DCS F-4E Phantom II Air to Air Refuelling Tutorial

Join me as we take the legend to the skies to get to grips with the tricky air to air refuelling procedure in the incredible Heatblur F-4 Phantom.
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0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:50 - Pre Contact Checks
0:03:14 - Fuel System Panel Setup
0:04:17 - Seat Position
0:04:30 - PDL System
0:05:20 - Making Contact
0:07:24 - Contact
0:10:18 - Refuelling a heavy Phantom
DCS, DCS Phantom, Heatblur, F4, F4E, F-4E, Digital Combat Simulator, Air to Air Refuel, AAR, refuelling, Heatblur Phantom, DCS World, DCSW, Kola, DCS Kola Map, DCS Kola, Orbx, Orbx Kola, DCS, Fast Jet, KC-135, Phantom, DCS AAR, DCS Refuel, refuel, aerial refueling, air refuel, eagle dynamics, ed

[@biggus3348]

Alternatively, select sidewinder, select master arm on, wait for tone and pull trigger. Glad you've got access, Mav! Great vid.

[@104thMaverick]

Thanks for the tips! 🤣

[@sageg58]

When the boom operator doesn't want to stick you, sometimes you gotta stick him

[@jui79]

Not yet, but really close to choose this option

[@RedKiteRender]

Jester is such a help! One of my fav additions in Jester 2.0 Lovely work Mav! Always a pleasure doing AAR.

[@audunskilbrei8279]

He was such a dick in the f14 when trying to hook up.

[@RedKiteRender]

@@audunskilbrei8279 Always found him to be fine, as a friend ribbing and experienced friend. But 100% i can see it being unwelcome for someone learning to AAR.

[@TrickerDCS]

You fly so GUD Buster!

[@Bosun221]

"I'm not Scott Manley" I lol'd hard at that one

[@N34RT]

"... I'm NOT Scott Manely, fly safe ...." Hilarious!

[@SkittZee]

The usual high quality, on point, clear and concise instructions - nailed it once again!

[@ArcFire_Fox]

Thanks for the video, ive been struggling so much with AAR, but its a critical skill to learn so ill keep at it

[@krusty1974]

5:40 after just a few try I figured out my favorite position of the seat is "full up" in 2D (monitor) and zoom quite a bit out so to see most of the tanker, I can still see the lights on the tanker wile having most of the tanker in view help me keep awareness of longitudinal and lateral trends.

[@jarednelson1634]

I love the livery you use on the F-4!!! I love the olive on the strike eagle as well!!!

[@104thMaverick]

Thanks a lot!

[@bigrivercod]

thanks for the video, and well done for developing the skill set to successfully refuel.

[@simtaylor61]

Looking foreward to more of your Phantom content, bud! VERY complete and informative! Thank you!

[@104thMaverick]

More to come thanks man!

[@cassidy7255]

Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing, so excited for the Phantom!

[@rudelchw]

Excellent tutorial, as you’ve gotten us used to … can’t wait to practice it myself 😊

[@blkspade23]

Legitimately kinda wild to have to be "dumping" fuel to refuel.

[@jui79]

This looks so easy in your hands.... Thanks for the hints!!

[@travistolbert2647]

Awesome video, thanks so much for the refueling tips. Refueling the Phantom fully armed up reminds me of the stories Blackbird pilots tell about having to feed in afterburner on one engine as they refueled on missions. Practicing this would give us some experience there if we ever got a full SR-71 module! lol Yes, I know it's vanishingly unlikely!

[@aeroRCmodels]

I did not realize a brick can actually get heavier inflight

[@edgreen5657]

Very Nice! Great tutorial that is loaded with tons of top-notch tips.

[@104thMaverick]

Glad you enjoyed it boss!

[@Wrootplonk]

Nice work! Looking forward to failing horribly at this come tuesday :D

[@104thMaverick]

You got this!

[@JonBloor7]

Absolute PROFESSIONAL!

[@theflyinggasmask]

Solid flying! Can't wait to give it a go myself in a few days!

[@gnr2871]

If you guys were wondering going full burner and ramming the tanker in a fit of rage will cause you both to crash. I hope this helps.

[@belgeode]

Well done tutorial!! Thank you for this. I am sure I will be referring to this OFTEN as I get to grips with this thing. So used to hose and drogue, so this will be a new arena for me. Whew....

[@104thMaverick]

You're very welcome!

[@shinysdcs1212]

Great video as usual Mav!

[@GamjaField]

Thank you not Scott Manley!

[@S.Figur-the_real_one]

Thank you so much I I like you´re style of giving information to us. Fly save 🙂

[@chipwillis]

Great job man!

[@spec10]

When the dude who on occasion casually switches to external view on live stream during AAR tells you this was a tough one (12:43), you know what you're in for :D

[@104thMaverick]

:D

[@limeacid]

thank you for displaying the control axes indication

[@104thMaverick]

No problem mate, I knew that would be a lot of help to you guys, I'll make sure to include it in all future AAR tutorials.

[@symie8]

Good to hear a fellow Scot in the pit 👍🏻 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@104thMaverick]

Cheers brother, thanks for watching!

[@CrazyHorse104]

AH Mav nice video mate! 😎

[@Benom8]

When I first tried this in the f-4, I really noticed the trim change. Not something I've seen in other modules. It really made it 'feel' like the weight was increasing.

[@104thMaverick]

Definitely! Especially when you plugin very light on fuel you really feel the weight changing

[@richskinns]

Top flying mate 👌

[@104thMaverick]

Thanks ✌

[@kalifornia909]

Great video

[@kevoman4980]

one engine in burner! Man, you'll be burning half of what your taking in!! CRAZY COOL!

[@cutlass6332]

Legend

[@sageg58]

I love the dark green phantoms

[@SimulateAL]

When I grow, I wanna be like you

[@awger90210]

"I'm not Scott Manley..." heh ... props

[@MarvinSimpson-ju9el]

Ex 526 TFS WSO Not a bad video, but missed a few things. Most likely would have been a 2 ship launched off of Zulu (flight lead call sign Lima Mike 01) and not a 4 ship formation. Would have checked speed before opening the AR door (as the door is speed limited). I never turned the radar to standby. Directions calls were forward and aft; up and down by feet. Left and right was seldom called as the boomer could move you back into position. This AR did not have a turn it. In a IFR AR in a turn it was important to keep calmly feeding the "nose gunner" aircraft information. The information could keep him from getting Spiral D. Which is very easy to do on a night AR mission. The call would be something like "we are starting a left hand turn at 250 knots and up two". Note: During all refueling I keep my had on the refueling circuit breaker as it forced a disconnect. Only have to pull it one time, due to a pilot PIO. I did have a good friend that brought the boom home with him.

[@104thMaverick]

Thanks for the great feedback sir, I will possibly make an updated video with all this in mind.

[@GLOBALHAWKsimpit]

Great tutorial. Thanks a lot. What map are you flying over in the last scene?

[@104thMaverick]

All scenes were shot on the Kola map mate

[@teb1687]

Wouldnt you open the refuel door first before trimming, since the door would change your trim?

[@user-w8s9ja034]

grrrrrrreat job

[@soucool02]

Nice! What curvature do you use for your stick inputs if you dont mind me asking :)

[@104thMaverick]

I have a curve of 10 on all three axis with a deadzone of 1

[@wavehopper4183]

The more you profess to not be Scott Manley, the more suspicious we become.

[@104thMaverick]

🤣

[@jr0815_aka_gulredrel]

Smoking is not permitted at gas stations. Lighting the afterburner while tanking is totally safe. 😂 Well done. Only having a single throttle, this will be hard. Maybe there is a way with modifier button option to temporarily adjust only one engine while other is in min burner?

[@Gunfreak19]

How muxh longer does it take to refuel with one afterburner off? I mean you are burning a lot of fuel doing that.

[@tinglydingle]

Are you flying with Track IR these days? I remember having a long chat with you about it in Teamspeak back in like 2015 or something.

[@104thMaverick]

Yes mate been using TrackIR for years and years now

[@Rawkus105]

Awesome video. I'm struggling to get a tanker to respond!

[@104thMaverick]

Make sure you are on the right frequency. If you have got the correct one dialled in check the little switch above the knobs you set the frequency on. It will say Preset and Manual, make sure you flick it to Manual.

[@Rawkus105]

@@104thMaverick Thanks mate, i've tried that, but when i press / for the comm menu it flips back to preset

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Nice video and smooth flying there! I find that the F-4 is one of the easiest modules to refuel - especially with the Jester callouts. It's hard to see the light strip in VR.

[@kaumelt1961]

for me it sais done even tho i have barly tanked anything is there a switch i need to check

[@104thMaverick]

Make sure you have the fuel selector set to ALL TANKS, sounds like you might have it set to INT only for internal tanks

[@dannyd7714]

Did you keep AFCS on while refueling or do you turn it off? Altitude hold?

[@104thMaverick]

No autopilot mate just manual flying

[@alpenfoxvideo7255]

does the phantom let you fly with some speed brakes out? I’m that kind of player that folds the tomcat wings and pops out the F-16 speed brakes to refuel

[@TurboHappyCar]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing.

[@104thMaverick]

Yes it does mate

[@CylusResi]

Any hints for using curves? I generally struggle with the boom, but this is the hardest of all of them (I find)

[@104thMaverick]

On all my aircraft I use a curve of 10 on all 3 axis and a dead zone of 1

[@CylusResi]

@@104thMaverick I will try that with a combo of practice, practice and some more practice, cheers

[@rws1467]

What speed are you refuelling at?

[@matteo659]

really helpfull video cant wait to fly it myself, but why did you call him a rio😭

[@104thMaverick]

God dammit! I meant to go back in and record over that and insert WSO but forgot

[@MadBomber536]

Well done sir.

[@f0v3r.]

4:35 the PDL shows the position of the boom, not your aircraft. no?

[@vincentvoncarnap2473]

well it could be, but it works anyways

[@new_comment]

I tried a "stick extension" once in the past.........................................it really made me feel inadequate. 😥

[@norman191000]

Damn, I try and I cant reduce PIOs, no matter how I try to be subtle. The only jet I can refuel in air is f-18.

[@PappyGunn]

Suggestion: State typical speed and altitude to set up AAR

[@104thMaverick]

Good idea, will include in the next video

[@PappyGunn]

@@104thMaverick I set up training missions for air to ground and always set up a tanker for practice. I have tried to get data on typical altitude and speed for tankers but I have not been very successful. The game also makes it difficult as it defaults to ground speed (?). As you mentioned, there are loadouts and speed that just make AAR extremely difficult. Keep up the good work.

[@aaronjamesDS]

lol "I'm not Scott Manley"

[@MemphisBelle291]

what Joystick do you have? is it FFB?

[@104thMaverick]

I have a Virpil Constellation Alpha with the Warbrd base. It’s not FFB.

[@MemphisBelle291]

@@104thMaverick cool, thanks

[@hjr2000]

!buster

[@104thMaverick]

100%

[@hjr2000]

@@104thMaverick 😂

[@jakey-poo401]

Great video! Can’t wait for the carrier landing tutorials (eventually), but in the meantime, there’s a glaring lack of good carrier landing stuff on the A-4…. Wink nudge.

[@heyviper1238]

Sigh, maybe one day we'll get a kc-10.

[@heeder777]

Most likely a new Pegasus.

[@FREZK9Y]

🗿

[@alboreland5949]

i absolutely hate this task even though im getting better at it, i opt for missions that don't require it or i try to be very careful to nurse my fuel.......or i just treat the mission as a one way mission so i don't have to worry about tanking for the flight home.

[@aliakkaya5640]

Türkiye F4 efsane

[@jbpitbbqgaming2170]

I can never get the right speeds lol even in the f18 haha

[@markturner6091]

Can’t wait……..love mastering refuel in my modules

[@seaharrierfrs1]

If only it had Part Throttle Reheat

[@thestatpow5]

I just can't do it. i'm gonna cry. I can get the right position but right when I do my aircraft starts oscillating up and down. How do you even trim this fucking thing, the trim doesn't even seem to be doing anything in this brick. Is it because I'm using a tanker that's too low altitude/speed?

[@thestatpow5]

Ok I figured it out, I had FFB on ...

[@Antares2]

I just hope Jester doesn't get stuck in an infinite loop of "funny" jokes and Star Wars quotes while attached, like sometimes happened in the F-14.

[@SASCAT1972]

I have always thought that DCS should have a “simplified” AAR mode for those of us with a lack of time to spend learning this skill set.

[@tinglydingle]

It already exists, there's an option for "game mode" in the DCS settings.

[@MotorCitySCRIPTS]

Easier to watch above the canopy after you rise your seat all the way up

[@104thMaverick]

Only in VR, like I said in the video it’s not possible in 2D, even with the seat up

[@MotorCitySCRIPTS]

@@104thMaverick dont have VR but im using head tracking and have no problems

[@MarvinSimpson-ju9el]

Contact me if you want to create something close to realistic ZULU flight experience

[@bretttrommler756]

I got a couple flights in last night finally. All in all about what I expected, which is a very good thing. A couple observations… - On my first landing, which was a bit rough at Creech but certainly nowhere near as hard as a carrier landing, Jester makes a comment about needing the undercarriage replaced and then I find out I have no brakes. Now, I’m an old US Navy carrier guy. I’m used to planes that get slammed on a pitching deck all day long. That little tap and I lose my brakes??? C’mon, man! - I didn’t look too hard cuz I was wanting to get in the air and I knew I had yet to spend an hour or more setting up the controls, but all I saw were skins for either USAF jets or allied nation jets. Nothing from the United States Navy. I mean, the thing was designed and built as a FLEET defense aircraft for the US Navy. They have six skins for the USAF Thunderbirds, but not one navy skin. What is up with that? As an ex-US Navy flight deck veteran that actually served on a carrier that still had a squadron of Phantoms on board, I take great offense to this. - I may be doing something wrong procedure wise and no, I haven’t RtFM yet, but I found as I was screaming around the southern Nevada skies last night, that no matter how I set the radar up from the WSO seat, once I went back to the pilot seat, after a second or two the radar would go back to a B scope and 50 mile range. Am I missing something there? Is it supposed to do that and if so, how can I change it? Surely the pilot can do a PPI and isn’t locked into a B scope. I mean, it does show PPI for a second before it changes. - I’m also wondering why there doesn’t seem to be a Jester command to change ranges on the radar. I can tell him to change the elevation and scan size, but not the range? Edit: I looked again this morning and no, there are no US Navy skins at all. C’mon guys, this thing was built for the Navy! Edit: Okay, I get it. The Navy used the B and J versions, not the E. Well, I hope they come out with a US Navy variation someday.

[@legacyunited13]

ill just put this on the "no way in hell" list and move on...

[@williammetcalf1421]

"Return Pre Contact"....

[@tenToesUp747]

Jet looks great, but I'm already sick of Jester and it isn't even out yet!

[@realtimer3000]

great video I especially like the researched background information 🫡

[@mynameisray]

Should turn your saturation down a bit, your game looks comically colorful almost fortnite levels of color

[@HighAspect]

Thanks for the video ! How can we turn off jester with his refueling comments, I can’t believe that for a minute he’d be telling the pilot how to refuel 🤦 This is my biggest issue with HB on Jester. Surely his name implies he is a clown, but I’d rather have a professional WSO :). Maybe someday they can provide different levels like newbie, average, professional But s simple “turn off comms with jester” would suffice for now … I know in the 14 I’d just turn down my mic volume to not hear his shenanigans

[@norman191000]

It is in jester options "A" menu to silence him out

[@thebrain7441]

If you find yourself having to refuel midair, you have done something wrong.

[@104thMaverick]

If you find yourself commenting something as stupid as that on KZbin… you’ve done something wrong 🤣

[@thebrain7441]

@@104thMaverick It’s called a joke “Maverick”. I’m am sorry that it completely flew over your head. Do you want me to explain it to you???

[@zeeic]

⁠@@thebrain7441your joke never left the ground man