I have been trying to put the thing in the thing. You know, doing it with a KC-135. But somehow I never get it right. I keep porpoising and wallowing. I know how to trim, and if the KC were a bogey I’d BFM and gun it flawlessly every time without fail. But so far I managed to grab the basket only once and for a very short while.
Help me obi wan keforum, you are my only hope!
(ps I fly with an old 2nd hand hog that needs greasin and is set atop a desk. Not an ideal setup, but one has to make do. Also VR)
I have found something that helps a lot with the HOTAS Warthog’s tremendous centering spring zone…don’t trim for stick center!!
Fighting the spring is a royal PITA.
What I like to do is trim such that the stick has to be held forward - and work in that region. It’s much smoother, there’s no “clunk” or “stick-zone” since you are already out of it.
The other one is to build yourself a quick-n-dirty drop mount, which makes the ergonomics way better.
Here is my quickly built mount…it was never intended to stick around. I built it at night using not all the right hand tools such as not to wake anybody, so I could see if I liked the ergonomics then buy a metal one.
Except it worked well and cost $0 as it was scrap lumber…so I kept it.
recommend trying a center mount on the warthog, its actually really easy if you have the baseplate still installed, just sit on the baseplate. Its what I did for years and vastly improved my flying almost immediately.
Other than that, dont look at the drogue directly, only peripherally, try and be as trimmed as possible behind the tanker before closing on the drogue. If you havent seen this tip before, switch your wings to bomb mode prior to tanking, so they dont shift and mess up your trim.
If you are having trouble with rushing and falling back, get stable behind the tanker, and then use only one throttle from there on, makes a massive difference and is far more controllable.
I had done that for a while too! That was part of the shoddily-built chair mod test a few years ago in DCS 1.5. Comparing now, I prefer the side mount, it’s less awkward to the wrist. That would be offset if I could rotate the stick grip, however.
yeah that was my only complaint, but once I did it I could never get away from a center stick, far to comfortable natural and precise for me, even if the wrist position is a bit odd.
Now I have a virpil stick and its super easy to set the stick to whatever angle you want.
I found when flying for long periods with the center stick setup warthog, I would often switch hands, or fly with a hand over top of the grip setup, instead of gripping it like a gun. Just lots of convenience there.
a year or two ago I did grab one of the force sensing modifications after I got my virpil, and turned my warthog into essentially a static force sensing F-16 stick, for BMS in particular, That works great and makes perfect sense as a side stick, I don’t think Id ever wanna try that centered, it’d be almost impossible to get a straight pull without physical movement.
Here is the test chair mod, back when I used my 50” TV to fly. The small monitor in front of me had the TrackIR sit on it (TV too far/tall). It’s also why you’ll notice my baseplate is sideways - I did that so my legs would hold it down better. The throttle was bolted down, but the stick was held in place by my weight essentially.
When Tomcat refueling goes wrong for me, this is usually it. I can get lined up and get hooked up usually ok, but staying on basket is where 50% of the problem is for me. I’ll try the the one throttle thing - thanks!
I do find the F-14 a little harder than the other types. All the advice above is great. Closure rate with the basket is your enemy. A death grip on the stick more so. Try not to listen to Jester or turn him off. Just like the other birds, once you get it you can come back a week later and still find it pretty easy.
I cannot top off in the 'Hog,
I fumble 'round like riding a log;
I cannot tank in 'Cat or Bug,
Looks like I’m flying high on drugs.
In Harrier it’s here or there,
I can’t make the drogue go anywhere,
I can’t gas up in La Mirage,
We bounce around like in dressage.
I just gave it a shot again. I sat on the stick’s mountain plate. This brought it into uncomfortably close proximity to certain parts of my anatomy. It’s a cold chunk of metal! But it actually worked pretty good. I could slap myself for not thinking of such a simple solution earlier.
I only did some BFM tho, haven’t found the courage to try tanking again.
