Aireal Refueling
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I am curious how significant (if at all) this effect is with VR?
Not sure but would think the depth of perception that the 3D view brings would help more.
FWIW I still use 6DOF TrackIR when refueling, but I have a big center dead spot due to my triple screen setup (which I think helps too).
It’s been linked in another AAR thread that and can’t remember who did but in general this manual is pretty good for formation flight basics:
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Snake, any chance of getting your TIR profile? I’ve been experimenting with putting a deadzone as well and would love to see what you’ve done.
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Hey Ice, sorry I haven’t forgotten you, I just wasn’t able to get on my sim computer last night. Hopefully tonight.
In general, I do like the extra DOFs TIR provides but I have my forward and back set to the more natural translation than FOV angle which IIRC is an option. FOV is set to my X65 throttle scroll wheel. The night before last I ran a couple AARs and found that with my new chair that has a headrest that by using it I can pretty much cancel out the extra DOFs movement and be a little more comfortable to boot, but still have them for later in the mission to look around things (like HUD frame) or get close up on a switch if need be.
One other thing if you run a high closure rate up to the tanker, keep your smart scaling setting in mind. I’m in general a believer in smart scaling to make up for lack of visual detail that comes from lower monitor DPI. But I had mine set to about 1.3nm to have it turn off at max gun range, but it caused me to not perceive my closure rate as well (and others have mentioned that before too). I’m upping the setting to about 2nm for now.
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Here are some tips from my experience refueling. Hope it helps.
- Use the Bingo DED page (LIST -> 2) to monitor the state of the refueling without having to look all the way down
- Don’t try to be perfect green all the time. This can end in overcontrolling and make things harder. Green-yellow is perfectly fine. Start correcting when the light goes yellow only.
- Don’t focus on the director lights. Look at the body of the tanker to feel how are you moving relative to it.
- Use the throttle in advance (or proactively, or whatever its called). If you have to move forward, advance the throttle slightly. When you start moving forward, put the throttle back on the position where it was.
- Don’t rely solely on the director lighs, as they just get their info from the vertical angle and extension of the boom, not the real position of the receiving plane. For example, if you are low, the boom can be extended too, so the lights will tell you you have to go forward and up. If you do that, you will end at altitude but too far forward. Instead, if you just climb a bit, the boom will retract too and the lights will go green.