How do you perform air-to-air refuelling in a flight simulator?

To perform air-to-air refuelling in a flight simulator, use a receiver and tanker with compatible systems, rendezvous behind and below, match speed, configure the probe or receptacle, close slowly to contact, hold the transfer position, monitor fuel, then ease straight aft to disconnect. Actual fuel transfer depends on the aircraft, mission or add-on.

In our Aviation & Real-World Flying section, we use air-to-air refuelling, aerial refuelling and mid-air refuelling interchangeably. The French term is ravitaillement en vol. The flying principles resemble real formation work, but every contact and fuel transfer in a consumer simulator is controlled by software rather than real tanker equipment.

Simulator support: a visible tanker may not transfer fuel

A moving boom, hose or basket does not prove that the simulator can add fuel to the receiver.

Our guide to simulator-by-simulator support, controller setup and connection failures covers the broader implementation differences. For MSFS practice, our KC-135R package with separate boom and drogue tanker variants provides a suitable tanker model, but the receiving aircraft must still support functional transfer.

Which air-to-air refuelling system should you use?

Choose the system fitted to the receiving aircraft, not the one that merely looks easier.

A probe cannot connect to a bare boom, and a boom receptacle cannot accept an ordinary drogue. Some tanker configurations use adaptors or carry more than one system, but the specific tanker and receiver models must still be compatible in the simulator.

How do you refuel from a tanker step by step?

A reliable air-to-air refuel separates rendezvous, pre-contact, connection and transfer instead of treating the tanker as a target to be chased.

1. Verify functional compatibility. Confirm that both packages support actual fuel transfer and the same boom or drogue system. An AI tanker and an unrelated receiver often cannot exchange fuel even when their models appear to touch.
2. Leave capacity in the tanks. Start below maximum fuel. If every usable tank is full, a valid connection may show no quantity increase.
3. Set an easy first scenario. Use daylight, clear weather, light turbulence and a long, straight tanker leg. Avoid time acceleration near the tanker.
4. Rendezvous without overshooting. Approach from behind and slightly below, then reduce closure before reaching the pre-contact position. Do not dive directly at the tanker or cross in front of it.
5. Stabilise at pre-contact. Match the tanker's movement, trim the receiver and hold a fixed sight picture against its fuselage, wing roots or engine pylons. Relative movement matters more than matching a published speed exactly.
6. Configure the receiver. Open the receptacle door, extend the probe or select the aerial-refuelling master as required. Some missions also require a radio request or refuelling mode before contact can register.
7. Close slowly. For boom refuelling, hold inside the connection envelope and allow the simulated boom to engage. For probe-and-drogue, guide the probe into the basket while using the tanker itself as the main formation reference.
8. Hold the transfer position. With a drogue, maintain enough forward position to keep the hose compressed rather than fully stretched. With a boom, stay between the simulated fore-and-aft and vertical limits. Glance at the fuel indication rather than staring inside the cockpit.
9. Disconnect cleanly. Reduce power slightly and move straight aft. Once clear of the equipment, follow the mission's departure or observation-position instructions and retract or close the receiver system.

Do not chase every basket movement. A mistake we see constantly is fixing attention on the drogue and responding to each wobble; that produces larger oscillations. Hold formation on the tanker, keep the probe in peripheral vision and let the basket settle.

Control setup that makes contact easier

A quiet, predictable controller setup is more useful than extreme sensitivity.

• Use only enough dead zone to remove hardware jitter; a large dead zone turns small corrections into abrupt steps.
• Trim before leaving pre-contact and hand-fly the receiver. A general autopilot rarely maintains the required relative position.
• Make small throttle changes, then wait for the engines to respond. Alternating large power movements causes repeated overshoots.
• If automatic throttle control hunts against the tanker, disengage it and control closure manually.
• Disconnect before an AI tanker begins a sharp turn unless the aircraft and scenario are designed for refuelling through turns.

How to refuel in FSX: ground fuel versus mid-air refuelling

Yes, you can refuel in FSX, but normal ground refuelling and tanker refuelling use different systems.

• For ordinary fuel loading, open Aircraft > Fuel and Payload and set the required tank quantities.
• At an airport with suitable ground services, Shift+F requests a fuel truck. Its availability and behaviour depend on the airport and aircraft.
• If an add-on aircraft has a custom fuel or load manager, use that supplied panel instead. The aircraft may overwrite changes made through the standard FSX menu.

FSX does not provide a universal air-to-air transfer system for every aircraft. Mid-air refuelling requires a compatible aircraft, tanker and mission or gauge; an AI KC-135 alone is not enough. Our detailed guide to FSX receiver gauges, contact triggers and no-transfer fixes explains the add-on-specific setup.

A320 and other civil airliners

The standard Airbus A320 cannot receive fuel from a tanker because it has no air-to-air refuelling probe or receptacle.

In FSX, MSFS or Prepar3D, refuel an A320 on the ground through the simulator's fuel menu or the aircraft's own loading system. Adding fuel through a menu while airborne, or enabling unlimited fuel, can extend the flight but is a simulator shortcut rather than simulated aerial refuelling.

Why is contact failing or fuel not transferring?

Most failures come from incompatible software, an unarmed receiver system or unstable station keeping rather than inaccurate tanker speed.

Unlimited-fuel settings can also hide whether the transfer works because the quantity may never decrease. Custom aircraft sometimes update only their own cockpit or tablet fuel page, not the simulator's standard fuel window.

Practice progression and useful video cues

Learn to hold station beside the tanker before attempting a boom or basket connection.

• Hold a stable position off the tanker's wing until its apparent size and alignment stop changing.
• Move to pre-contact and remain there without gaining or losing distance.
• Practise closing a few metres, stopping the closure and moving aft again.
• Add contact only when those movements are repeatable.
• Introduce tanker turns, turbulence, darkness or cloud after straight-and-level transfers become consistent.

A useful air-to-air refuelling video should identify the simulator, tanker, receiver and refuelling system; show the stable pre-contact sight picture; and display the fuel quantity before and after connection. A cinematic external view showing a probe or boom touching the aircraft does not demonstrate that fuel transfer is functional.