Refueling

[Bushpilot]

Gents,

Hooking up on the boom with the tanker is achieved, my little BMS experience helped quite a bit. However staying on the boom is quite hard. I blame the Warthog throttle (also flying without rudder pedals is an extra challenge, waiting on my RUSBA, when that piece of hardware will arrive it will get easier correcting lateral movement) Flying at a steady pace while attached to the boom taking fuel is quite a challenge. The cougar throttle is a bit more responsive in my observation. In the F16 you're having the boom behind you and the directional lights under the tanker give you input what to correct.


Any tips are welcome!

cheers!

[Energy]

Well you really should not have a problem since you did it on F16. I take it you are flying the boom not the tanker.
Same thing applies. YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE BOOM. Just keep position with tanker and you will be OK.

I don't use rudder while refueling ... just tiny corrections with stick.

[Gunny]

Preacher, Energy is right, never chase the boom. Get you a sight picture on the tanker and use the technique of looking through the boom. There was a silly fad awhile back of these pictures you look at and your told not to focus on the picture to see the image inside. http://www.eyetricks.com/3dstereo.htm Think of it that way. Take time to really trim your AC at the speed of the tanker.

Relax, don't get a death grip on your controls. "Wiggle your toes" I don't even own Rudder pedals, you don't need them in AAR. Went from not making my first evaluation to join the 476th to being told I might have the best AAR on my 2nd attempt to join.

Setup a simple AAR mission where your already a couple miles behind the tanker and just rinse and repeat. Use it to also practice your formation flying.

The old cliche of Practice, Practice, Practice....................... Did Practice get mentioned?

[Bushpilot]

Thanks Energy and Gunny, practice makes perfect! And trimming your airplane too!

[Bushpilot]

Well you really should not have a problem since you did it on F16. I take it you are flying the boom not the tanker.
Same thing applies. YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE BOOM. Just keep position with tanker and you will be OK.

I don't use rudder while refueling ... just tiny corrections with stick.

It's hard to not follow the boom when it's right in front of you lol, that makes it hard, I still catch myself looking at the light indicators under the tanker

[Frodo]

Ok Preacher. Step by step how Gunny and I prepared for our intro to this group.

1. Start on the ground - full ramp start. Do it right all the time, every time.
2. Set up a tanker on a 25 mile racetrack 40 miles away from where ever you take off from. This gives you time to prepare. (Trim, switches, etc...)
3. Rejoin with the tanker off his left wing and stay there for a least one lap. This will give you formation flying practice as well as burning some fuel. It will also allow you time to figure out what speed the tanker is moving. (this is important later)
4. Move to Pre-Contact position behind the tanker. Your speed should not have changed more than 3knts +-.
5. Using 1 throttle only increase speed to contact. Small inputs are all that is needed to gain on the tanker. You should be able to get within +- 2 knts of the tanker speed and just manage that with 1 throttle.

At this point you have to learn to predict what is going to happen. When you add throttle you have to watch for the closure and adjust when it starts not when you almost too close. Using only 1 throttle makes this much easier to manage. Left and right are going to be minor inputs from the stick. Make sure you have curves set up on your flight stick to avoid major attitude changes.

6. Once you hear, "Transfer Complete", go back to step one and do it again. The goal is not only to get a one and done but be able to do it every time.

Gunny and I spent over 2 weeks doing nothing but tanking and formation flying and it made a huge difference once we got accepted into this squadron.

Last point, if things start going crazy while moving to contact or while taking fuel, throttle back to idle and descend a few hundred feet. Take a deep breath and move back to pre-contact position and start over. If you feel yourself getting frustrated stop and take a break. Trying to refuel while agitated is never going to happen.

Good luck

[Dojo]

I possibly misunderstand here, but are you saying you use only left or right throttle when refueling to increase/decrease speed?

Assuming you have a Thrustmaster Warthog, with respect to curves, I don't use them at all for the A-10. Most of us don't. Now rudders, that's another story. Certainly there's no rule against them, but it's definitely not a necessity to become an expert at tanking.

[Energy]

It's hard to not follow the boom when it's right in front of you lol, that makes it hard, I still catch myself looking at the light indicators under the tanker

So you catch your self looming at lights? Good. Now fly his belly or wings/engines. Don't mind the boom. See its same as in F16, you fly precision formation :-)

[Frodo]

Dojo, that is correct. Once I get close the speed needed to stay in the "zone", I make very small adjustments to only one throttle.

[PFunk]

I don't advise curves for general use. I think they create more problems than they solve. I'm a bit of a fundamentalist on this topic though.