Realistic Refueling Basket Interaction

This right here. AAR is stupid easy.

I can't agree at all. I can guarantee that without peripheral vision it is close to impossible, especially without that butt-meter. On top of that, everyone who thinks it's easy probably has just practiced it often enough.

I'd prefer it realistic anyway, even if it's getting harder. Well, I expect getting contact to be harder, staying on will probably easier since the unrealistic limits will be gone then. The hose should disconnect if it's getting too short (= you're falling back), but not just because you're off to the side half a meter.

I can't agree at all. I can guarantee that without peripheral vision it is close to impossible, especially without that butt-meter. On top of that, everyone who thinks it's easy probably has just practiced it often enough.

 

I'd prefer it realistic anyway, even if it's getting harder. Well, I expect getting contact to be harder, staying on will probably easier since the unrealistic limits will be gone then. The hose should disconnect if it's getting too short (= you're falling back), but not just because you're off to the side half a meter.

To be perfectly honest, it was easy the first time I did it as it is now.

To be perfectly honest, it was easy the first time I did it as it is now.

So we both have the talent of putting the thing into the thing :P. I also find it easy as it is now. Can't wait to have it a bit more realistic and challenging. For everyone who find it difficult now, curvature and patience is the key to success.

Everything is easy once you know how to do it and have a bit of practice in.

Differential calculus is easy once you know how to do it, and have a little practice in.

It's easier to learn if you have a background in Maths or similar.

Most of the world's population find it impossible...

A professional footballer might find running 10 Km race in 40 minutes 'easy' even if they've never run a 10 Km race before.

A 60 year old desk jockey isn't going to have the same experience.

Simply telling people that can't do it that 'it's easy' is pointless once you've learnt how to do it.

It might make you feel good, but adds nothing to the conversation.

The discussion should be around 'is it realistic?', not 'is it too easy or too hard?'

Simply telling people that can't do it that 'it's easy' is pointless once you've learnt how to do it.

It might make you feel good, but adds nothing to the conversation.

Excellent post, my thoughts exactly. Let’s drop the elitism lads, help the guys who struggle.

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Ok, but how can we help someone that already knows what and how he has to do it, he practiced it many times and still can't get it done. That's the problem of this kind of people. They know everything about AAR, but just can't do it. For some people math is a black magic and for others AAR is impossible. We've been over it hundreds of times.

Now about "Is it realistic or not?" It's not realistic YET. The hose with the basket should be wiggling around a little bit. The basket itself should also interact with the refueling boom, depending on what angle we put it in, more from above, below, left or right. In short, every contact between basket and boom should cause some reaction (for example shake it a little bit), not only animation that it's connected. It looks a bit more realistic once an aircraft is connected and refueling because then the hose follows the airplane which is actually refueling. Another thing, there is no such thing as fuel leak from the basket (once connected), and this might happen sometimes. I think that's it (for now).

And a video:

P.S. The biggest issue to get it realistic (in my opinion) is that we don't have "dynamic" air. Even if we set the weather to dynamic, it doesn't have air, we are flying in nothing and we have programmed flight model. We don't have any "lag" between input and reaction to it. Just check out some landing videos. Control surfaces are moving like crazy and plane seems to not move at all, it's just some small corrections. If we try to do that in DCS, we will be all over the place.

I will chime in with a bit of experience 10 years of probe and drogue on the Tornado and fair bit of time in DCS.

Depending on you stick and throttle setup it can be a lot harder in DCS than in real life. I have 2 rigs one when I am on the road with and one setup at home. At home it's easy on the road it's distinctly trickier. Overall I found it easier in real life, when you talk about basket mechanics and the Aircrafts effect it, yep it moves a bit but it was never a big deal and would hardly be worth the effort to simulate.

There are a couple of things I would change in DCS.

The first is the pre contact position which is behind the basket which is impossible to do if the tanker doesn't trail the hose when you ask to tank.

2nd is and this one is a stretch but if I need to hit the Tanker cos I am low on gas it would be great if I could get the Tanker to

turn towards me.

Anyway while there are a few glitches in our current tanking in DCS like connecting when you drift backwards it is quite a fun simulation and if you can fly close formation then you can tank.

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I will chime in with a bit of experience 10 years of probe and drogue on the Tornado and fair bit of time in DCS.

 

Depending on you stick and throttle setup it can be a lot harder in DCS than in real life. I have 2 rigs one when I am on the road with and one setup at home. At home it's easy on the road it's distinctly trickier. Overall I found it easier in real life, when you talk about basket mechanics and the Aircrafts effect it, yep it moves a bit but it was never a big deal and would hardly be worth the effort to simulate.

 

There are a couple of things I would change in DCS.

 

The first is the pre contact position which is behind the basket which is impossible to do if the tanker doesn't trail the hose when you ask to tank.

 

2nd is and this one is a stretch but if I need to hit the Tanker cos I am low on gas it would be great if I could get the Tanker to

turn towards me.

 

Anyway while there are a few glitches in our current tanking in DCS like connecting when you drift backwards it is quite a fun simulation and if you can fly close formation then you can tank.

 

 

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I feel like the basket in real life might help guide the probe onto the connection better? In DCS the probe tends to warp through the metal basket... Do you think this is the case?

IRL the tanker can be requested to converge to incoming fighters to optimize their playtime/help in case of low fuel situations, and also "pull" them towards the operational area assigned. This was frequently the case in Afghanistan for Mirage 2000 D's

I wish we could request headings for the tanker in the radio menu for instance.

Some diversity with the radio would be cool too (different voice/tone/speech rythm)

I feel like the basket in real life might help guide the probe onto the connection better? In DCS the probe tends to warp through the metal basket... Do you think this is the case?

Also IRL if you are well off center and catch at the wrong angle you can actually put the probe through the side of the basket and mess up the basket. I did it once unfortunately.

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