How many MiGs have YOU crashed?

[grunf]

I used to think I'm a decent pilot :D, until I started to fly Mig-21, when I realized I really suck. It took me a couple of dozen attempts before I could land without destroying the plane. I'm still not consistent enough, and still sometimes end up with broken gear, or worse.

 

Here's a short track with my average landing, there are better ones, there are worse ones. I'd appreciate if you'd take a look at it and tell me how could I improve.

mig21_land3.trk

[lokodehortaleza]

Must have crashed the Mig nearly a hundred times, literally. And not only landing accidents, also random departures, flat spins, redouts, engine flameouts, eating SAMs and AAA while trying to figure out that horrible RWR...

 

I've been into flight sims since the early 90's, but stopped playing after LOMAC, and when I finally bought some decent hardware and came back to DCS, the PFMs were a complete shock. I am complete noob, this is a whole new level compared to my old sims. I've had no problem adjusting to clickable cockpits and complex systems management, but just trying to dogfight in the Su-27 or Mig was a painful experience at first.

 

I must've crashed at least 5 times just trying do this:

 

[KansasCS]

I disintegrated my gear the first three times but actually managed to get a hang of it quite well. All you got to do is pay attention to your AoA and your altimeter. What helped me too was the the beeping sound, notifying me of the the runway threshold. Only then do I extend flaps fully. She gets quite the upward boost from that. Of course, practice makes perfect, but once you get the hang of it, you wonder why you had such a hard time.

Also, Rsbn approach helps too. I always try to start at 1000m asl 14km from the runway.

 

As for the engine. Just keep its limits in mind. No negative Gs for long, no zero Gs.

 

The only real pain in the ass are bombing runs. I either miss, hit the ground minding my G limit, or lose my payload after exceeding the latter.

[grunf]

I've been into flight sims since the early 90's,

I've wasted hours on end playing F-16 Combat Pilot and F/A-18 Interceptor back then. :D

 

Nice flying BTW.

[j.sabo12]

What I have found with landing is not to cut the throttle completely when leveling out above the runway. Of course, reduce the throttle, but not to more than 20% or so and just fly down the runway. The thrust reduction will cause you to slow down. If you cut the throttle completely, then you either descend too fast or straight out stall which leads to crashes.

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Not too many. No landing accidents, only combat losses. But, I was a Fishbed-Fanatic going into this, so I knew exactly what I was getting into when it comes to the MiG's handling characteristics. I must've reviewed my POH a dozen time the day before downloads were made available.

 

Set up your approach for about 360-340km/h IAS and maintain a 10 degree high AOA. When you touch down, you don't want a vertical speed greater than about 3m/s. Try to keep your nose in the air, but don't worry if it touches down. Whenever that nose does come down, you want your stick in your gut to create more drag. Practice coming in a little faster to build confidence and don't be afraid to pop your drag chute. Eventually, you can perfect it.

Edited August 5, 2015 by MiG21bisFishbedL

[grunf]

Not too many. No landing accidents, only combat losses. But, I was a Fishbed-Fanatic going into this, so I knew exactly what I was getting into when it comes to the MiG's handling characteristics. I must've reviewed my POH a dozen time the day before downloads were made available.

 

Set up your approach for about 360-340km/h IAS and maintain a 10 degree high AOA. When you touch down, you don't want a vertical speed greater than about 3m/s. Try to keep your nose in the air, but don't worry if it touches down. Whenever that nose does come down, you want your stick in your gut to create more drag. Practice coming in a little faster to build confidence and don't be afraid to pop your drag chute. Eventually, you can perfect it.

Isn't 3m/s too high? If I'm above 1 m/s either my nosewheel slams into the ground and breaks (not completely, but enough that the green light turns off, and the wheel cannot be retracted if I takeoff again), or I'm catapulted back into the air. Maybe my airspeed is to high...

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Isn't 3m/s too high? If I'm above 1 m/s either my nosewheel slams into the ground and breaks (not completely, but enough that the green light turns off, and the wheel cannot be retracted if I takeoff again), or I'm catapulted back into the air. Maybe my airspeed is to high...

 

You're approaching too high, it sounds like. Set up your approach at about 410km/h, and get down to 360km/h as you get closer. You'll want to be about 340km/h when you touch down.

[Isegrim]

An awesome Module i love it.

My second flight just for fun on Twitch. ..... Not everything did run well. The fun Comes up at 18 Minutes.

 

:)

 

http://www.twitch.tv/stp_isegrim/v/9436521

 

Sorry i only did speak German here.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Isegrim

[xxJohnxx]

What I have found with landing is not to cut the throttle completely when leveling out above the runway. Of course, reduce the throttle, but not to more than 20% or so and just fly down the runway. The thrust reduction will cause you to slow down. If you cut the throttle completely, then you either descend too fast or straight out stall which leads to crashes.

 

When cutting the throttle over the runway there is an even bigger problem than the loss of thrust:

At rpms lower than 56% the turbine won't be able to provide enough bleer air to keep the blown flaps (SPS system) going, causing a sudden loss of airflow over the wing, resulting in a rapid descend.

In the real MiG however, a pilot wouldn't be able to make this mistake, as a mechanical interlock system prevented the throttle to be reduced below the required minimum rpm necessary for the blown flaps.

[Toybasher]

I've probably crashed more then were ever produced. I know I definitely have with the Su-25T, of which only 11 exist.

[Oubaas]

I just bought the module today, never even glanced at the manual, jumped in and guessed my way through the switchology.

 

Then I took off, went out and wrung it out hard for about half an hour. I finally came back to the airfield and landed, guessing at the correct touchdown speed, and again, no problems.

 

Of course, I can read the Russian labels on the switches, and I spent my entire adult life in real world military aviation before I retired, so those things probably helped, LOL!

 

This is an amazing module. It's the first aircraft that I've bought that I didn't want to tweak the axis tuning on my controls just a little. It flies just fine right out of the box for my tastes, and feels exactly how I expected this aircraft to feel. This is a VERY well done module and the flight model seems truly superior to me.

 

Anyone who hasn't bought the MiG-21bis yet is depriving themselves of one of the finer things in life. This is one of those things that make me glad I bought a computer.

 

Now, I guess I'll quit fooling around and start really learning this airplane. I'm going to have to break down and actually read the manual, much as it grieves me to read manuals. But this one is worth it!

[Harpoon]

263.5 (i ripped the wing off of three on a botched landing.) :P

 

maybe, just possibly, i might be wrong...lol

[Hadwell]

I have no idea how many mig-21s i've crashed, thousands upon thousands... many many, i probably have more hours crashing than a lot of people have actually flying lol... when I have free time (which is often) I'm either playing DCS or encoding a video of me playing DCS for my youtube, and you can assume I'll be in a mig-21 lol

 

honestly I spend pretty well equal time practicing on the VA server as I do on the 104th server, I do the batumi track a ton, it really REALLY does help, I can't overstate that, practicing the batumi course. you will crash and die a lot, like A LOT, but you get your times down from 200 to 180 to 140... well my best time is 122... but i've only managed that once... usually i get 138-142.... anyway... i crash too many times to even think about counting it...

 

They give you just enough fuel to do the track once and land, so I do that, then load up on fuel and try to see how far i can get on a full load of fuel, so far I've gone from batumi flew over anapa then krasnodar and landed at maykop in 30 minutes non-stop.

 

also just practice mock dogfighting f-15s and su-27's and ... hawks... P-51s...

Edited August 7, 2015 by Hadwell

[uboats]

1÷0

[SFC Tako]

I won't tell :)

[FlyingHighAU]

everytime I time I land baby :D