Help left brain refuel Harrier

I just CANNOT AAR this thing. I have no problem refueling literally any other jet in DCS. No problem with blind approaches. Landing on roadways with a viggen, helos, VTOL, you name, no problem.

The problem with the Harrier is I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE SUCCESS CONDITION LOOKS LIKE.

As someone extremely left brained, you can give me any objective, and I can quickly work out everything that needs to be done in precise order to accomplish that task.

With the Harrier, I have no idea where the damn drogue should be. Markers like "above the eyebrow" and "hose above the left mirror" ignore parallax issues. My primary problem is lateral line-up. I have no problem vertically, no problem with being trimmed in stable flight. My problem is I have literally no idea where that Drogue should be on approach. I'm either inside or outside every time. What the hell am I aiming for? On the FA18, I keep the drogue in peripheral vision, focus on the tanker, and since I know what my goal is, I can hook up no problem. In the Harrier, I have no idea where I'm supposed to be. I've tried this 2 weekends for 7 hours now, and I don't know a damn thing more than when I started.

A virtual social-distanced beer to whoever can help me figure this dreadful thing out.

Hi!

If I understood you correctly you have a problem with left/right position, right? In the training there was a hint to point nose just on the very edge of the propeller of the tanker and it works.

Hope it will help!

BR

AG

Use the KC-130.

Switch from NAV to VSTOL master mode. (optional but useful for me)

At the top of the HUD, the Heading Carat is centerline.

Line yourself up so that this centerline is at the left edge of the outboard propeller disk. This is your lateral position.

I found it really helpful to see what success looked like, in order to replicate it.

This video shows it clearly:

Good luck and keep going!

Use the KC-130.

Switch from NAV to VSTOL master mode. (optional but useful for me)

At the top of the HUD, the Heading Carat is centerline.

 

Line yourself up so that this centerline is at the left edge of the outboard propeller disk. This is your lateral position.

 

I found it really helpful to see what success looked like, in order to replicate it.

This video shows it clearly:

 

Good luck and keep going!

This is absolutely right here with the propeller disk. For a bit of a 'feel' set of directions I often find when I am lining up that the basket should be closer to your cockpit than you think safe haha. That is when I seem to have the most success.

Carat on the outside left of propellor disc (if you're fueling that side anyway) will handle lateral positioning, for vertical positioning put the little box of fuel lights on upper left of your canopy through the basket as you approach. All there is to it.

HOooooooollllly crap I did it, and you are not going to believe what the issue was.

After flying great approaches for an hour straight, I decide to look at the probe as I am explicitly instructed not to do, only to notice it clipping right THROUGH the drogue! I thought "maybe a glitch? Maybe I missed and had a bad viewing angle". It happened 3 more times. I then googled it, found an answer on the FA18 forum here. I did ask for refueling, and the tanker did drop the drogues, but you have to request pre-contact again when you're closer to the drogue. I also expect that if you don't do it, even though the drogues are out, it is impossible for you to refuel from them. I think I got locked in to the training mission so hard, I didn't realize I was skipping that step.

Hope this helps someone else in the same situation as me! At least I know I'm not going crazy!

After drilling your approach that much, you'll never miss another hookup in this bird now!

(as long as you remember all the radio calls ;)

Glad you got it sorted out, and you are correct that the drogue is not active until you get a positive acknowledgement to your "Ready pre-contact" call. I found this out while practicing - I'd hook up, confirm fuel flow, then call "Abort refuel". I tried to reconnect, and same as you the probe clips through the drogue with no effect until you redo the comms sequence.

Hours of frustration, followed by a slap-yourself-in-the-head moment of realization = the most DCS thing ever.

After drilling your approach that much, you'll never miss another hookup in this bird now!

(as long as you remember all the radio calls ;)

 

Glad you got it sorted out, and you are correct that the drogue is not active until you get a positive acknowledgement to your "Ready pre-contact" call. I found this out while practicing - I'd hook up, confirm fuel flow, then call "Abort refuel". I tried to reconnect, and same as you the probe clips through the drogue with no effect until you redo the comms sequence.

 

Hours of frustration, followed by a slap-yourself-in-the-head moment of realization = the most DCS thing ever.

No kidding! The only thing I find easier to refuel than the Harrier now is the Hornet. I can refuel that thing in my sleep.