DCS F-16c Viper Aerial Refuelling Tutorial

today we're looking at ads where refueling with the dcs f-16c being a very small fighter with 7,000 pounds of internal fuel you're going to be finding yourself intimate with the tanker for longer missions even with external tanks the good news however is that the boom system is in many respects easier and transfers fuel faster than the basket effort used by most other aircraft the only drawback is you have a much smaller area which you must maintain to stay connected and compared to a basket in the description I've included an example mission on the Caucasus to purchase tanker refueling here contains tankers fly in a straight line racetrack and orbit to practice on be sure to read the mission briefing for frequencies we will be covering takun communication setup and joining it with a tanker to get fuel we'll get started by flying to our tanker or set apart I can to navigate you'll find the frequencies in the mission briefing on each mission if a tanker is provided let's - not again by pressing the number one second / o LS key on our ICP this opens the page on our de D you can then see our tech on channel and and below with our ILS to the right will now use the TCS switch to select the entry field shown between the two matrixes and try desired frequency and press enter if you make a mistake press the recall button to delete to swap between X or Y bands press 0 mode select we can also cycle our mode between transmit receive and air to air by pressing sequence we'll leave this in edit where transmit receive for our tanker finally press return to close the menu if the second Morse code signal is annoying you turn down the tech on volume found on our left will now reference our HSI below press the M button to cycle to tech and mode in the top left will see the range to attack on station with the blue arrow pointing directly towards it simply follow the arrow of our aircraft placing it at the top fighter spray to fly toward attack and beacon as we close to 20 nautical miles from the tanker we need to get in contact if you're not using simplified radio in the difficulty we need to configure our radios select com1 from the ICP if the tanker frequency is stored in one of our 20 precess simply enter the number of that preset and press enter if we do not have a frequency stored in a preset we can modify an existing one simply select a preset to edit with the rocker select the frequency field and type our desired frequency and then push enter you do not need to enter decimal places the system will automatically place it between the third and fourth number if you enter an invalid number the field will flash with your last entry delete it was the recall button and try again with our frequency configured we'll press the appropriate radio key to open the radio menu and contact our tanker as we close on the tanker we'll begin setting up our systems note the location of our fuel gauge this is a Roth out-of-the-way and difficult to quickly reference instead we'll open up our bingo page on the de D by pressing list and then selecting bingo with two we can now see our bingo value which can be set by entering the desired number and our total fuel will now place this information on the HUD for easy reference whilst refuelling go down to the HUD panel just beside the control stick so that's the de D takes a position we can now see our de D repeated on the HUD next we'll open the air refueling door if you plan on refuelling external tanks this should be done three to five minutes prior to commencing refuelling to allow the external tanks to depressurize so they can be filled note the blue ready light should be illuminated in addition when we open the refuelling door our flight control system will change its gain to make precise movements easier for night ops we should turn off the anti-collision light and light up our fueling bay to assist the boom operator as we join the tanker it is best to arrive from below and offset a beam to the left this makes it easier to judge closure rate than if you were to approach from directly behind whilst also avoiding its wake turbulence remember that most tankers will be flying between 250 and 300 knots indicated air speed before we get too close to the tanker we should turn off our radar ECM and any emissions to avoid cooking the tanker crew with our radiation don't forget to turn off our mast arm if you haven't already especially if you're prone to bounce a tango aircraft joined the formation on the left and stay in a holding position until it's their turn to refuel we can use I canopy as Ray because we do not have a canopy bow you will have to pick two points on the tanker and engage the parallax between them to judge changes in our position when the tanker will either overlay the engines on top of each other or take the leading edge of the elevators and overlay on the front join of the vertical stabilizer to the fuselage with these two points you can then fly to keep them overlaid allowing you to see what Corrections are required steady yourself holding this picture and ensure the aircraft is trimmed nicely once it's your turn shift over to the pre contact position behind the boom to send just below the tanker to avoid turbulence and slide over to the center make small movements to return to neutral and watch for their response it is better to be too gentle than too rough you will never find yourself in a hands-free position and there is no perfect location you should always be working the throttle and stick with constant small Corrections stabilize yourself behind the boom and report already pre contact to the tank and crew advance the FRA tools gently accelerate a few knots and return to neutral continue to adjust the throttle to maintain closure aim to pass the boom on the left and below to avoid smashing the can be against the boom should you bobble up and down as you pass under the boom reference the pilot directing lights on the nose of the aircraft these represent commands required to get you to the correct position you should never look backwards at the boom whilst attempting to connect the pilot director lights should be your primary reference on the Left we have our height if the align moves toward D we need to go down if the line moves toward you we need to climb up a little on the right we have our position a instructing us to go aft and after instructing us to go forwards fly to maintain the lights in the center positions if you see a red light on either of these you have exceeded these safe parameters for the boom and the operator will disconnect return to the center in order to connect again the boom operator will aim the boom into your refueling port he should focus entirely on flying formation with the director lights you do not have to think about the boom at all in fact ignore it completely it's the tankers job not yours in order for the operator to attach you must be stable if you're moving forwards and backwards or bubbling around the operator will be unable to connect to you ensure you are stable and that's any drifting is slow and then correct with very minor inputs once connected the AR slash knows well steering lights will illuminate and your fuel will start counting up now we simply carry on flying the lights keep an eye on the engines and the wing of the aircraft to help you judge the forwards and back drift rates and keep the fuselage directly above your own center line to watch drift it is very easy to get disorientated under the tanker if at any point you feel unsafe aboard with the aircraft into a gentle dive and then reduce power due to the close proximity of the tankers tail it is important to always escape downwards whenever you feel that you are losing control when you see the light stretched from the center gently bunts the controls briefly in the direction to correct and then return to the resting position observe for change and repeat if necessary it is critical that you maintain gentle impose for corrections do not wait until you see a response from your throttle or stick instead make a small correction return roughly neutral and observe and repeat patience is the key it's okay to drift slowly however it is very dangerous to overcorrect potentially putting yourself into an oscillation or a faster drift your goal is for each slow corrections is slightly smaller than the last until you are gently passing about a stable point as directed by the lights keep referencing the garden slice but do not wholly focus on as this can cause spatial disorientation especially at night keep the body and the wings of the tanker in view and use them as your horizon work to correct drift of one axis at a time and do not use rudder for corrections is slight roll to adjust a chiral drift to avoid destabilizing the aircraft unfortunately TCS tankers do not warn us of upcoming turns so these can come as a bit of a surprise upon entering the turn quickly roll to keep your wings level with the tanker and apply a very very gentle amount of nose up from this point on ignore the horizon and focus on the tanker as your new horizon it can be difficult to maintain a connection as it turns so do not fret about it and simply back off we stabilize and connect again if required safety is your number-one priority once you are full slowly descend and cut power to clear that anchor if you wish to disconnect prior to a full feel load press the nosewheel steering button ensure you close the air refuel doors after you're done failure to do so will result in you being unable to receive fuel from the external tanks which can cause a flame out if it goes unnoticed now that we're four long gas will rejoin the tanker on the right wing mirroring the holding position where we can observe our wingman ensure that you're behind and below any observing aircraft before you switch to the right to rejoin if you and your wingman are at a critical fuel state when you arrive it is best to take only a couple thousand pounds and disconnect and then allow them to get some fuel to avoid them running out whilst you will be topping up ads away refueling is a very difficult task made more difficult in our sim than reality as we lack the physical feedback is your fatality and death procession do not feel bad or stress about it if you are struggling I highly recommend practice close formation flying with the tanker for a while get comfortable without any added stress and loss practicing if you feel tense or find yourself gripping the stick try to relax you need to be gentle and soft on the controls avoid prolonged sessions where frustration sets in take a breather fly some lazy formation with the tanker and try again later keep practicing and he'll come together making for a very valuable and satisfying skill best of luck and take care

Channel: RedKite

Views: 105,674

Rating: 4.9537778 out of 5

Keywords: KC-135, Air to air, refuel, refuelling, Airborn, tanker, AAR, Inflight refuelling, BMS, Falcon, guide, DCS, Redkite

Id: kCews8fZv_o

Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/RedKite-R]

Ive not been able to nail down why we disconnected immediately in many cases, but the mission linked in the description has worked just fine in singleplayer for practice! Hopefully we’l see a fix for that bug in the next update.

[u/Racer_Space]

/u/RedKite-R You are without a doubt in the top tier of DCS tutorial makers. Your videos are so well written and detailed. I look forward to more of your videos!

[u/me2224]

Don't even plan on buying it he F-16, I just like hearing Redkite talk about planes and shit

[u/Shedix]

Hey man. Just came here to thank you! Was so bummed when I read AAR is bugged but thanks to your mission - AND your guide - I successfully did my first full AAR with non-basket style of Refueling.

Edit: subbed to your channel ofc

[u/Goblinkok]

I can refuel in caucasas and nevada when I air start. But can we refuel in multiplayer yet?