Fuel Management Best Practices Needed

[Hystrix]

After realizing that my aircraft do return to base/tanker on their own before running out of fuel, I trusted them in managing the fuel themselves.
But for some reason now and then some fighter fell from the sky with the obligatory "out of fuel"-message.
The only explanation I could come up with was that they must have been engaging their afterburners while evading missiles and burnt too much fuel to return to base.
Do you guys have established some rule of thumb threshold value (like 80% bingo or something) at which you send your planes home or how do you handle it?

 

[unmerged(255172)]

Hello Hystrix,

Normally the reason this happens is that you have an aircraft selected, it reaches bingo fuel without you noticing it (that blinking 100% sign should probably be ten times bigger and blinking red) and then give it an order after it has tried to return to base or a refueling craft. When that happens, you (or it) are often screwed. I do it myself occasionally.

I'm not saying it absolutely cannot happen that the calculations get it wrong when a/c use afterburner, but they should not, and it's been tested a lot.

One situation where you can lose a/c through no direct fault of your own, is when an a/c moves to a refueling plane, and then that tanker comes under threat and has to evade missiles away from your plane, or even gets shot down. Then your fuel-needy plane is in trouble, as it may not succeed in getting to base in time.

 

[Hystrix]

So it's no problem for the returning aircraft (while on 100% bingo) to stumble upon some missiles and having to evade them on their way home?
It's a bit counter-intuitive but at least one thing less to care about. Maybe they have some reserves on board, they are not telling me about... ;-)
So it must have been me not taking notice of the blinking 100% then, thanks for the clarification.

 

[unmerged(255172)]

So it's no problem for the returning aircraft (while on 100% bingo) to stumble upon some missiles and having to evade them on their way home?

Well, it is, because they don't have fuel to evade so they are much more likely to be shot down.

Flip side: Ambushing planes returning from a battle with bingo fuel is great fun.

It's a bit counter-intuitive but at least one thing less to care about. Maybe they have some reserves on board, they are not telling me about... ;-)
So it must have been me not taking notice of the blinking 100% then, thanks for the clarification.

Pilots may be sneaky people, I've been told.

 

[unmerged(400752)]

Bingo state could use some tweak as it stands. Plane do not wait till they absolutely needs to RTB before heading back. General practice is that you should still have at least 30 mins (at cruise) of fuel by the time you get back so even if you have to do some minor deviation enroute, you won't end up falling out of the sky. Also, setting fuel to 100% upon clicking RTB needs to be changed. If I sent my planes back due to running low (not out) of weapons. I should still be able to engage target of opportunity if they pop up.

 

[mightygaz]

that, and while some planes do need to jettison fuel, fuel tanks, or ordinance before landing due to weight concerns, they certainly wouldnt do it as soon as they got the order to return. that would be madness lol

 

[Stealth17]

Bingo state could use some tweak as it stands. Plane do not wait till they absolutely needs to RTB before heading back. General practice is that you should still have at least 30 mins (at cruise) of fuel by the time you get back so even if you have to do some minor deviation enroute, you won't end up falling out of the sky. Also, setting fuel to 100% upon clicking RTB needs to be changed. If I sent my planes back due to running low (not out) of weapons. I should still be able to engage target of opportunity if they pop up.

Agreed. I had several planes near bingo fuel so I sent them back to base as a preliminary measure, only to see a target right near the plane afterwards. Even planes which have 90% fuel left suddenly say they're out of fuel.

Suggested patch/change: Make the Return-to-base command reversible, at the risk of losing the plane of course and prevent the aircraft from suddenly going to bingo fuel if you send them back to base.

 

[unmerged(255172)]

We'll see if we can reverse the dump fuel part of return to base if it will not seriously upset the balance of the cosmos.