F-16 Aerial Refueling Guide - How To Refuel In-Flight

[@TrickerDCS]

Go get some fuel! Mission Download from Mulder76: www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3329609/

[@TheEarthwinders]

I'm Mulder76!!! This is so awesome! I'm glad someone is finding my mission useful and thank you for the credit! Cheers! Working on a much more involved campaign that's 6 months in the making so far. Can't wait to share it with the community soon. 3 more missions to finish.

[@TrickerDCS]

Awesome, thanks for the mission and keep up the great work!

[@ImpendingJoker]

About 2 weeks ago, I had set up my own mission with an aerial refueler in the air. After MONTHS of practicing this, I finally heard the sweet sweet words of, "You're taking fuel". I was so happy, I started laughing like a mad man. haha

[@SiloTheatrix]

that's impressive, practicing months in only two weeks!

[@minkyneets4768]

​@@SiloTheatrixObjection! ImpendingJoker says they made the mission 2 weeks ago, they must've practiced for months using a different mission perhaps the training missions built in!

[@julianmorrisco]

One thing that people might have said but it never registered with me - AAR (in DCS, anyway) is one of those tasks that clicks. It was for me, anyway. For over a year I feared AAR. I regularly failed and sometimes ended up taking it out on the tanker with a sidewinder :D. I watched tons of videos, followed instructions to the ‘T’ but it didn’t seem to help. Ok, I’m obviously a bit slow, and because it was so not-fun, I didn’t do it very often. Then one day I plugged in without struggling. It was initially in the Falcon, so I went to the Hornet. Same thing. It was like a light switch had been flipped! Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle occasionally and I’ve been known to use ‘police station’ language when the tanker decides to turn just as I’m about to connect but I find it hard to put myself back in the mind set where I never knew if I’d be able to get fuel. It means I’m a lot less miserly about fuel economy and I no longer dread those missions that require a top up towards the end, so I’d fail the whole mission after maybe an epic struggle against the enemy because I’d not be able to get enough fuel to make it home. TLDR - for me, AAR was one of those tasks that clicks into place after getting enough experience. If it seems frustrating and nearly impossible, just keep going. My experience was that almost suddenly, it became almost trivial.

[@Acrophobia2]

I don’t know if this will help anyone but it helped me to think of it like driving a boat. You want to anticipate what is happening and make your input early so when the aircraft moves it all syncs up!

[@TrickerDCS]

Nice

[@TacticalFragAddict]

To be able to do that, it also pays off to set your joystick response up based on the F16 "gains". Once you open the refuel bay, response is going to be much more sensitive.

[@void1968able]

Well, the voice tone puts me in instant relaxing state, perfect for refueling :). Good hint: I never knew you could bind the "ready for pre-contact" to a joystick button. I messed up my smooth manouevers with that stupid key combos so many times... me being quite good at refueling at last this key command is still very valuable. "Transfer complete, disconnecting" is one of the most satisfying phrases. What might help: don't stare at one point, let your surrounding view and subconsciousness do the work. Like passing a truck with your car in a very narrow lane. Let your eyes fix a point in the distance and it works - still checking the F/A and U/D light of course. If you stare at the dangerous truck next to you then you'll over-steer, like the PIO pilot induced oscillation.

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Assigning 'Ready Precontact' to a HOTAS button is such a game changer, I had no idea this was a possibility. I hate to fiddle with the F10 menu in such situations. Thanks!

[@davidjames7382]

I have done a lot of A2A refueling in the F18 and did it once in the F16. You are absolutely right, takes a lot of practice!

[@mace1367]

I struggle so much with boom refueling, yet have no trouble with the basket style and ppl tell me its more difficult. Thanks for the vid.

[@asphelite]

Pretty sure that there will be many pilots finding this helpful, good stuff man!

[@GoofballVidProductions]

Took a full tank today, for the first time ever in VR. Used to be pretty good at it, some 20 years ago in Falcon 4, but this was my first in DCS.

[@TrickerDCS]

Hell yah dude

[@chrmez]

After hundreds of failed tries. I nailed it on my first attempt with a VR headset. Can definitely recommend getting one of those :) ...

[@jonl.1603]

Nice flying, tricker! I find that if I put my fpm right on the tip of the boom OR top of hud supports touching the bottom of the tanker's inboard engines when getting into pre-contact, I'm at the correct height for refuel and only have to worry about fore/aft positioning. When you get close enough, the boom will lift up and get out of your way anyway. Irl, you dont fly under the boom, the boom operator pushes the boom all the way to his left to let you slide forward into contact position. Obviously not quite the same in dcs, but helps you deal with one less target when moving to contact. Another tip with throttle management: when you want to move forward or aft, blip your throttle in that direction for a moment then put the throttle back in its initial position. Do that repeatedly to get to your desired fore/aft position rather than big throttle movements to avoid pilot induced oscillation fore/aft.

[@TrickerDCS]

You hit the nail on the head! Nice comment

[@splashfreelance2376]

Excellent tutorial. I watched it as a refresh, I often find little things I didn't know or had forgotten even if I'm fairly confident in the task, and that's true for this video. I have two comments: AAR is one of those tasks that 'clicks'. I found it really hard. As in, I could never be sure I'd be able to get fuel and that could be anxiety inducing if I'd just done the hard yards on a mission and I needed to refuel to get home. But then, one day - snap. It stopped being hard and became almost routine I say almost, because depending on the day, the weather and probably if Jupiter was retrograde with Pluto or something, I'd struggle a little bit. But I was confident I'd get it and get home. The second comment, is these skills appear perishable. I didn't fly the F-16 for a while. I'd been happily refuelling the Mirages, the Hornet and the Harrier. Then about six months later I jumped back into the Viper and AAR was hard again. It only took me a few attempts to get back in the groove, but for a while there, it felt like my boom refuelling skills had vanished. I found it incredibly frustrating to learn in the first place, and seriously thought I'd never get it. I wondered if it was my el-cheapo HOTAS or just a permanent skill issue but no. Something eventually happens with eye hand coordination and 'click'. For some reason, I mastered boom refuelling before basket but now, maybe because I only have one plane that requires the boom at the moment (hello F4!), I find it a little harder. I also find the guide lights very difficult to see sometimes, but I've watched IRL refuelling and that's what it's like for the real pilots as well. At least on video, maybe with their eyes the lights are easier to see for them. But if anyone is struggling, my experience was that it was near impossible hard until one day it wasn't.

[@thelespauldude3283]

When this guide was released, i used it to learn how to do aerial refueling in the F16. Then i got the hornet and flew that for about 8 months without touching the F16 a single time. I just recently got back to the F16 and got reminded how little fuel it can carry, so here i am again relearning aerial refueling. For me the biggest problem without VR is judging the distance to the tanker. I have no issues holding it perfectly stable, but i always tend to be too far back or too far forward so im thinking about getting a VR headset just to be able to properly fly this beautiful bird. edit: When it comes to turns, you can set it up in the mission editor so that the tanker tells you every time its passing a waypoint. I just put down 4 waypoints in the same racetrack pattern the tanker flies. It tells you that its passing a waypoint and about 2 seconds later it starts to turn. The bigger you draw the racetrack the bigger the turn radius, so the tanker doesnt roll that much.

[@martwint6]

Nice tutorial, really smooth. Sometimes the belly lights are hard to see. We need something like the Flols overlay of the carrier...

[@TrickerDCS]

Yah I would agree with you there!

[@UWfalcin]

Managed today to fully reguel FA/18 with 3 fuel tanks on Growling sidewinder after not having tried since a year ago…And that was maybe 3 attempts that year. Managed to contact on command 5-6 times. Felt REALLY nice! Time to start doing this online. Everything changed when I started testing moving the joystick contantly and quickly with small motions but as gently as I could.

[@TrickerDCS]

Good for you! 👏🏻

[@iammorpheus7345]

Great video man as always. I just went back to learn to air to air refueling. I was able to at least connect for about 5 seconds but got it. I have some hope, at least now i will one day be able to stay on longer.

[@negativghostrdr]

Best tip: find the tanker speed and formation fly a bit alongside before pre-contact, find the spot on your throttle that has you at just about that speed. Only tiny corrections. I'm not moving as small as this guy...yet. I might adjust my axis curves a bit to help with that. It takes practice to 'get ahead of the airplane'.

[@pd28cat]

Now having done this myself, I can appreciate how awesome Tricker is.

[@TrickerDCS]

Nice work!

[@horstweihrauch1]

SUS 4:23 "let's go ahead and slide on in... As you can see as I'm sliding in everything is nice and gentle, i'm not yanking and banking on the stick, everything is smooth transition."

[@TrickerDCS]

Always be gentle :D

[@3dmax911]

i have master the f18 & f16 in every aspects !! and I succeeded to AAR in the f18 but not the f16 !! just for a few seconds !! really its the hardest thing to do in DCS !! thanks for the tips !!

[@3dmax911]

After a lot of practice i finaly become good (not mastring) the A-A refuling for the F16 and the F15-E strike Eagle

[@إبراهيمالهلالي-ش7ش]

i need 10 hrs ver of this asmr

[@jonathonmcrae5671]

I feel a big thing to remember is something the Thunderbird pilots use while refueling, is to wiggle your fingers and toes every once in awhile

[@TrickerDCS]

Good point

[@tenevas666]

J'ai plus de 40 ans, j'aurais souhaité que DCS existe lorsque j'étais jeune, ;) depuis je suis sur DCS depuis en gros 2012 ou 2015 et c'est un bonheur.......il existe depuis 2008 me semble ;)

[@stevo905]

Nice one!,any chance you can do a "how to" formation flying video,and do you use curves in your HOTAS settings? and if yes,what are your'e curves..

[@felixf4613]

Yesterday I sucesfully AAR the Harrier for the first time. Now this vid showed up. 😀 Next level. F-16

[@thecasualgamer1457]

Still training for this, as it really got me frustrated! Trying again and again. Still not managed a full refuel, but have managed contact and about 800lbs of fuel. Thanks for the guide, but still shot the KC-135 down for my last attempt

[@TrickerDCS]

Haha just practice something else and then come back. Take breaks and have fun with it

[@MrAtleem2002]

What does the lights mean on the belly of the tanker (Left (Speed??) and right (pitch??))? I have seen refueling done during my time in the military while watching the boom operators do their thing and it is amazing how the pilot makes it look so seamless. Cant imaging the amount of sim work they had to do before getting qualified.

[@SsgtHolland]

Very smooth, Tricker.

[@stevel1458]

DCS should adjust the refueling speed. IRL, the F-16 is refueled at 315 KIAS. The "other simulator" uses 300 KCAS, which is more accurate.

[@Hatredy11]

The reasoning may be the A-10. Long ago, I remember first trying it with the A-10 and raging when I couldn't catch the tanker.

[@JayI]

Also a throttle with a long throw makes this much easier to dial in the power

[@yungcaco1443]

This works, I got it down in like 3 hours man. I feel pretty good considering some people here are saying it’s taken em months. Thanks!!

[@HoundDogMech]

Love to ese a Video on the Arragement and Use of the Refuleig Light System on the Belly of the Tankers.

[@TrickerDCS]

Noted!

[@roberthunt641]

Thanks for the good video. The pace of the commentary and actions makes it super helpful.

[@ramtin-s8722]

I also find this very difficult..not with the hornet , tho…the viper is pretty hard for me…but the air brakes really help ..and turning doesn’t work for me yet haha

[@christurner666]

Another cracking video! Thanks Tricker!

[@JamesCK1104]

Thanks for this video I needed it

[@marswor]

what are your curves for f16 if you don't mind sharing?

[@ilankeren1449]

for me personaly dogfighting in the f16 is way harder than aar. i would love a good tutorial on that

[@TrickerDCS]

BFM or bvr?

[@ilankeren1449]

@@TrickerDCS bfm

[@simontwitchett672]

Your aircraft isn't moving all over the sky! What curves do you use for your joystick please?

[@TrickerDCS]

I just use 10 on pitch and roll for a warthog stick

[@davidjames7382]

Always great videos Tricker! Just ordered some of my parts for my build last week. Ordering some more parts on Friday. Ordered my Foxxmounts last Friday. What stick, throttles and rudders do you use??

[@roter_milan]

Great video mate, thanks for this! You really make it look so easy 😅 Maybe I should begin a daily 30 minutes AAR session for myself. Greetings Milan

[@TrickerDCS]

Thanks brother, greetings from USA

[@roter_milan]

@@TrickerDCS And thanks for the mission link, maybe I'll try it in one of my upcoming videos 😀

[@BigHESS2009]

Thank you! Great video, love your content! May I ask you, do you use reshade?

[@TrickerDCS]

Hey thank you! I do not, all default

[@BigHESS2009]

Oh wow, didn’t expect that! Thanks for the reply

[@phrozen755]

One of my favorite things to do in DCS :)

[@alfredjr2k556]

That's right Tricker. Master arms off is the answer. Don't shoot the aerial tanker.

[@MustardActual]

I think people depend a bit too much on "tips and tricks." AAR is a stupid hard thing to do as a beginner. Once you learn how, it's just gonna take a lot of time practicing. You just have to put the time in, there's no way around it. Great video, though:) Putting the pre contact command on the hotas is a great idea

[@gnranger]

My issue is holding position with the tanker. I can get contact, but no matter how hard I try to use smooth motions, I get massive PIO.

[@Tuuvas]

daaaym, Tricker pumping out these tutorial videos

[@TrickerDCS]

Next is with an Xbox controller 😈

[@Tuuvas]

@@TrickerDCS 👀 and while ... inverrrrted?

[@TrickerDCS]

Bahahaha yasss

[@trentsavation4817]

thanks for the vid

[@Mak10z]

"Let's keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves, like smooth little babies." - Benny

[@sedlo]

Nicely done, Tricker.

[@TrickerDCS]

Thank you kindly Mr Sedlo!

[@thefridge71]

Love your videos mate. So simple and straight forward when you do it :)

[@jarrydlee7906]

Dude that was ridiculous. What flight stick and deadzone/curves do you use? My X-56 is impossible.

[@TrickerDCS]

Thrustmaster HOTAS

[@TsZen876]

Beautiful

[@badassoptic]

Not sure why KC135 keeps turning or increase speed without notifying me

[@captaininsano564]

That’s some high quality h2o right there…..

[@TrickerDCS]

Captain insano shows no mercy

[@cesarferrolho1647]

My problem is that when i get contact, the plane always seems to want to slow down and descend, even if it was having the opposite attitude just before contact, we are talking about small changes of course, but still, that tendency seems to manifest... also, rather hard to trim the plane for level flight, even for 5 seconds...

[@erkancolakoglu237]

the hud shows at the side you look how could you do it? I use tracker IR too but the hud doesnt show where I look.

[@irishpat64]

Thank You

[@mrsirkosky7618]

5:21 i just literally tried to zoom in with the standard DCS keys to see the lights on the belly.........

[@TrickerDCS]

lol

[@sschreck]

Tricker ASMR “Go get that sweet JP5”

[@joytoys5669]

I'd like to try Track IR, how did you feel with yours, is that better than no track IR software? thanks

[@TrickerDCS]

Definitely use track ir

[@joytoys5669]

@@TrickerDCS well, it looks more stable than non-trackIR

[@Hatredy11]

Whoever designed the light system must have been dyslexic. The lights on the left correspond to stick movement and the lights on the right are corrected with throttle. Am I wrong?

[@scrag0416]

Man I am struggling with this. Had it down.....then transitioned to the F-14 and got that down...came back to the F-16 and it's like data dumped it all. I am al over the sky.....keep practicing I guess.

[@Scoobydcs]

is the left hand light forward/back and the right elevation?

[@TrickerDCS]

lol wut

[@Scoobydcs]

@@TrickerDCS which light shoes what info

[@TrickerDCS]

@@Scoobydcs ah sorry, left is up and down, right is foreword and back

[@sondrelima9982]

Try this with keebord and mouse😂

[@TrickerDCS]

Challenge accepted =D

[@sondrelima9982]

Looking forward to it😁

[@M60A3]

On the mission I ask and he tells me « no can do, chicks in tow » like its a single player mission could I not have to wait

[@sondrelima9982]

Try with mose and keyboard, or you cant do that???Do you accept the challenge???

[@Virtch]

i dont have trouble getting into position, but maintaining that position is what kills me. literally. i pulled up a little too much on my most recent flight, and then end of the boom killed my pilot. i then decided "yeah i need help"

[@MNHemiGuy]

HOTAS curves?

[@TrickerDCS]

10 and 10

[@Riddle99-v7q]

Ah yes, the only thing i dread having to learn with the F-16. 😅

[@IulknPdshb]

The biggest mistake is not setting high curvature on roll and pitch on the hotas. So don't make that mistake

[@horstweihrauch1]

tutorial how to get chad voice when?

[@chadvader974]

hours and hours and hours and hours and hours ive tried to do this and cant.......

[@billh308]

They didn't teach this at ATP

[@TrickerDCS]

Only how to make trains 🚂

[@maikchaos]

Well made video, I enjoyed watching a professional at work. I really enjoy watching your videos

[@JayDKBGames]

IM good UNTIL THE TURN LOL

[@SPFLDAngler]

Whenever I see landing/refueling videos on dedicated DCS channels I always want to see them try it with a crappy HOTAS One or any of the other awful T.Flight cheapass “console” HOTAS. You absolutely cannot get precise smooth movements out of it and the throttle? Lmfao… I have the curve set to 60 and a dead one of 8 for X/Y just to get some tiny semblance of control. The stick is stiff as hell and the tighten/loosen knob does nothing. You have to have the throttle and stick connected as one because the stick base isn’t heavy or wide enough to keep it stable on its own. I tried using it on a desk and if you try to roll the entire thing just tips over. I have to play with the whole thing on my lap. I ain’t shelling out near 100$ to get desk mounts for it and not drilling through my desk lol

[@SPFLDAngler]

If you say “ well just push down on the stick to roll” nope. They are so damn cheap that any pressure on the handrest of the stick will separate it. Like it literally pulls away and nearly snaps off if you do any more than rest your wrist lightly on it.

[@MrBlueGameReal571]

they wont even respond to me

[@TrickerDCS]

Make sure you’re on the right frequency

[@MrBlueGameReal571]

it worked thank you!@@TrickerDCS

[@Carnados]

its SOOOO tedious

[@SuperAd1980]

Refuelling "Made Easy" 1st thing you said... "Remember this is HARD" DOWNVOTE and moving on! 👎👎 I hate liars! 👎👎

[@TrickerDCS]

It’s a hard task to complete according to all fighter pilots 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@extech921]

This is a joke .

[@TrickerDCS]

It’s not April fools anymore

[@SASCAT1972]

I get that it’s a learned skill, but there should be an ‘easy refuel’ option for those of us wanting realism in everything but still need help with this.