#ab 8b

Refueling this thing is hard. Air Force pilots have it so easy with the flying boom.

The Harrier’s refueling boom is not just to the side, but it’s actually behind you. It’s not even in your periphery. You have to look over your shoulder to see the boom, and that makes catching the drogue much more difficult than it would be otherwise. This is something that will definitely take a lot of practice.

After refueling, it was my first time flying the Harrier with a full fuel load. It was my first time flying with stores as well. Man, you can feel it. The Harrier’s handling gets significantly heavier and slower when loaded down with fuel and weapons, and more in line with what I was expecting it to fly like. It’s like a completely different plane.

I tried some basic weapons stuff today with the Mavericks. I wasn’t using a targeting pod, and the TGP can’t hand off information the missiles anyway, so I didn’t bother with it. Though, this specific variant of the Harrier has a built in FLIR that you can use to find targets and direct your Mavericks. It’s very rudimentary, and FLIR imagery is broken in DCS either way, but it certainly helps, as it is has a higher magnification than the Mavericks do.