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Top tip, remember to trim. Trim some more then trim more than that. The closer you have to complete hands off flying the better
You should be making constant tiny corrections to your controls. Not just stick but throttle too. If you're not making inputs you can guarantee you SHOULD be
An input curve on your stick can help you get tiny corrections more in line with a real life stick (unless ofc you have an extension to make it more like RL anyway)
After that remember you're not flying to the basket/boom, you're flying formation with the tanker. So long as you can hold your position in the formation, the fuelling will happen. Practice formation first
AAR is driving mad everyone bro, don't feel ashamed for that
My two cents:
1) Trim the plane fist
2) If you need to adjust you postion left or right DO NOT ROLL, use rudder instead: that will keep you in the same horizontal plane (i.e you will not get/lose altitude).
3) Use the HUD pitch ladder to alight with the tanker wing engine: keep it between the 10 deg marks and you will be aligned properly.
4) Repeat the mantra "the calm is the virtue of the strong people" (sorry, in Italian it souds better but it's meaning should be clear)
Think of refueling as a combination of the following skills.
1.) The ability to apply very subtle, precise stick inputs without becoming "heavy handed" and overdoing it.
2.) Good, accurate throttle control. This also includes being able to constantly keep the throttle moving to maintain certain specific air-speeds VERY precisely. Before you even try to refuel, you need to be able to maintain position in a formation without constantly falling behind and pushing too far ahead.
3.) Having a good eye for your target's speed in a formation flying context. If you ever find yourself asking your wing leader "How fast are you going?" or "speed check", you should probably work on judging their speed yourself. With practice, you will be able to slot right into formation with someone and settle right in on nearly the exact same speed they are without knowing that speed first. Remember, use your eyes and don't get stuck on the airspeed indicator. Just watch them and learn to anticipate throttle needs as you go along. There is NEVER going to be a magic throttle setting. You need to constantly adjust it.
4.) Don't ever, ever, ever look at the basket or the boom. When you are refueling, it is tempting to look at the basket/boom as you approach but that will only make things SO MUCH harder for you. You really should only be focusing on the tanker itself. For example. When I am refueling in the Hornet, Mirage, Harrier, and Tomcat, I focus on the refueling pod that the hose/basket comes out of. I put that in a certain place in relation to specific parts of my cockpit and just fly straight into the basket without really looking at the basket at all. It seems really hard and counter-intuitive at first but you will find that eventually you will be able to tell where you need to put the refueler (in relation to your HUD glass or canopy frame) so that you will be lined up correctly with the basket and can just fly forward right into it.
I can't emphasize this enough. Don't look at the basket or the boom. The only exception to that is the A-10C but only because you need to watch the indicator on the boom to know if you are in position.
5.) Practice, practice, practice. Refueling is hard and no amount of natural talent will change the fact that it is something that requires a lot of effort and practice to master. It will be VERY frustrating at first but you have to keep at it. Put thirty or so minutes into it every day for a couple of weeks and I am reasonably sure that it will eventually click and get a little "easier".
Can't tell for sure, but try to enable autopilot to hold altitude and roll. I know for sure that both A-10A and A-10C don't allow to use autopilot while refueling port oppened. So these two are the hardest to refuel in the air.
Anyway this operation is the hardest operation in the game. Also remember that you need to refuel at proper tanker. For example A-10A, A-10C, F-15C using refueling boom, while F/A-18C using refueling hose. In one of the forum's thread someone mentioned that it is possible in this game to connect F/A-18C even to refueling boom, a kind of bug of course.
It helps to have a good joystick (recommend T16000M).
One very important hint is that you should NEVER point the stick too long in one direction. ONLY make very small and rapid movements and keep adjusting at EVERY time (stick and throttle).
When your adjustments are too big and long you will overcorrect your position. So just make the slightest movements, just little pushes of the stick, and wait for the result. Always be patient and don‘t try to be fast or something.
And it is also very important to have the plane trimmed perfectly before (!) trying to refuel.
Good luck!
are you fine tuning the trim keys via the DCS options?
I am new into the Hornet and, comparing to the tutorial videos, it looks like I cannot stabilize smoothly the velocity vector the way I would
Afaik auto-trim option has been removed time ago.
People tend to focus on trim, peripheral vision, formation flight, speed control, etc...forgetting two essential variables: joystick curves and deadzones
Make sure to set your Y and X curves to 40+ and reduce deadzones to the absolute minimum required.
This will make your joystick inputs way more precise and responsive, so you won't be overcompensating all the time.
Remember, even if you trim correctly, keep your eyes on the tanker and have excellent speed control, unsuitable joystick curves and deadzones can totally ruin it for you.
I won't deny that joystick curves do make it easier to refuel but we really should put in context why the curve feature is in place to begin with. DCS modules are made with realistic stick response in mind and as such, those with sticks without significant extensions (depending on the module) will want to set curves that compensate for that lack of potential stick travel. If you set a curve that goes beyond that requirement, you may have greater control at some parts of the stick's total range of movement but you are also creating problems at other parts of that range as well.
To be bluntly honest, setting a high curve for the stick is a crutch that one really doesn't actually need in order to effectively refuel. For me personally, I don't set curves beyond maybe 10 or 15 (depending on the module) and while I will happily admit that learning refueling in the various aircraft modules is tough, I have been able to successfully refuel many, many times without cranking up my stick curve.
As far as deadzones go, those should really only be used for two very specific situations.
1.) You have a stick with some "slop" in the center that makes it too easy to add unintended input. Setting a deadzone exactly as far as is required to eliminate that makes sense.
2.) You have a stick with "jittery" potentiometers that tend to add spiking inputs even when you are not touching the stick yourself. Setting a deadzone as far as is required to eliminate that works well.
Do you use a T16000 stick placed on the right side (viper style) on a waist-high table?
Does your brain have mediocre fine motor skills?
Also, are you left-handed?
That's my context, in which light 10-20 curves are good enough for general flight, but not for precision flight (ie tight formations / air refueling).
IIRC, Su-33 automatically restricts/dampens joystick input when entering air refueling mode, for this very reason: higher precision required.
In my case, when I want to air refuel, I don't start by contacting the tanker... I start by cranking up my stick curves, and it works.
I also forgot to mention that the tanker's speed and altitude play an important role.
Ironically, I am left handed and up until about eight years ago or so, I used a flight stick with my left hand. When I moved to a HOTAS, I forced myself to adjust to using a right handed stick. It was quite a adjustment but I managed in the end.
As far as the type and placement of the stick, I can see how that can impact comfort and ergonomics a great deal (using a stick that is sitting on a desk is a recipe for arm pain) but I am not exactly where how cranking up the curve will help make that less of a comfort/ergonomics issue.
To be clear, I don't really intend to tell you that you are doing it wrong and need to stop right now because I said so, You do you in the end. What I am trying to say is that changing the stick curve for refueling and precision flight is a option and not a requirement. I am reasonably sure that if you were to stop doing it, you would eventually reach a point where you wonder why you even bothered doing it in the first place.
What's more. I do feel that shifting your stick curves around so much just makes it harder to learn to do things right with one setting. You may make it easier for yourself but you could make it even easier just by adjusting to the default when refueling. To perhaps be a bit blunt, your T.16000 has a good sensor so with some meaningful practice, I think you would be fine with a 10 to 15 curve for everything (refueling and formation flying included). You wouldn't need to say "Hold on a minute, I gotta go into the menu and fuss with my stick curve" anymore.
I don't doubt that it works for you. I just think that you would find it is just more convenient in the long term to just get used to a single curve setting and stick with it. From my perspective, it seems like swapping curves just over-complicates the whole process.
Valid point about the speed though. Keep the tanker at 300 knots IAS to make fuelling easier at least to begin with. Remember though that IAS will change depending on altitude due to the thinner air