Had a great flight last night. Flew a custom refueling practice mission. It felt like a real break through for me. Self, Wingman, day, VFR. Used the tanker tacan to locate and close with tanker. I tried to get Wingy to take fuel first while I hung off tankers left side. Wingy had some kind of issue and while he acknowledged my call for him to hit the tanker, he would not close and connect... So I called him to rejoin on me and I requested fuel from the tanker. Cleared pre contact, cleared to connect.

It was far from perfect, but I was able to connect and after several attempts, take on approximately 6500 lbs of gas.

It was the first time I have completely filled the tanks!



I then slid over to the tankers right wing and gave command for wingman to take fuel from Texaco. To my surprise this time he slid smartly into position and took on full tanks like the AI pro he apparently is.


Once his refueling was complete there was nice vapor trail from the probe as he backed away from the tanker.


I had him move back into formation and I then slid behind the tanker to take a splash and topped up my tanks.


Between the two of us we took about 13,000 lbs of fuel from the tanker. (charged the whole thing to wife's credit card) Tanks full we departed.


My most satisfying mission to date.

My hat goes off to the pros that do this in real life, day, night, in the crap.

Good pictures and good jobs. I tried today for the first time in weeks but had no luck. I have had a couple of connections but it can be very difficult

Well done ! My stick has too much "dead" space for the light touch needed to do this.
I am sure that flying gas tank loved seeing the flares

I'm using the TMWH. With a custom extension.

I got the idea for the flares from this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It51u8OgDnM

That was sick, nice find

Nice job! good vid too, thanks!

I myself just took about 500pounds (not quite enough!) of gas for the first time, I felt very accomplished.

Awesome pics.

Yeah playing this game makes me appreciate the people that do this every day even more. They make it look so mundane but the slightest error and the forecast could be raining bits of you.

Thanks for the comments. I wonder if anyone can get steady enough to get a full load in one connect, at night, with an engine shut down... 8)

Good work! I've yet to master this!

Great screens!

do you have a link to the mission, or can you upload it somewhere?

Sure. The mission has just been uploaded to the Eagle Dynamics site:

http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/

Enjoy!

thanks!

Here's the next step

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1193654&postcount=32

Created a mission similar to the one above but this time at night. Self and wingman. Rendezvous with tanker and practice air to air refueling in the dark. Adds another layer of difficulty as you get more instrument practice. I also found the use of NVG was a huge help in AAR at night.




With a few connects was able to take on a full load of fuel (6000+ lbs)



With my tanks full it was time for wingy to get a drink. He closed on the tanker, and flew within about a foot of the boom. The boom operator did not appear to fly the boom into the receptacle. Maybe he was away getting a refill on his coffee...

I also noticed that wingie failed to turn on his refuel slipway lights. Not sure if the AI boom operator had issues because of this.



Eventually the boom operator and wingy got hooked up. Wingy got his full load of fuel and then I noticed his canopy...

Wingmans canopy was full of holes! Apparently the boom operator had been whacking the boom off of wingies canopy... lol. hmm maybe he should have turned on the slipway lights...

Finally wingy got his full load of gas and holes and all he backed away from the tanker. We rejoined formation and flew back to base. Another superb mission in this fantastic simulation.

I've uploaded my night mission from above here:
http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/59551/

"Whacking the boom off" ? "Wingie got his full load" ? hey. Don't ask, don't tell and all that.

Seriously though, these are some great screenshots. Looks like a great challenge. Thanks.

Took to the skies for some AAR action. First attempt ever in DCS A-10C, I had mastered it in F4AF but the Warthog is much different.

Congrats Panther! There is definately a feeling of accomplishment when you top off the A-10 tanks in-flight, yes?

Congrats That must feel great. So mind telling us what the secret is I have no problem finding the tanker, contacting him and connecting. Its the darn Staying connected that seems to elude me. Managed my best effort earlier a whole 10 secs. Not excatly what I need to fill my tanks. While the length of time im staying connected is increasing Any advice or hints will be greatfully received Not just by myself, But im sure by the tanker crew who im sure get fed up when in frustraction I shoot the buggers down

Womble

WTG Lobo - kinda gets under your skin - 'I have to do this!'

Womble - check out this post about adjusting your joystick curves
Grey Poupon


Wrecking Crew

Thanks for the advice Wrecking Crew, will adjust and try the new settings first thing tomorrow At mo my warthog has curve set at 30, I can fly along quite nicely in formation until connection, then my hog seems to turn into a rollercoaster ride, I'm trying not to chase the boom, but I must be doing I subconsciously. Any after 4 hrs practice and countless hookups and failures without one endin in a full tank, my shoulders and back is killin me from bein so tense. I'm treating myself to a jack Daniels since I think I earned it hats off to the military pilots who do this in the normal course of their day.

Womble

Getting a full load of gas is my greatest accomplishment in this sim.

Does anyone have the suggested curve for the Warthog throttle? I think Beach posted it years ago. I remember it worked for me but I can't seem to find it again.


Thanks,

Stephen