the probe. Approach the basket at a gentle pace. When I missed it, I got fustrated and tried to "stab it" without any success. Its better to back off (as much as you need) and set yourself up for a new try.

 

Both when trying to connect and once you have connected keep monitoring your flightpath-marker. I've seen many (myself included) that once they have connected they are all over the place (up, down, left, right). I'm still not perfect, but as long as the tanker is flying straight you just have to monitor the flightpatch marker, in stead of only looking at your position relative to the aircraft. As long as you can keep the flightpath-marker (in the HUD) level with the horizon you will not climb/descent in relation to the tanker. Likewise keeping the horizontal elevation lines in the hud level, you will not turn left/right.

 

These days when I approach the tanker I try to first get/keep level with the baset without trying to "hunt" it. Once I am at the approx same level I keep monitoring the flightpath marker as it can quickly tell me if I start climbing/descending in which case the baset will start move up/down in relation to me. If the basket starts to get away (up/down). I monitor the flightpath marker and do a small climb/descend in order to again get to the approx same level. All this can be done while you stil keeps gentle getting closer and closer. If you feel things get out of hand and you jumps too much up/down, then ease off the throttel until you get a little distance and the up/down oscillations level out. Once you get a hang of this you can add the roll-axis into the equation and then beside just nailing the hight of the baset, also get to place it where you want it (slightly to the right of center).

 

When you connect next task it staying connected, and as mentioned the flightpath-marker is your friend (at least as long as the tanker flyes straight). Pick a spot on the aircraft and try to keep it in the relative same position to you all the time, so you don't get closer to the tanker or further away. You can't keep the same position without working the throttle. The better you get at seing- and reacting to you getting closer/further away the less you need to increase/descrease thrust. In the begging you will probably make bigger changes and having to move the throttle forward/aft. But as you get better you can don't have to move the throttle as much.

 

Practice, practice and more practice :-)

Pelle Liljendal

(MooseMan)

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