I met a MIG-21 pilot

[Reflected]

Yesterday I had the honor of meeting a retired MIG-21 pilot, who happens to be the ex-commander in chief of the Hungarian Air Force. I knew I would meet him a month ago, that’s why Ibought the 21, so that I come „prepared” – he seemed to appreciate the depth of my questions. Anywway, here are some bits and pieces that I found very interesting:

 

- Radar coolant – I thought it was an urban legend, but he confirmed that ground crews regularly drank this 98% alcohol. Once his instructor made him drink a glass of it, he said it felt like drinking sand, it made his throat so dry. It was recommended to have at least 1 squadron at an airbase that operated 21s, because the coolant of the 23’s radar was not drinkable. He also told me a story of when he went to a training to Moscow, and after landing the ground crew asked him: „Commander. How long was your radar turned on?” – he said „I ddin’t use the radar at all”. The mechanic replied. „Come on...let me report that you used it for, say, 30 minutes!” ;)

- I asked him about interception procedures and ground clutter. He said they wouldn’t turn on the radar until they were within 10 km in order not to appear on the enemy’s RWR. He said that above 1500 m the Radar was quite usable despite the ground clutter.

- He told me about landing the 21. Apparently the approach speed was 360-320 kph, depending on weight. That seems very low by DCS standards. He also said they didn’t touch the throttle until they were above the concrete, then he started flaring, and slowly reduced the throttle to flight idle.

- Inertia coupling. This was very interesting and not part of the DCS FM as far as I can tell. He said when the wing racks were empty, the wings were so light and the fuselage was so heavy compared to them, that if the pilot started to roll at a rate higher than 90 degrees per second, the inertia of the fuselage could not be stopped with the ailerons, and the plane kept rolling. This is not the case in DCS, right?

- Compressor stalls – I asked him how mindful he had to be of compressor stalls when maneuvering. He said it wasn’t a problem at all, only at really high AoA for a longer time. There was also a little fuel tank that had a valve that opened at negative g-s in order to supply the engine. It lasted for exactly 15 seconds. Only after that did the engine quit, but up to 15 sec the engine could take any kind of negative g-s.

 

Needless to say I was like a kid on Christmas eve, he had so many stories, tested so many different fighters, met WW2 vets, etc...a real hero to me! So I thought I’d share it with you. :)

 

[humptydumpty]

The closets I have been to the real migs is '91 when I was living just 1 km away from Pune Indian Air force , have watched these every morning for a couple of years

[WR269]

Yesterday I had the honor of meeting a retired MIG-21 pilot, who happens to be the ex-commander in chief of the Hungarian Air Force. I knew I would meet him a month ago, that’s why Ibought the 21, so that I come „prepared” – he seemed to appreciate the depth of my questions. Anywway, here are some bits and pieces that I found very interesting:

 

-Radar coolant – I thought it was an urban legend, but he confirmed that ground crews regularly drank this 98% alcohol. Once his instructor made him drink a glass of it, he said it felt like drinking sand, it made his throat so dry. It was recommended to have at least 1 squadron at an airbase that operated 21s, because the coolant of the 23’s radar was not drinkable. He also told me a story of when he went to a training to Moscow, and after landing the ground crew asked him: „Commander. How long was your radar turned on?” – he said „I ddin’t use the radar at all”. The mechanic replied. „Come on...let me report that you used it for, say, 30 minutes!” ;)

-I asked him about interception procedures and ground clutter. He said they wouldn’t turn on the radar until they were within 10 km in order not to appear on the enemy’s RWR. He said that above 1500 m the Radar was quite usable despite the ground clutter.

-He told me about landing the 21. Apparently the approach speed was 360-320 kph, depending on weight. That seems very low by DCS standards. He also said they didn’t touch the throttle until they were above the concrete, then he started flaring, and slowly reduced the throttle to flight idle.

-Inertia coupling. This was very interesting and not part of the DCS FM as far as I can tell. He said when the wing racks were empty, the wings were so light and the fuselage was so heavy compared to them, that if the pilot started to roll at a rate higher than 90 degrees per second, the inertia of the fuselage could not be stopped with the ailerons, and the plane kept rolling. This is not the case in DCS, right?

-Compressor stalls – I asked him how mindful he had to be of compressor stalls when maneuvering. He said it wasn’t a problem at all, only at really high AoA for a longer time. There was also a little fuel tank that had a valve that opened at negative g-s in order to supply the engine. It lasted for exactly 15 seconds. Only after that did the engine quit, but up to 15 sec the engine could take any kind of negative g-s.

 

Needless to say I was like a kid on Christmas eve, he had so many stories, tested so many different fighters, met WW2 vets, etc...a real hero to me! So I thought I’d share it with you. :)

 

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing the experience.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[diditopgun]

Great report ! A bit short, I would like to know so much more, but great report ! :thumbup:

[EntropySG]

thanks for sharing!!

[Flia]

Nice reading. Thank you.

[Reflected]

Great report ! A bit short, I would like to know so much more, but great report ! :thumbup:

 

He wrote a book that was recently translated to French: "Pilote de MIG-21 - La derniere vrille". He's got a great writing style, although I hear the translator didn't do a terrific job...

[lemoen]

Puts a whole new *spin* on the roll inertia thread...

[VZ_342]

Puts a whole new *spin* on the roll inertia thread...

 

LOL!

 

Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime interview, reflected! Well done!

[diditopgun]

He wrote a book that was recently translated to French: "Pilote de MIG-21 - La derniere vrille". He's got a great writing style, although I hear the translator didn't do a terrific job...

 

Thanks for the info !

[Vatikus]

Puts a whole new *spin* on the roll inertia thread...

Not really... nothing what the guy said was not known before... if one looks at the flight manual, one will understand when this inertia rotation could happen. It is not a normal roll at all...

[javelina1]

pure gold! thanks for sharing!

[Reflected]

@Vatikus, yes ,that's exactly what he described! Is it modeled in DCS?

[Golo]

It was modeled (sort of, with limitation of DCS) in first and second version of FM (DCS 1.2.13 or something) as I remember. I could not replicate it with any later versions of FM.

[gerd]

- He told me about landing the 21. Apparently the approach speed was 360-320 kph, depending on weight. That seems very low by DCS standards.

 

Did he mention the version he was flying? F-13 was a completely different beast to the bis we have in DCS - more manoucerable, lighter and lower landing speeds...

[Reflected]

Did he mention the version he was flying? F-13 was a completely different beast to the bis we have in DCS - more manoucerable, lighter and lower landing speeds...

 

He flew many versions but I asked him about the bis.

[Golo]

Approach speeds of 360-320km/h are right on, if you think its too slow you are not doing it by the book (manual).

[Frederf]

Approach sounds exactly right if even conservatively high for DCS. In DCS I can approach down to 300 and touchdown at 250 if needed (not tried under new FM). Tried under new FM and I was touching down as low as 220-230 pretty confidently (just a question of how high the AOA gets).

 

I've heard that the engine is very reliable against flame out. DCS engine is more sensitive expected but mostly to G loading and throttle motion than AOA. I don't think I've ever had an AOA-related flameout in DCS.

 

I haven't found inertial coupling to be a behavior of the DCS FM at least to the level that would warrant a specific warning note in the manual.

[Reflected]

He also told me about how he landed the 21 at grass airfields sometimes. One had to disengage nose wheel braking when doing so in order to avoid accidents when hitting a mole pile.

 

As for the approach - I tried to come in at 350, and you are right, it's feasible!

[=Pedro=]

Great story indeed :)

[7rooper]

Great story. I wish it were lenghtier.

Thanks for sharing

 

Sent from my SM-A500M using Tapatalk

[Redglyph]

What a great encounter that must have been!

Very interesting info, thanks for sharing! :)

[Vincent90]

He wrote a book that was recently translated to French: "Pilote de MIG-21 - La derniere vrille". He's got a great writing style, although I hear the translator didn't do a terrific job...

Perhaps you could get rights to translate it to english? Would love to read a well translated copy :)

[BSS_Sniper]

I have always figured that the negative G, engine flame out thing wasn't quite right. Most jets have a collector tank that allow for this.

[Buzzles]

]I have always figured that the negative G' date=' engine flame out thing wasn't quite right. Most jets have a collector tank that allow for this.[/quote']

 

In what way?

 

I find the Mig-21 module generally behaves as expected when under negative-g, and matches the pilots descriptions of ~15 seconds when not in burner, as it does indeed have a collector tank.