WARNING: Flying two airplanes in close vertical proximity is dangerous!



Your airplane influences the tanker -- stay on the 30° line, and make the closure slow and steady.


Relax -- breathe deep and slow, relax your hands, relax your fingers.

Inertia -- you've got a lot of it. Use small corrections, and then give them time to work. Patience is important. If you are impatient, you'll make a small correction, wait (but not long enough), put in more, and then find you've overcorrected, and you'll make an even larger correction in the opposite direction. Patience. Did I mention patience is important?

Big picture -- don't focus on any one part of the picture. Keep your eyes moving, but learn to use your peripheral vision. You can be looking at the PDI lights and still see the tanker's engines, and wings ... the more of the tanker you can "see", the better you'll be at picking up movement.

An extra minute stable in precontact is worth far more than an extra hour bouncing around in contact. Don't be in a hurry to get on the boom. Take your time to make sure you'll be able to stay on the boom.






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