And just like that my F14 career is over....

Let's be honest here/ we are not equals about these skills. Hardware makes a huge difference.

 

My extended warthog in a central position in my simpit, makes its relatively easy. Harder than the hornet but probably easier than the harrier.

 

Give me another joystick, on a desk or something and I am pretty sure it would be a whole other challenge

+100

I've been a AAR dumbo since beginning of my virtual career on Falcon4 last millenium, completely unable to do a proper AAR in any sim I attempted it.

Since a few months, now, I can do it rather easily.

Difference being that I now fly with an extended, centered , T50 stick, and in VR. It changed everything.

It's amazing how proper hardware smoothen up things!

One more recommendation that worked wonders for me:

BREATHE!

I find myself jerking around too much when instant holding my breath and a death grip on the stick without consciously focusing on taking long slow breaths.

Do what I do, if you can't get in the basket, shoot the tanker down...

I shot more tanker than successfull refuel in my virtual carrer :D

Once trimmed, I think the poor visibility afforded by the canopy rail is a factor. It makes it a little more difficult to fly formation off of the tanker. Once you develop an eye for the proper position, things fall into place.

how do you see your actual exact speed? with analog gauge and only mach meter, how can we maintain speed with the tanker?

The analog meter while analog is exact. The rest is MkI eyeball. What do you need actual numbers for, you see the tanker after all.

I also find the 135 a little more of a challenge due to the angle of the wing :) but its just a matter of getting used to it

Another frustrating session. I am struggling, every time I get close to the basket the aircraft pitches up or down no matter if I am trimmed properly. I,m not able to put in any pitch/roll without going into PIO and having to back off.

3 days of trying, my arm hurts and I really wish there was an "easy mode" as this is the only thing I cant do well enough. Got a few 3 wires, dropped some bombs etc

I feel like I cant continue without being able to do AAR as its such a fundamental part of Carrier base aircraft. :noexpression:

Haha, so even though my first go at this went very well, I went to do it again yesterday and struggled like mad.

Visibility is tough with the canopy bow where it is, and the new jet wash certainly adds a new element.

Gotta keep practicing!

Well my first go at the tanker was not great, was able to hold speed and position with the tanker despite the lack of a really functional HUD but was just ‘teasing the basket’ as Jester kept reminding me.

Still was a first go. The prop wash added to the challenge though to be honest once you are close enough to be cleared for contact it isn’t much of an issue.

Using a Warthog stick with VKB gimbal here, no extension.

While the VKB gimbal helps, even it has some stiction, and it's a desktop model with no extension, so the equipment is not the major difference.

I generally put the bird in "bomb mode" - reason being it's an easy way to sweep the wings and disable the slats all in one go. That prevents the unexpected pitch moments.

Once you hook up, push forward a bit to get some slack in the line, and then keep vigilant with the throttle and trim. As you take on fuel, you will get heavier and start drifting back and low. A bump of trim here and there helps.

Most important - BREATHE. Let the tension out and don't hold a death grip.

Fly it like you’re flaring small plane for landing. You’re keeping the plane up with back stick pressure but you would not push to pitch down just relax a bit and it would pitch down very slightly.

, added to this poor front visibility makes me mad.

+1000 :thumbup:

How proficient are any of you at formation flying? I used to suck at AAR too, until I spent a lot of time on the AerobaticsOnline Server.

1. You don't need to know what speed you're going or anything happening on your instruments for that matter. Your head is always focused on your lead. The shape of the plane will also not bother you as much.

2. The other thing you are going to learn is very small inputs so you don't yoyo around. On my, oh-so-terrible, X-55 I don't even get into the spring area to make corrections, which is probably 1/32" movements

Now the biggest other contributor is a VR set. Sorry, but without depth perception you are going to have a hard time chasing baskets. I know people like to argue against VR sets for various reasons, but depth perception is the single biggest reason I refuse to go back to a flat screen.