Air-to-air refuelling

Learning objectives

1. Finding the Tanker
2. Pre & Post Refueling positions/formation
3. Pre-Tanker Checks
4. Cleared to Contact

Procedures

The F16 does not carry a lot of fuel, so air-to-air refueling is a must. This service is provided in BMS by KC-10 and KC-135 aircraft.

First, the pilot needs to find the tanker. There are essentially four ways to find the tanker:

1. Contact AWACS for vectors
2. Use the FCR to locate potential tanker contacts (assuming you already know roughly where to look)
3. Use the tanker’s TACAN channel to provide directions. Note however, that the air-to-air TACAN used by tankers in BMS typically provides only distance information. The one exception to this is the KC-10 which will also provide bearing information.
4. Use of marked “tanker tracks” on the HSD. If you or the mission planner marked the tanker positions on the 2D planning screen these steer point lines / boxes will appear on your HSD.

Distance Matters

Before refueling, the flight will need to establish radio contact with the tanker to ask for fuel. It is critical that ALL ships in a flight be within the 10nm bubble centered on the tanker during communications. Depending on the distance from the tanker, when flight lead makes the initial contact the answer will either be:

• If the flight is farther than 10 Nm the tanker will respond with heading and distance for rejoin.
• If the flight is at or within 10 Nm the flight will be cleared directly to the pre-contact position. At this point the flight is to proceed to the Observation Area on the tanker's left wing -(see picture)

The standard formation for refueling is left echelon where all ships waiting to take fuel are on the left wing of the tanker and each other stacked high (you can tell if you are stacked enough if the you can see the opposite wing of the tanker). When an aircraft is done refueling move to the same position on the right wing of the tanker (now echelon right and again stacked high).

Pre-Tanker Checks

The following steps should be taken prior to reaching the left observation station at the tanker and are typically done more than 3-5nm away from the tanker:

• Master Arm OFF
• External Lights ON
• Radar STANDBY (Done at 1nm - Use the OVRD button on the FCR)
• DED Bingo Page ACTIVE (Optional)
• AR Door OPEN (Note: It is good practice to open the AR door three to five minutes prior refueling to allow the external tanks to depressurize slightly, but not too early due to the possibility of creating a trapped fuel situation)

Cleared to Pre-Contact Position

Once the tanker has cleared you to Pre-Contact, acknowledge that call on UHF (or other prebriefed channel) then move to the pre-contact positon. This position needs to be held for a few seconds to be recognized by the coded boomer. Basically, the receiver aircraft will be 50 feet below at 30° down from the tanker. The best method to get that position correctly is to put the gun cross on the tip of the boom and fly towards it until the boom is just in front of the cockpit. There is no need to request fuel from the tanker; if you are in the correct position you will be cleared to Contact Position. Be advised, there are absolutely no director lights at this stage. Hold position a few feet behind the boom.

Director lights

Cleared to Contact Position

Refueling lights

When the boom operator has a good visual with the pilot the tanker will call “call sign, cleared to contact position”. Again, acknowledge the tanker call on UHF (or prebriefed channel) and move to the contact position. The director lights F (Forward) and U (Up) will switch on to give further positional guidance (if the lights go towards F, it means move forward, if they go towards U they mean up, A means aft and D means down). Start to move towards the boom and it will move to left or right to let the pilot get into contact position. The key is to make very small corrections. Make a small adjustment as needed, wait for the reaction, and continue as needed. Do not overreact.

The tanker will call “call sign, cleared to contact position”. Again, acknowledge the tanker call on UHF (or prebriefed channel) and move to the contact position. The director lights F (Forward) and U (Up) will switch on to give further positional guidance (if the lights go towards F, it means move forward, if they go towards U they mean up, A means aft and D means down). Start to move towards the boom and it will move to left or right to let the pilot get into contact position. The key is to make very small corrections. Make a small adjustment as needed, wait for the reaction, and continue as needed. Do not overreact.

On the boom (Contact!)

When all the lights go out don't move! The boom operator is trying to connect. The pilot needs to hold this position for a few seconds. Once contact has been made the director lights will become active again; these will help the pilot to adjust position to stay connected with the boom. In previous versions of Falcon, the pilot may remember the boom “snapping” into the correct position no matter what; this is no longer the case with BMS. Keep flying the aircraft. The boom will remain connected as long as the receiver stays within its maneuvering envelope. When the boom connects the blue RDY light on the right indexer shuts off and the green AR/NWS light comes on.

While on the boom, the only (UHF) radio calls required by the pilot are:

• “Contact” or “Good flow” to indicate you are on the boom and receiving fuel
• “1000 to go” to indicate you are within 1000 lbs. of your desired fuel capacity

Disconnecting

If your desired fuel level is less than fully topped off, press your NWS/Disc button once you have reached the desired quantity. Once disconnected, press Y-3 to notify the tanker you are done and the next aircraft can be cleared into position. The tanker needs to be called with this “done refueling” command to allow the next flight member to be cleared for refuel. It is very important that the cadet press Y-3 IMMEDIATELY after disconnecting (the closer to the boom the better). The only exception to this is if you are the LAST aircraft in your flight; in that case rejoin your flight in the right observation area before calling Y-3. Failure of any pilot to clear the tanker will result in failed tanking operations for other flights!

If the pilot needs to take on additional fuel after requesting a disconnect (NWS button) AND before clearing the tanker with “Y-3”, simply back off a bit and re-request fuel (Y-2). This is the only time you will need to request fuel once the initial refueling request has been made. The boom operator should clear you to the pre-contact position and you can begin the process over again.

The last aircraft in the flight must be sure to press Y-3, preferably once he has rejoined his wingman on the right side. At all times the flight MUST remain within 10nm of the tanker and the last pilot MUST clear the tanker (Y-3) before leaving the 10nm bubble.

Tanker/AAR Comms Overview

• From the left observation position, acknowledge “<Call sign> Cleared to Pre-Contact”
• Once connected and fuel is flowing, call “<Call sign> has good flow”
• Once within 1000 lbs of your desired fuel level, call “<Call sign> 1000 to go”
• Issue a Y-3 command to clear the tanker once you have completed your refueling

To be merged

1. Air-to-Air refueling (AKA Aerial Refueling, In-Air Refueling, etc) in BMS is a complex procedure, but it boils down to a few simple steps:
2. Find the tanker
3. Tell the tanker you need gas
4. Fly up behind the tanker, then stop moving to prove you won't crash into his fat ass and kill everyone aboard.
5. Get cleared and move into position to refuel
6. Maintain that position for 1-2 minutes to fully refuel
7. Once you're full, tell the tanker you don't need more gas and fly into the wild blue to destroy your enemies

If you can do that, you can refuel in BMS. However, this document will offer you detailed guidance on actually conducting an Air-to-Air refueling in BMS.

Before we start in earnest, the #1 tip you can remember – small inputs!

If you're going to move your throttle, stick or pedals once you are anywhere near the tanker, be gentle. If you feel yourself getting tense, drop back 100 feet, release the death-grip you have on your stick, and shake out the tension for a second. This requires precision flying skills that we in UO do not have much practice in - it's tough, but not impossible. Just focus, and keep your inputs small - I actually unwrap my fingers from my stick and use only small pushes with the web of my hand, base of my thumb and forefinger to get into position. Whatever works for you!

Definitions

Observer Position - A position to the left and slightly behind the tanker wing with a minimum of one receiver wingspan clearance between tanker and receiver. Multiple receivers join in echelon left.

Pre-Contact Position - The position is approximately 2 feet below the tip of the boom and 10-50 feet back from the boom tip, centered in azimuth on the tanker, where the receiver stabilizes with zero rate of closure before being cleared to the contact position.

Contact Position – The position directly underneath the tanker where the receiver stabilizes with zero rate of closure to allow the boom operator to place the end of the boom into the receiver's fuel receptacle.

Reform Position - A position to the right and slightly behind the tanker wing with a minimum of one receiver wingspan clearance between tanker and receiver. Multiple receivers reform in echelon right.

Air to Air Refueling (AAR) Steps

1. Once you are within ~10 NM, call tanker – default is Y, followed by 1 to send “Request Fueling.”
2. Once you are within 1 NM, you now must move your Air Refuel switch to the “Open” position. It is in the left-middle panel (reference Images 2A and 2B – proper position is up as indicated in 2B). This will display a blue “RDY” light on the right indexer, which is the tower to the right of HUD (reference Image 2C).
3. At this point, you must work on controlling your overtake speed – a conservative rule of thumb is 10 knots of closing speed for every 1000 feet of distance. Thus, at 1 NM, you would be closing at 60 knots (to find out your closing speed, go into AA mode and lock up the tanker. In general, the tanker will stabilize at ~300 knots for an F-16. In reality, I find that I have ~305 knots indicated). I personally (and the AI will) maintain 100 knots of over take at 1 NM, reduce to 70 knots at 3000 ft, and reduce further to 25 knots by 500 feet behind the tanker.
4. Pre-Contact/Observation Position
   1. As the flight lead, you can proceed immediately to pre-contact position (reference Image 4A). This is a challenging maneuver because the engines of the tanker create significant jet-wash that will knock you about. There are two methods of dealing with the jet-wash – push through it with significant overtake (~25 knots), or fly approximately 50 feet below the tanker until you are near the boom, at which point you can gently nose up into position. You MUST stabilize in the pre-contact position, or you will not be cleared to move to contact, and will be unable to receive fuel.
   2. If you're not flight lead, get into an echelon left formation on the tanker's left wing in the observer position, and wait for everyone in front of you to cycle through the refueling area (reference Images 4B and 4C). Your job is to deconflict/avoid crashing into your flight members, and to stay close enough to the tanker to get into position when it is your turn.
5. Once you are cleared to contact position, push your throttle forward to gain 3-5 knots of overtake. At the front of the tanker are director lights that tell you which way to move your aircraft – F is forward, A is aft, U is up, D is down (reference Images 5A and 5B). Remember – do what they tell you! Before you hook up, these lights signal only coarse adjustment, so they will only illuminate if you are outside or very near the edge of the boom maneuver envelope. Once no lights are illuminated, stabilize and wait for the boom.
6. As the boom starts moving and hooks up, there is an unrealistic “tractor beam” effect, which helps stabilize your aircraft under the boom and tanker (to a limited extent – this doesn't mean start playing with the stick or stop paying attention!). This effect continues (realistically) once the boom is physically attached to your plane, and ceases at disconnect.
7. Once you are hooked up, “AR/NWS” will illuminate in green on the right indexer. Simply maintain your position under the tanker until your tanks are full. If the director lights are displaying anything other than horizontal lines, you may want to carefully adjust your position in the indicated direction, but unless you see red indicators it is not required. (Image 7 shows a perfect position with fuel flowing).
8. If you fail to maintain your position, the boom operator will manually disconnect to avoid damaging the boom. You will then need to regain contact position (director lights will guide you again).
9. Once your tanks are full, the tanker will automatically disconnect the boom, indicated by an illuminated red “DISC” on the right indexer (reference Image 9). Gently reduce your speed by a few knots, and roll your aircraft slightly right to get into echelon left formation on the tanker, in the Reform Area (reference Image 4B).
10. Once you are stabilized in the Reform position or flying away from the tanker, close your Air Refuel switch (down position).
11. If you leave your AR door open you will not be able to turn on your auto-pilot hold modes.

Technical Mumbo-Jumbo:

Racetrack pattern speed and altitude, as well as refueling speed, are set by individually per aircraft. Individual limits can be found in “Falcon BMS 4.32\Data\Sim\ACDATA” under the aircraft designation.

For instance, the following are for the F16C Block 40 (named “F16bk40.dat” in the above folder). refuelSpeed 300 refuelAltitude 22000 refuelRate 33

Example Refueling Altitudes and Speeds:

• F-16 (all variants) – Angels 22, 300 knots
• Tornado ADV – Angels 20, 285 knots
• Tornado (all other variants) – Angels 20, 320 knots
• A-10 – Angels 17.5, 240 knots
• F-15E w/ PW229 – Angels 22.5, 325 knots
• F-15E w/ PW220 – Angels 22.5, 310 knots

In addition, the tanker changes control to the player who is receiving fuel at the given moment – i.e. the human pilot who is cleared to pre-contact position becomes the host of the tanker. If an AI is cleared in, the tanker returns to the control of the game host.

• NOTE* - If any aircraft in a flight requests fuel (Y followed by 1) from a tanker, it will cause the tanker to go into its racetrack (unless it is already in its racetrack) and stabilize to the proper altitude and airspeed for your aircraft. In addition, this action adds ALL the members of that flight to the tanker's queue, in order (i.e. 1'1 first,1'2 second,1'3 third,1'4 fourth). If the command is re-initiated after the flight is partially refueled (i.e. 1'1 and 1'2 have refueled, 1'3 is currently refueling), it will add the members who have completed back into the queue (i.e. 1'3 in contact, 1'4 second, 1'1 third, 1'2 fourth).

References:

• AIR-TO-AIR REFUELLING - ATP-56( :cool: (AJP 3.3.4.2) – found in “Falcon BMS 4.32\Docs\Operational Manuals” pp 64-5
• BMS Manual – found in “Falcon BMS 4.32\Docs\Falcon BMS Manuals” pp 130-42
• SuperPak 3 Manual – found in “Falcon BMS 4.32\Docs\Falcon 4 Legacy Manuals\3 - SuperPak 3” p 147
• Falcon Original Manual – found in “Falcon BMS 4.32\Docs\Falcon 4 Legacy Manuals\1 - Falcon 4.0 Original Manual” pp 180-5

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