In Flight Refueling (IFR)
Since SP3 made it possible to refuel in multiplayer I decided to give you a few tips on how I : "top off the tankers" Of course I understand if someone does it another way, maybe even a completely different way but it is just a little help to get you started. In Flight Refueling (IFR) this might be one of the most difficult tasks you ever face, it is challenging and it tests your nerves as well as your patience! (I know I've gunned down that tanker a couple of times myself, thank god it is not real) Yet it is probably one of the most rewarding things to do, especially when your fuel tanks are dry!
First thing that is most important of course is to find the tanker, without the tanker you can't do IFR, well that's easy, you can call in AWACS to ask for a vector to tanker and then follow the heading AWACS gives you and there will be a big chance you will find the tanker. Since this is about the IFR and not finding the tanker I will not spend a lot of time on explaining ways to find the tanker.
If you have external tanks you should've turned your FEUL switch to reserve, when you found the tanker and you are 10 miles away it is smart to turn OFF your master arm, and switch the air refueling switch to open, that switch is located next to the fuel intake switch (move your view 1 time down, 2 times left and at the top there is a switch which says something like air refueling open/close) when you have done this and look back in front of you can see the lights on right of your HUD giving the color of blue/purple, if not check your switches again. You are now ready to take some fuel! Contact the tanker and ask for fuel and it will clear you to "pre-contact position" this means you can close in on the tankers six, until you are between 1 and 2 miles away. When you have closed in on the tanker make sure you are not going faster as the tanker or going slower. If you are close enough the tanker will clear you to "contact position" now the fun begins, you are allowed to refuel, you can do two things, if you have a lot of fuel left you can extend your airbrakes, this requires you to put your trust higher and thus consumes more fuel, however, if you go to fast which will most likely happen, you slow down easier, if you do not extend your brakes you will have an easier time to go faster and consume less fuel. Now we go in and get that fuel.
This however is the tricky part, if you have been in "pre-contact position" and flown just as fast as the tanker you know it's speed, try to stay a little lower than the tanker and keep your flight path marker (FPM) on the horizon to keep the plane on the same altitude, now we must close in on the tanker, to do that we need to go FASTER as the tanker, however, when you increase your RPM to fast and to high you will gain altitude rather quickly and as you might notice this makes the whole operation very difficult since you are so close to the tanker you will switch between flying over it and flying under it, in other words, be easy on the throttle and have some patience. If you close in further on the tanker you will see the boom coming down (it's the big stick at the tail of the tanker which will connect to your plane), try to keep below the end of it, when you do this be easy on the stick just like you did on the throttle to avoid rocking up and down. You will also hear tanker give you directions like "up" "down" and I guess you can guess the other directions it can and probably will give you the first couple of times, again try to keep the FPM on the horizon to keep your plane in level flight. And use your throttle with caution, if you are connected you will notice that the boom "drags" your plane in right position and you will hear a "connected" from the tanker and you will give a "stabilized and ready" shout to the tanker, then call that you are ready to take fuel, you will then start to receive new fuel that will keep you flying a while longer.
Be advised however, that when you are connected and the tanker will "drag" you with him this will not be a stable connection, if your speed gets to high or low, you will disconnect, if you will move up or down, left or right you will disconnect so try to keep up with the tanker.
As easy as this might seem it takes some practice to do it correctly, and even more to do it smoothly. One tip I can give you is that you try it wrong the first time to see how the plane reacts on you pulling on the stick or going full afterburner, you wont miss the effects!
Happy landings! (and refuelings) Regards, Chaser