Night AAR cockpit lighting question

First off: Thank you, everyone here, for all the help you provide! First class assistance all the way:thumbup:

I have mastered daylight AAR and the forum suggestions in combination with YouTube training videos was key. Getting the proper sight picture at precontact along with a slight bit of curve on pitch and roll did the trick for me.

Now, the problem I am encountering trying night AAR is being able to obtain a sight picture at precontact. Watching Recon Stewart's night AAR video in his AFT series shows a relatively useful sight picture. I, on the other hand, just see three bright lights until I am literally right behind the boom. Obviously I am not stable or in the correct receiving position as a result.

I have tried dimming interior lighting and playing with the nose refueling brightness but, after several days of experimenting, only have marginal improvement (can get a 3-5 second contact after several laughable attempts). My gamma is set to 2.2 on a Samsung 32 inch 1920x1080 monitor.

Any suggestions regarding your own methods for improving night vision of the tanker are most welcome. Thanks many times over!

Turn on your night vision goggles.

Good suggestion and I may have to do just that but I have seen night AAR video where the the tanker outline is quite visible prior to precontact. I don't like the night vision because it is so grainy and limited FOV. But that may be necessary unless someone has a better idea(s). Thanks for your response!

Good suggestion and I may have to do just that but I have seen night AAR video where the the tanker outline is quite visible prior to precontact. I don't like the night vision because it is so grainy and limited FOV. But that may be necessary unless someone has a better idea(s). Thanks for your response!

It depends how dark it is. If it’s dusk or just before sunrise then you’ll see more. If it’s midnight then you for sure need night vision goggles as the lighting in game is not enough

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It certainly also depends on the moon phase. We recently did a night training in full moon conditions and I hardly ever switched on my goggles, visibility was pretty good.

The next training took place two weeks later (in-game time) and it was so dark, we couldn't see the damn tanker despite TACAN and NVGs until we almost ran into it and the dude finally switched the lights on. Once we saw the tanker, AAR was doable, but certainly one of the tougher ones I've done. As I recall it, I used NVGs the whole time despite the downsides of grainy and reduced field of vision.

....and playing with the nose refueling brightness ...

And do they work? From what I remember they don't work as they should.

Ricktoberfest & Yurgon, thanks for those observations. The AFT night AAR mission has no moonlight so I am inclined to take your approach Yurgon. Much appreciated.

AMVI, there is a dial on the fuel control panel (upper left console) called RCVR LT that enables the flloodlight within the nose fuel receptacle to be turned on and adjusted. Whether it works correctly is beyond my skill level to address. It does help during contact but is essentially useless at precontact. My $0.02.

Thanks guys!

Night vision (and a great deal of lighting adjustments) did the trick! Night vision in particular was critical to get a good precontact sight picture. Another trick was to simply turn off the HUD display after precontact. No distractions! Thanks everyone!