Aerial refueling possible in the Bug?
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If only we had a basket to plug into…… maybe one day.
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…mmmmmnnn…basket…
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Yes a refueling drogue would be pretty nice. I installed and removed hundreds of these in my days working KC-135’s. I had one fall on my foot from a B-5 stand. It broke my big toe
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I’ve seen the aftermath of hitting the basket too hard and setting up a standing wave in the hose…rips the probe right out of the nose of the jet. I’d like to see that included in the modelling…
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I’ll tell you all the same thing I’ve been telling the dev team on this topic for, well, literally years now… Absent a hose model that is animatable from code (without excessive CPU consumption naturally) there is no play to add drogue support. If such a model were to be possible, then we might talk about doing something. But. It took more than a year elapsed of spare time work to get the boom working more correctly and that’s child’s play compared to building code for boom-streamed-drogue or better yet drogue/hose pod set ups. Adjust expectations accordingly
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Understood, Boxer. The basket is a major PITA to plug anyhow.
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…so…4 to 6 weeks then?
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Understood, Boxer. The basket is a major PITA to plug anyhow.
I tried hitting the basket in a trainer not long ago and was very surprised how well I did at it for a first time (so was my back seater)…even though the frame rates were screwed and had the tanker (a KC-135 with a basket, BTW…) jumping all over the sky on me every time I was near to plugged. Just based on that I think hitting the basket is WAY easier than my feeble attempts at the boom in BMS.
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Shameless confession - In the sim, I’ve shot down more tankers than I’ve connected with. :rolleyes:
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+1…
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Absent a hose model that is animatable from code (without excessive CPU consumption naturally) there is no play to add drogue support.
Done. Next.
Just kidding Boxer. I know it’s a bit more involved than that.
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lol
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…still, nice work PumpyHead!
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Dude, any advice for this versus in the F16? I am very good at AAR in the Viper but cant get a poke in the Bug.
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Dude, any advice for this versus in the F16? I am very good at AAR in the Viper but cant get a poke in the Bug.
AAR in bms f-16 is tough nut to crack. Was watching a video on a real F16 doing Air to air refueling, looked so easy.
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You can use the cross in the upper right of the HUD as a guide. Put that/keep that on the boom during pre-contact. Drive forward slowly until cleared. Default tanker speeds for the F/A-18 seems to a little faster than for the F16, about 309/310 knots indicated.
Hard part is finding the right spot to connect after clearance. I can’t find a comfortable POV to see the director lights with the canopy rail. With practice I’m learning what the ‘right’ sight-picture looks like. It’s farther forward that what it feels it should be (for me).
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i dont have any advice sorry. i just do the same thing i do on the f16. totally focus on maintianing a consistent reference picture. the lights do make it easier but you dont really need them. ohh i never look at the boom. its totally distracting.
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You can use the cross in the upper right of the HUD as a guide. Put that/keep that on the boom during pre-contact. Drive forward slowly until cleared. Default tanker speeds for the F/A-18 seems to a little faster than for the F16, about 309/310 knots indicated.
Hard part is finding the right spot to connect after clearance. I can’t find a comfortable POV to see the director lights with the canopy rail. With practice I’m learning what the ‘right’ sight-picture looks like. It’s farther forward that what it feels it should be (for me).
If you’re looking at the director lights in a Hornet, you’re doing it wrong. Given you can see both the probe and the boom/basket your job is to fly form on the basket…so don’t take your eyes off of it once close and/or plugged.
Using the “iron cross” in the HUD (which is to the Hornet what the Gun Cross is to the Viper) is a fair way to begin the approach to the plug…after that match speed and use slip to get there, maintain until topped.
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I tried hitting the basket in a trainer not long ago and was very surprised how well I did at it for a first time (so was my back seater)…even though the frame rates were screwed and had the tanker (a KC-135 with a basket, BTW…) jumping all over the sky on me every time I was near to plugged. Just based on that I think hitting the basket is WAY easier than my feeble attempts at the boom in BMS.
Interesting thanks for sharing this, we had a former real life Hornet driver in my old virtual squadron that said it was 10 times easier to refuel in the real hornet because of seat of your pants flying, detecting small changes in altitude and airspeed, and especially vastly superior depth perception between real life and just a monitor. On the Canadian show Slipstream, most of the new F/A-18 pilots hit the basket on their first try.