Air to Air Refuelling Guide - By Major Mark "Slarti" Collins
Major Mark "Slarti" Collins
187th VFW Avengers
Flight Leader - Wild Cards
www.187th.org
Forward:
As with all things, it is easier to learn something if you approach it
by first breaking it down into its most elemental pieces and then examining
each of those pieces. This is how we will approach the "Bane of all Falcon
Pilots", i.e. Air to Air refueling. The following items are the critical
components necessary for making an approach and hookup with a tanker for
A2A refueling:
Altitude (pitch)
Attitude (roll)
Speed (power)
Basically, you have to line up horizontally, line up vertically, and match
speeds with the tanker in order for them to be able to hookup an give
you some gas. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it. So lets look at these pieces
and get us some clues on what we're doing wrong and what we need to do
to be able to hookup with the tanker.
Bobbin and weaving.
While Bobbin and Weavin is great for a prize fighter, it is the last thing
that you want when tryin to hookup to the tanker. It is probably the one
thing that most of us struggle with that make it impossible to hookup
to the tanker. For the purposes of this discussion I will define Bobbin
as Pitch, and Weavin as roll.
Why we bobbin?
We are flying the boom, i.e. we are tryin to line up with
the boom. This is a mistake…the boom will be flown to us…all we have
to do is get in the general vicinity of the boom and the boom operator
will fly the boom to us.
We are NOT flyin
the Flight Path Marker.
If we are to hookup with tanker we must fly straight and level. The most
important thing that I have found to stop diving and climbing, aka "bobbin"
is to make sure that I’m flyin the Flight
Path Marker. Keep that baby lined up with the Horizon
Line on the HUD and presto….no more bobbin. You want
to line up with the tanker right from the start so you don’t have to
make huge pitch corrections. Just fly straight and level. Now your major
concern should be roll correction.
Why we weavin?
Weavin is gonna happen because you need to line up with the
tanker. The key to victory here is very small corrections and USE
THE RUDDER PEDDLES! I have found that using the rudder peddles
with the stick, i.e. very small, co-coordinated turns is what gets me
thru it. (if you don’t have rudders, don’t fret. You can still make it
w/o rudders…just makes it a little easier.) Again, the key here is very
small corrections. Remember, the plane doesn’t fly like a car…it’s more
like sliding across ice…you have to anticipate and correct before the
correction is needed.
Rules of Thumb.
Fly the Tanker.
Don’t try to fly the boom. Since the entry point for the fuel is behind
your head, you won’t see where to direct the boom anyway. The guys that
work the boom are union, so they would be really PO’ed if you took their
jobs away from them. So, fly the tanker. Work at positioning yourself
under the tanker.
Fly the Horizon.
Fly the tanker to get in close, but once your close in, you will need
to start flyin the horizon. It's just like driving a car. You can’t watch
the road down by your wheel and drive effectively. You need to drive
the car by watchin way ahead of you. The same applies to getting underneath
the tanker. You need to fly the horizon. That’s where you eyes should
be looking. You should only be briefly glancing at the tanker.
Watch your speed.
Now were stabilized, we’re basically flyin at the same height, parallel
with the horizon, and we’re basically lined up with the tanker…what now?
Speed!!! How fast are you going? Here there are a couple of tricks that
will help.
Make sure that you use the Digital
Air Speed Indicator (hit <ctrl> H to switch to
this view) instead of the Analog Air
Speed Indicator. Iit’s very hard to judge how fast
your going with just the tape.
Make sure you are watchin your Fuel Flow
indicator. It helps to know how fast you should
be going. I have found that when I’m in close, I want the consumption
to be at about 2100 to 2300. That will give me a walking gait takeover
speed, which is about what you want. Any slower and you won’t catch
the tanker. (Obviously you want your initial approach speed with the
tanker with a greater than this but when you get close, i.e. you
can see the boom, then you need to start to really manage
your speed. It is better to slow gradually then to slam on the air brakes
and try and match speed that way.)
The manual says that the tanker is traveling at approximately 300 kts,
personally I have found that when I'm in close I need to slow to about
297-300 kts. At this speed, I can overtake the tanker. According to
the manual, your approach should be somewhere between, 300 and 305 kts.
Experiment with this. I have found that 302 is too fast, I fly past
the tanker. It seems that hookup speed for me is 297 kts.
In Close The tanker is set to give you instructions for corrections along all
3 axis’s. Pitch (Vertical), roll (horizontal), and power (forward and
backwards). You want to shoot for only having to make corrections for
one axis (i.e. forward/backwards, IOW Speed.) if you can. If you have
lined up properly during your ingress to the tanker you should be pretty
much on target and just need to match speed. You may also have to make
some minor corrections for roll, but if you find yourself havin to do
all three, your in for a rough ride.
Once I’m in close, believe it or not…I don’t try and adjust my flight
based on the lights underneath the tanker…I simply listen to the instructions
from the "Boom Boss". As long as your going just a little faster (1 to
3 kts) then the tanker, when the boom can reach you, it should hook up
(you'll know you have hooked up because the boom boss will say "Contact").
As soon as it hooks up, take your hands off the controls and enjoy the
ride. Once your full, the tanker will break away.
Initial Lineup: See Fig 1.
This is just after you get into the refueling TE. We have already lined
up with the tanker. A couple of things to note here.
Notice where the horizon is with relation to the Tanker.
We’re not pointing our nose AT
the tanker…we’re pointing our noseUNDERNEATH
the tanker.
Notice the position of the Flight Path
Marker. Centered under the tanker and parallel with
the Horizon Line. If
we line up correctly here it makes the job a whole lot easier….at this
point we’re just under a mile away.
Fig 1.
Overtaking the tanker: See Fig 2.
Now you want to overtake the tanker. Make your speed somewhere between
325 and 350. The urge is to close the distance really fast…but that can
easily lead to an overshoot. At this point I have bumped the speed up
but am on my way down. Notice the digital display on the speed (Circled
in red )…and the cockpit view is in the up mode. Note: I am
using an edited cockpit view. The stock cockpit view will not show you
theFuel Flow gauge
(Circled in red ) when looking thru
the HUD View (this view is up one click from the normal cockpit view).
This is critical to be able to see this gauge as you overtake the tanker
and especially when your close it. I use this gauge when I’m close in
much more then I use the Analog Air Speed
Indicator /i> Again…note the position of the Flight
Path Marker and the Horizon
Line
Fig 2.
Still Closing: See Fig 3.
Here we are still closing…notice again, Air speed, Position of tanker
in HUD, and Flight Path Marker
and Horizon Line (All
circled in red ). Air speed is still bleeding down. You can tell
this by the Fuel Flow Gauge
and the Digital Airspeed Indicator
.
Fig 3
In Close:
Now we’re in really close. When you can see the boom, you want to be approaching
walking speed overtake. Here you will notice that I have fallen below
this speed. At this point I am having to add throttle. Also note the position
of the tanker in the HUD. RESIST THE URGE TO PUT
THE FLIGHT PATH MARKER
ON THE TANKER…OR YOU WILL PERMANENTLY MERGE WITH THE TANKER. Remember,
the tanker is flying the horizon, so to hook up with the tanker, you must
fly the horizon. If you need any pitch correction it should be extremely
minor . Bring the Flight Path Marker just over the Horizon
Line, then put it back. We are talking a matter of 5 to 10 feet vertical
movement here. Also note, I am just a little off the correct roll axis.
A small correction to the left will take care of this.
Fig 4.
We are now approaching the tanker at approximately the correct speed,
altitude, and attitude. 2100 to 2300 will give you a slow overtake of
the tanker. The current speed shows 298 kts. This speed was on its way
up to 300.
Fig 5.
Here we are almost in position for hookup. You can see the light and you
can no longer see the boom. This is where you want to be. There is an
attitudinal correction that will take place here. A SMALL
roll to the right will correct this. (it is almost a non movement of the
stick. Pull just off center to the right for just an instant then correct
with left roll for just an instant. The left correction should be approx.
½ as long as the right correction) You just want to nudge the aircraft
over. Notice that the Flight Path Marker is still on the Horizon Line.
This is crucial to keeping the correct pitch of the aircraft.
Fig 6
Hookup!
If all is done correctly you will be rewarded with the site below. You
are hooked up and refueling. This is approximately where you want your
aircraft positioned under the tanker. Do not touch the controls, just
let the jet refuel.
Fig 7.
This is what it looks like from the outside. Once the tanker has filled
you up, it will disconnect from you at which point you can go where you
will….If you are really devious, you may follow the course of action outlined
below.
Fig 8.
And of course, no "SHOT" of an air to air refueling mission would
be complete with out the "Money Shot". Thought that the ruge to blow it
out of the sky would leave after you had conquered air to air refueling….heheheh,
Guess again!!! (Ed Note: This is not an official
practice of the 187th VFW).
Fig 9.
Well folks…you now know how to do a mid-air refueling mission. Hope that
this has been helpful. If your ever looking for some action check out
the 187th web page at www.187th.org, or come and meet with us on IRC.
The web page has all the contact details..... Happy refueling!
random screenshot
random irc quote: <BBall> Hey Frug....on 1.099999, are we gonna have the option to start in the "Ready Room"...on the crapper with newspaper in hand?
