Hello, fellow simpilots! This week v3.8 update of AirshowAssistant was released in MSFS Marketplace, which introduces the most awaited feature of the aerial refueling – radio commands. Now you have voice guidance by the tanker commander during the whole process – clearance to join, pre-contact and leave, received fuel counter, distance to the refueling boom tip, and, of course, magic word CONTACT! This quickly created voice system contained some issues, like false pre-contact or return pre-contact messages, but don’t worry – all fixed already and will be available in the next update. This feature is still in development so feel free to share with your ideas how it can be more accurate, informative or enjoyable.
Now let’s talk about something serious. Last time we added Asobo F/A-18 as a buddy refueler, which was an experiment with 1st/3rd party aircraft injection as a tanker. We have not received any negative feedback about this specific refueler so consider the test was passed. This week we worked hard to finalize the refueling system and make it easy to use, so now we are able to convert any MSFS aircraft into refueler, without using its sources, like wingman. It means this aircraft has to be purchased and installed, but that is an awesome thing anyway – it brings completely new meaning for many awesome (and not really) aircraft – some are your favourite, and some you may regret purchasing. Limitations like missing indication lights may exist, but these will be fixed in further updates.
In next v3.9 update we adding these aircraft as refuelers:
A6 Intruder / Deimos (no hose receiver modeled, no indication lights)
Avro Vulcan / JustFlight (no indication lights)
C-130 Hercules (2 variants) / Captain Sim (no indication lights)
Mig-29 / Deimos
MV22 / Miltech (inaccurate refueling pod model)
Rafale / AC
Rafale / CJ Simulations
Rafale / Bruno Thor
Tornado F3 / IndiaFoxtecho (external tanks not visible)
C-160 / AzurPoly (not available yet, wait for aircraft update with refueler livery)
The good thing about 3rd party aircraft is that they are almost perfect for our goal – we just add a refueling container (if it is missing) and it is ready to go, with nice visuals and sounds, correctly placed lights, and, some day, hundreds of liveries of choice. We will add new 3rd party refuelers each update, so feel free to point into the one you like more.
It’s not so simple with 3rd party tankers with flying boom – it does not have required animations applied to be compatible with AAR, so we will need some assistance from the aircraft developer to finish the animation or at least make it hideable. So do not expect these to be added quickly.
And last – thanks to the content creators, AirshowAssistant got a LOT of attention, and now we have incredible plans for the add-on. Not only about aerial refueling, but formation flying as well, especially a mix of both. Stay tuned and keep track for updates – very soon you will get something really awesome!
