AAR beginner questions
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Thank you all! Did practice almost every day this week. I will keep you posted.
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Do you fly multiplayer? If so, try flying close formation when the mission permits. You’ll be practicing the same skills used in AAR without making it a “chore”.
Because above all: it’s all about having fun while learning
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I’m trying Ice. I’m trying. In fact, due to this thread I’ve decided to practice it every day (my RL schedule permitting) until I get the hang of it. I really really want to be able to get some of that precious jet fuel (is it JP5 or JP8). =D
Anyway I spent about 45 minutes today at it and never connected. I’ll give it another go after dinner. I will say flying with the HUD off improved my approach. Also coming in at an angle made it easier to gauge the closure rate. It was pretty smooth up to about 3 boom lengths away. I didn’t have much problem matching the tanker’s heading even through a turn. More than anything its my oscillating up and down that seems to be the problem. So if I could just keep from getting vertically squirrely I think I’d be close to getting those first couple of drops!
My initial issues with tanking… once I could get in the proper vicinity… was that being so close to the tanker just felt so dangerous to me. I was right at the edge of panic, and that made me so tense. Like I said, relaxing is key. Heck, even now, I can connect to a KC-10 comfortably but a KC-135? I’m still not comfortable how close I need to be with the -135 in order to connect.
Pilot-induced oscillation? Recognize it for what it is, back off, stabilize, then come back in. It’s easier to correct when you’ve got some room to work with. Pretty soon, you won’t need that much time and space to “correct” the PIO.
I think the first thing you should practice, if you aren’t doing so already, is getting to the pre-contact position and staying there. If you are in that position and you can stay there for a few seconds, the tanker should clear you in. If you are in that position and you are stable in that position, all it takes is a quick burst of throttle to slide forward into the proper refuelling position. If you can’t get to the pre-contact position and if you can’t be stable in the pre-contact position, you’ll have a nightmare of a time once you’re under the tanker.
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Copy that Ice. Will practice holding the pre-contact position!
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Still not there. But I think I have improved a lot since I turned off the HUD as suggest in this thread. It really helped a lot.
(Got myself a Warthog, makes it a bit more precise also…)
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Almost success! I am pretty stoked. Tonight I got contact about 5 times in an hour and I was on the pipe for roughly 1000 lbs during one of those connects. I need a beer my nerves are shot LOL!!!
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Even better today. It took me an hour and a half but I took on 7000 lbs! Sitting at 10,313 lbs. WOOT for baby steps!
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Nice! Just remember… relax! The more tense you are, the more difficult it will be!
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I just nailed it. Full top off before the tanker made it’s second turn on the Training Manual TE.
I noticed that my CH Fighterstick had a bit of play at the center so I turned the gain down just 1 tick and the dead zone up by 1 tick for both the X and Y axis. I was able to make much more gentle changes in pitch and roll.
Now I need to fly some regular missions and see if that change messes the rest of the game up.
Other than that, I’ll be doing refueling practice. Hopefully every day through March so I can do it in a timely manner when flying with others.
My thanks to everyone here for all the help and encouragement! I am stoked about this! I’ll be going deep deep behind enemy lines soon!
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Congrats!
Now go do it at night. :twisted:
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I’m still struggling. I need much more formation flying practice. Once I eventually line up, I can generally stay connected for a full top off, but I can’t stay anywhere near close when in the turn. I’ve found that the suggestion above of holding the stick at the base has helped the finer adjustments as it’s sort of a ‘mechanical gain’. You have to physically move your hand further to get the same output so you have finer control.
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You Axxhole!
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Took on about 300lbs last night. Did not shoot down the tanker. Felt like a sierra hotel pilot
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Took on about 300lbs last night. Did not shoot down the tanker. Felt like a sierra hotel pilot
LOL RMAX!!! Yeah keep at it. I’m topping off every time now but I only got there by practicing about 60 to 90 minutes a day. One thing I found on my CH Flightstick was that it was sending some input when in the neutral position so in the CH manager I gave it 1 tick of deadzone and 1 tick of gain (for s-curve) for both axis. This made it much easier for me and it’s such a minor adjustment I can’t tell the difference in other parts of the game, but during AAR it gave me better control with these minimal inputs.
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Took on about 300lbs last night. Did not shoot down the tanker. Felt like a sierra hotel pilot
Wait. What?!?!
We’re supposed to stop shooting down the tanker after we’ve learned how to connect!??! Where is that in the manual!?!?
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You know what I been doing it all wrong. I thought we are suppose to shoot down the tanker and scoop up the fuel in the air with the mouth on the f-16. Isn’t that the reason GE engines have bigger mouths because it’s more thirsty than the PW so it can drink more fuel during the AAR.
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Wait. What?!?!
We’re supposed to stop shooting down the tanker after we’ve learned how to connect!??! Where is that in the manual!?!?
It’s going to be in the revised 4.34 manuals.
You know what I been doing it all wrong. I thought we are suppose to shoot down the tanker and scoop up the fuel in the air with the mouth on the f-16. Isn’t that the reason GE engines have bigger mouths because it’s more thirsty than the PW so it can drink more fuel during the AAR.
I… I don’t even have words for this…