How important is landing weight?

[Pocket Sized]

I'm considering getting the Mig-21 this weekend and have one concern:

 

In the manual it mentions the maximum landing weight. This can only be adhered to if the plane is carrying no payload and less than ~1000L of fuel. I have no problem with jettisoning unused payload, but what about fuel? Can it be dumped? If not, how long does it take to burn through the internal tank if I just dropped a bag?

 

Also, how strict is this figure? If I'm 500kg overweight am I destined to be another oil streak on the runway?

 

(My first post on the forum, pls tell me if I messed anything up)

[viperdogsnake]

I'm considering getting the Mig-21 this weekend and have one concern:

 

In the manual it mentions the maximum landing weight. This can only be adhered to if the plane is carrying no payload and less than ~1000L of fuel. I have no problem with jettisoning unused payload, but what about fuel? Can it be dumped? If not, how long does it take to burn through the internal tank if I just dropped a bag?

 

Also, how strict is this figure? If I'm 500kg overweight am I destined to be another oil streak on the runway?

 

(My first post on the forum, pls tell me if I messed anything up)

 

No you can land heavier you must touch down smoothly though. Flare the jet with power still on, once the wheels touchdown, bring the throttles to idle.

Edited April 22, 2016 by viperdogsnake

[GaryIKILLYOU]

In my personal experience, at least in the sim, it doesn't matter all that much. Just increase your touchdown speed in accordance to weight. I've landed a MiG-21 with 4 R-60s and 3 490L fuel tanks immediately after takeoff with no issues. Just had to run in faster than one normally would (and should).

[Ramsay]

I haven't flown the MiG-21 often but found it difficult to land with full tanks (2750 litre) when starting out with 'touch and go' circuits.

 

Once I realised my error and set a realistic fuel load things came together.

 

Min. fuel load for 'touch and go' circuits is 1400 litre, so IIRC, I used to set 1/2 to 2/3 (50-66%) fuel load for the ramp start.

[ESAc_matador]

Many redtrictions are just for maintenance issues and to extend the life of the components.

[MikeMikeJuliet]

Considering the time it takes for the MiG to run empty... from what I understand the afterburner pretty much empties the tanks "before you can blink" so to speak. Now, I've got no numbers here at the moment, but compared to the MiG-29, I'd assume the time is around the same, probably quite a lot shorter. If I remember correctly, a full fuel load (no external tanks) in the 29 takes around 5-10 minutes on full AB to empty to Bingo-fuel.

 

Now again, I know I'm not that specific in here, but let's say the time is counted in minutes, not tens of minutes.

 

I've a couple of people I know who had info on the MiG-21 as they've worked with the plane, and procedure was, that landing was usually done close to minimum fuel.

 

Of course in DCS you don't need to consider the fatigue the airframe gains over multiple take-off - landing -cycles, so I wouldn't be too worried. If you want to follow the correct procedure you surely won't be doing anything wrong.

[grunf]

I'd say weight becomes less important as you gain skill and experience. Heavy plane requires fast and smooth touchdown, which may be an issue in the beginning, not so much once you master the landing.

 

I've just tried to land with full tank, three external tanks and some bombs, almost 10400kg. :D

 

[Nerd1000]

Considering the time it takes for the MiG to run empty... from what I understand the afterburner pretty much empties the tanks "before you can blink" so to speak. Now, I've got no numbers here at the moment, but compared to the MiG-29, I'd assume the time is around the same, probably quite a lot shorter. If I remember correctly, a full fuel load (no external tanks) in the 29 takes around 5-10 minutes on full AB to empty to Bingo-fuel.

 

Now again, I know I'm not that specific in here, but let's say the time is counted in minutes, not tens of minutes.

 

I've a couple of people I know who had info on the MiG-21 as they've worked with the plane, and procedure was, that landing was usually done close to minimum fuel.

 

Of course in DCS you don't need to consider the fatigue the airframe gains over multiple take-off - landing -cycles, so I wouldn't be too worried. If you want to follow the correct procedure you surely won't be doing anything wrong.

The DCS MiG-21 manual says that typical sea level fuel consumption in full afterburner is 4.2L/s, giving you approximately 11 minutes of low speed flight on internal fuel. Fuel consumption increases to 6.4L/s at Mach 1.06, so that 11 minutes is decreased to something closer to 7 minutes if you go supersonic.

[mvsgas]

I'm considering getting the Mig-21 this weekend and have one concern:

 

In the manual it mentions the maximum landing weight. This can only be adhered to if the plane is carrying no payload and less than ~1000L of fuel. I have no problem with jettisoning unused payload, but what about fuel? Can it be dumped? If not, how long does it take to burn through the internal tank if I just dropped a bag?

 

Also, how strict is this figure? If I'm 500kg overweight am I destined to be another oil streak on the runway?

 

(My first post on the forum, pls tell me if I messed anything up)

 

It depends where are you landing. In places like Mineralnye Vody, where the runway is long enough for you to come in faster than normal it should be ok. Places like Batumi, weight is more critical. Eather way is fun and it can be challenging enough to find out if you can land at weight "X" at "Y" location.

[Hadwell]

Weight and speed don't matter.

 

Throttle setting 80-90% till all 3 wheels are on the ground, descent rate 3m/s or preferably less till the rear wheels touch, and don't let the front wheel go down on its own, control it with elevator, or you'll break it.

 

I prefer landing between 280-310 kph with airbrakes out, for shorter landings, but that's a preference, not requirement.

 

with this, except for the tiny little X shaped runway, that's hard to land on it even with 5% fuel and the drag chute, and the tiny single strip runway, that you can land on pretty easy if you're light, but can't refuel at... you can land on any runway with any weight//loadout, without a drag chute.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Hadwell

[Pocket Sized]

I've tried landing with empty and neary full tanks. Sure enough, I found that it doesn't have any massive effect on how she lands.

 

As far as fuel dumping... yeah the AB does that quite well. One time I was RTB and had loads of fuel left (over 2000L). I fiddled with the afterburner and turned final with 300L left because I like to live dangerously.