Milomindenbinder

Have been practicing ILS - Autopilot approaches. Works perfectly at most airfields. My technique is to intercept the ILS at 12 NMi and 3,600 feet AGL, couple the autopilot, control speed, break off at 50 feet on the radar altimeter, slight flare and land. Great system for night / bad weather recoveries. At some airfields, the system goes breaks at about 500 feet AGL, the controls are sloppy and aircraft attitude changes without control input. First three landing were controlled crashes. Recovery is to apply full power, clean up and go around for a manual landing. Tested airfields for repeatable failure are : Sochi-Adler RWY 06, Tblisi RWY 13, Mineral'nye Vody RWY 30. The loss of control seems to be consistently at about 500 feet AGL on the radar altimeter.

Hi Azrayen, Yes, the relaxed stability of the Mirage 2000C allows it to fly at lower speeds. The Mirage IIIO had a limited HUD display - only for weapons operation. I'm really enjoying the Mirage 2000C HUD modes and have made up a special mission to master ILS and TACAN navigation to recover from missions at night and/or in bad weather. Autopilot coupled to the ILS is a great recovery aid. The 'Inverse Drag' of the delta is still there and I have created several flaming holes from looking away from the HUD for ten seconds. The HUD speed cues are a tremendous help. Re tires, nose-wheels generally have lower limits than main-wheels as TO is raise at 120 KIAS (130 KIAS Mirage IIIO) and keep it off the ground on landing to generate drag to slow - very effective. My (trivial) point is that the main-wheels of the 2000C come from the same stable as the IIIO and can take higher speeds. OBTW, the 210 KIAS takeoff is 30 Celsius, 28,000 lbs and a 7,000 foot run - scary! Can send the page of the IIIO flight manual if it is of interest. Thanks for the reply - much appreciated. Kind regards, Chris Mills / Milomindenbinder

I have more than 1,000 takeoffs and landing (same number fortunately,) in the Mirage IIIO. My Flight Manuals shows the max un-stick speed of 210 KIAS for hot and heavy takeoffs. I have never burst a tire in over 1,000 hours. In the Mirage 2000C I vget tire bursts if on the ground at 170-180 KIAS. This happens if I'm slow to rotate on a touch and go. No biggie, but you really do need to 'touch and go' to avoid tire blowouts. I think it would be realistic to raise the tire burst speed to ~200 KIAS. Thanks RAZBAM for an excellent piece of work - haven't had so much fun since I last flew the Mirage IIIO in 1975! Kind regards, Chris Mills / Flamethrower.