Flying the MiG-29

Story by Capt. William F. Span USN (Ret.)

As a captain in the U.S. Navy, Bill Span made more than 1,000 carrier landings, earned two Silver Stars, five Distinguished Flying Crosses and a Bronze Star.
He also received two U.S. Navy commendations, the Vietnam Air Cross of Gallantry and several other awards and decorations.
He flew 289 missions in Vietnam as part of VA-164, the Ghost Riders.
They flew A-4 Skyhawks, single-seat attack jets off of the carrier Oriskany.

On the day of the flight the weather was absolutely perfect, a sunny day with high cirrus clouds and temperature in the seventies.
We then went to the Gromov Flight Research Institute.
I then met with Alexander Gamaev, called “Sasha”.
He is their Chief Test pilot and was assigned to fly with me.
He conducted the pre-flight briefings.
It is the procedure for all foreign pilots to fly the MiG 29 from the back seat.
I related my Navy experience to him and he made an exception.
I was allowed to fly the MiG 29 from the front seat.

There are certain controls only operated from the front seat and it could be dangerous if a pilot did not understand the operation of those controls.
Sasha tests Russian experimental aircraft and had very recently received Russia's highest award, Hero of Russia, and received a commemorative watch from President Yeltsin.
Sasha is 36 years old and is the son of a famous Russian test pilot.
Sasha has flown a total of 3,600 flight hours and has flown over 42 types of Russian aircraft.
He conducts flight operations all over the world and demonstrates the famous Russian “Cobra” and “Tailside” maneuvers.

After the briefings we drove out to the parked MiG 29.
It was beautiful, glistening in the Russian sunshine, but also threatening, as if it might suddenly surge forward into a predatory prowl of the sky.
I climbed into the front cockpit where Sasha explained the flight and engine instruments.

Oddly, the cockpit instrumentation was not too different than an American cockpit.
The altimeter was in meters instead of feet, the air speed in kilometers per hour and the main flight instrument (VGI) was reversed.

In the front cockpit I had control of the ejection seat. Sasha said, “Bill, if I give the word EJECT, EJECT, EJECT that is not a subject for discussion.
I go first then you.
” I agreed completely and without reservation.
After about 20 minutes of cockpit orientation he climbed into the back seat and we started the engines; first the left, and then the right.
We completed the necessary instrument and flight control checks, received the clearance from the control tower and then taxied for take off.

After our afterburners were selected and engine checks were made, we started our take-off roll.
The thrust was so great it reminded me of a catapult shot from an aircraft carrier.
We were airborne in six seconds and 1500 feet.
Sasha immediately pulled a 6G loop and then bottomed out over the runway at 150 feet, heading down the Moscow River at 600km/h.
I took the controls and made several turns.
I did a few Aileron rolls left and right to get the feel of the airplane.
I was surprised the MiG 29 was very responsive and easy to fly and control.

While speeding along at an altitude of only 150 feet along the Moscow River Sasha pointed out a Russian Church, a small Russian village and a chemical factory.
Since we were speeding along like a runaway space capsule,
I just nodded my head and gave a polite “DA, PRE KRASNA” (Meaning: “Yes, very beautiful.” Russian phrases came easily to me since I am of Czech descent and my grandparents spoke Czech, a language somewhat similar to Russian, to me when I was young.)

Sasha took control, selected the afterburners, pointed the MiG straight up and climbed to 53,000 feet, pulling an immeasurable amount of G’s.
In addition to the extreme pressure from my flight suit, I had to force-grunt to keep from blacking out.
I clocked the time to climb at 48 seconds.
When we leveled off, he accelerated the MiG and went supersonic to 1.4 MACH.

He asked me prior to the flight if I wanted to go faster or higher, and I decided that this was high and fast enough so we could save fuel and spend more time on exotic maneuvers.
He then said, “Bill, I will do the following maneuvers, then you will do them!” It sounded like a Russian order but he had no idea how anxious I was to do them.

I replied in my perfect Russian, “Da, pre krasna.”

We rolled over and did a “Split S” to a lower altitude into a “7.5 G loop”, followed by an “Immelman”, a “Climbing Turn”, and then the famous “Cobra” maneuver where the MIG flies at the same altitude but in a vertical position.
He then recovered and flew the plane straight up, pulled back, both engines reached “0” air speed where upon we slid back on our tail in a vertical position.
We then applied power from both engines, first the left, then the right. That was the “Tailslide”.

Sasha had done these maneuvers so quickly and brilliantly, that I did not catch all the G’s and air speeds for each one.
When did them I had to rely on G-force and feel.
Sasha then said, “Bill, the airplane is yours, you will do them.” I then started with the loop and remembered from my flying days to keep the wings level and the G’s constant.

Since the VGI operates opposite to ours, it made the loop a little difficult at first.
At the top of the loop I rolled my head back as we passed through the horizon and, lo and behold, my wings were level and I completed a good loop.
Sasha said, “Good, good, Bill.” The “Immelman” came as easy, although Sasha said, “A little more G, Bill.”
I thought I had enough as my G suit was exerting tremendous pressure on my legs and stomach.
The “G” suit was keeping me from blacking out.
These two maneuvers are fairly standard but in a MiG 29 they are done with great speed, power and high “G’s”.

The next two maneuvers were simply awesome.
The “Tailslide” was done by pulling “G” to a vertical position, pulling the throttles back to idle while the air speed dropped to “0”, with the MIG pointing straight up.
Upon reaching “0” air speed the MIG slid back to earth tail first.
I kicked hard rudder and fell through to a nose-down recovery as we brought the engines back in, first left then right.

It felt so awesome that I repeated it again.
The “Cobra” came next.
I picked up speed and horsed back on the stick bringing the MiG again to a nose-up vertical position, selected proper power while our momentum propelled us forward in a vertical position.
The sensations I felt during this maneuver were incredible for an aviator not used to such an exotic maneuver.
I then released back pressure and, while pulling negative G, recovered to level flight.
Again, I was so excited that I did another one, this time with more precision.
Sasha performs this maneuver at very low altitudes at air shows.
I would need a whole lot more practice before I would do the “Cobra” as low as he does.

After doing each of the maneuvers twice, Sasha told me to take up a heading towards ZUKOVSKY air base and make an ILSA instrument approach to a low pass.
That was the easiest part of the flight since the MiG 29 is so stable and the controls very responsive.
After a discussion in Russian with the control tower Sasha said, “Bill, give me control and I will put on an air show for you.”

He made a hard pull up to the right then a quick hard turn back to the runway followed by a series of quick Aileron rolls, a quick reversal and a roll over to inverted flight; flying down the runaway at 100 feet.
It was quite a thrill to look at the runway while flying upside down for that long a time. He then throttled back, pitched up to a downward turn and said, “Now, Bill, you take control and make the landing.”

We were in close to the runway so I turned a tight approach at 300 KM down to a near perfect landing.
I could not believe how easy it was to land a MiG 29.
We touched down at 230 KM and had a short roll out but did not deploy the drag chute.

After turn-off I taxied back to the flight line.
It turns out that the most difficult part of the flight was on the ground.
The MiG 29 has a settable nose-wheel; you must push a button to engage it and then steer with the rudder pedals.

As I climbed out of the cockpit I shouted in Russian, “YA RAHT! YA RAHT!” (I’m happy! I’m happy!) I had just finished beating the sky into submission with the brute force of a Russian MiG 29. What a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Sasha shook my hand and said, “Bill, you are a true professional, all of your maneuvers were perfect.
You did the ‘Cobra’ and the ‘Tailslide’ and very few pilots have done that.”
I thanked Sasha and told him he was the best pilot that I had ever known.

We then went to lunch at the Gromov Flight Research Institute.
I truly felt a bond developing between Sasha and me during the long conversations that followed. We talked about U.S. and Russian aircraft, tactics and experiences.
He was quite interested in my Vietnam combat experience and asked several questions about the Russian SAMs and aircraft during that war.
He related his test pilot experiences and the planes he flew, including the U.S. Navy F-18.

I presented Sasha with a U.S. Navy flight suit, an Air Force flight jacket, a bottle of Military vodka, a personal computer organizer, and a Top Gun ‘97 baseball cap, which he wore for the rest of the day.
I was presented with a model of the MiG 29, a signed certificate of the flight profile, and a beautiful Russian watch with a picture of the MiG 29 on the face and an inscription on the outer watch ring in Russian that reads, “Defender of the Native-land”.

Nell'aprile scorso sono stato il primo giornalista aeronautico occidentale ad avere l'occasione di fare un volo di ambientamento sul MiG-29, l'esemplare biposto UB del 2° Squadrone del 214° Reggimento della Guardia con codice individuale 32.
Si tratta di uno dei due biposto assegnati alla pattuglia acrobatica degli "Strizhi, (Swifts);
pilota per l'occasione il t.col. Alexander Kutusov, leader della pattuglia e vice-comandante del reggimento di Kubinka con circa 3.000 ore all'attivo compreso un anno di attività bellica in Afghanistan su MiG-27.

A bordo del MiG-29

Dopo un giorno dedicato alla familiarizzazione con la cabina e con le procedure di emergenza, in una mattina ancora molto fredda, giunge il momento tanto atteso.
La cabina del MiG-29, con il sedile eiettabile zero-zero K-36DM, è decisamente ampia e confortevole se paragonata a quella di altri caccia.
Poiché si tratterà di un volo sempre al di sotto dei 2.000 metri di altezza, facciamo a meno della maschera per l'ossigeno e per le comunicazioni mi viene dato un laringofono dall'aspetto decisamente datato.
Poiché né io parlo russo, né il mio pilota l'inglese o lo spagnolo, ci mettiamo d'accordo per un codice basato sul sistema internazionale (Alpha, Bravo...) per indicare emergenze e manovre.
Il cruscotto del caccia è convenzionale con alcuni elementi avanzati come l'attuatore a voce sintetica per le emergenze e soprattutto il sistema di puntamento inserito nel casco.
Il biposto, privo di radar, ha sul lato superiore destro del cruscotto un display multifunzione di 127 mm che nella cabina posteriore può presentare i dati dell'HUD, dell'IRST e rappresentazioni da un programma computerizzato che simula perfettamente le funzioni radar.
Con il codice di missione Strizhi-32 e 3.000 litri di carburante a bordo, iniziamo il rullaggio che sul MiG-29 è decisamente duro a causa del carrello che è concepito per operazioni da piste semi-preparate, come sono apparentemente i parcheggi e i raccordi di Kubinka.
Una volta allineati sulla pista 22, Kutusov controlla motori e freni quindi porta le manette alla massima post-combustione scatenando i 16.600 chili di potenza contro un peso totale dell'aereo di 16 tonnellate.

Decollo a Razzo
L'effetto è quello di un razzo con un'accelerazione impressionante che mi schiaccia contro il sedile.
Decolliamo così in 400 metri impostando subito una virata secca a sinistra per dare via libera al MiG-3 1 che si trova dietro di noi.
In volo il MiG-29 è molto stabile in tutto l'inviluppo;
i comandi sono idro-meccanici ma talmente ben armonizzati da dare una risposta pressoché istantanea, perfetta per un caccia.
È presente un limitatore di angolo di attacco a 26° per evitare di perdere il controllo in volo manovrato, ma normalmente vengono superati senza pericolo anche i 30°.
In questo modo è possibile puntare il muso del MiG-29 in tutte le direzioni desiderate.
Dato che i comandi sono convenzionali, lo sforzo sulla cloche è nella tradizione
russa maggiore che sui caccia occidentali; tuttavia non appare affaticante.



Variometro Impazzito

Un'altra sorpresa la noto nelle virate sostenute di 360° in cui l'aereo non perde quota:
a 800 chilometri orari gira in un raggio di 350 metri con 5g e a 400 in soli 225 con 3,8g.
A questo punto Kutusov porta il Fulcrum in arrampicata verticale;
il variometro sembra impazzito ma lentamente perdiamo energia.
Se qualche minuto prima l'accelerazione mi schiacciava contro il sedile, ora i g negativi mi spingono in avanti;
stiamo scendendo di coda, finché il pilota non abbassa il muso con un ulteriore aumento dei g negativi;
il corpo è sostenuto solo dalle cinture di sicurezza.
L'incredibile è che per tutta la manovra l'aereo resta pienamente controllabile anche se a tratti una voce femminile annuncia la bassa velocità e gli altri fattori limite del volo (l'equivalente russo della Bitching Betty).
C’è stato un momento, al culmine della lunga arrampicata verticale, in cui siamo rimasti perfettamente immobili, velocità zero nello strumento, ma sempre sotto controllo; un'esperienza decisamente sconcertante.
La voce femminile interviene ancora una volta;
capisco che è l'avviso basso livello di carburante perché mettiamo la prua verso Kubinka.
Sono già passati 35 minuti e poco dopo atterriamo sempre sulla pista 22 fermandoci
in poco più di 400 metri grazie alla combinazione aerofreni/parafreno.
All'arrivo al dispersal mi attende un comitato di accoglienza con champanski, georgiano ed il t.col. Kutusov mi appunta sul petto le ali di pilota militare della VVS di seconda classe.
Cosa dire del MiG-29?
Le prestazioni e la manovrabilità appaiono leggermente migliori dei pari classe occidentali;
sul lato negativo vi sono un'autonomia relativamente ridotta ed una vita di circa 2.500 ore per la cellula e di 800 per i motori.

Salvador Mafè Huertas
Tratto da JP4, dicembre 1992