JF-17 tail smoke incorrect

[Napillo]

 

tail numbering: 10-### = 2010, 11-### = 2011, 12-### = 2012... with that in mind, and assuming we have at least a 2011, hell even a 2010, the tail smoking like that is incorrect. Sure, one of the aircraft has some tail smoke, that was a 12-142, and then only intermittently as it changes speed. The other didn't seem to have that problem. And on the ground, both the 12-142 and 10-126 didn't have any. Tail smoke was an early problem in FC-1 prototypes but it doesn't seem to be much of a problem like it is in DCS. Videos recorded from 2010-2011 seem to exhibit the tail smoke, however, more recent videos do not (also no block 2 smoke issues) which leads me to believe that they fixed this problem with the DEEC in 2012 as they were finishing up block 2 dev. If we are to have a block 1 upgraded with some block 2 stuff, you'd see the DEEC fixed to prevent the smoke issue, as you can see these are block 1 planes in this video, and they don't exhibit the issue. That would of course mean, less fuel wasted.
 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Napillo
added some timeline info

[Torbernite]

I know the smoke is already binded with RD-33/93. That comes from small fuel drops in rich fuel condition (roughly low altitude and high or suddenly increasing throttle set, which is mostly the condition in airshow and maneuver display video), which can not disperse well and get carbonized in anoxic atmosphere near the combustor nozzle, instead of well burn in the whole combustor, and sprays the carbon particles from the nozzle.

But at least intuitively, the smoke could be solved with DEEC tuning and seems shouldn't appear in the same thickness in all operation condition, all altitude, all speed. In video of JF, MiG-29 and FC-31 prototype, you can see the smoke appears and vanishes with the change of operation condition. Even the DCS MiG-29 have this changing feature. If our JF still has the smoke, the thickness variation would still be an interesting detail.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Torbernite

[Napillo]

On 4/10/2022 at 5:44 PM, Torbernite said:

you can see the smoke appears and vanishes with the change of operation condition

If you look at the video I linked, only one of the two smokes, the other doesn't and they're flying formation. You have to pause it to see the tail numbers, and you have to understand how the tail numbering works. You also have to pay attention to when the video was recorded, not when it was posted to youtube. There's a video out there from 2011, posted in 2019, about the JF-17 in some demonstration, and it is smoky. There's another video, recorded in 2019, which was posted in 2020, and it shows the JF-17, and none of them are smoking, save one - 12-142. I believe they fixed the DEEC in 2012, but I'm guessing this 12-142 was probably one of the last ones built in 2012, and most likely used the DEEC from a stock of them that hadn't been updated. They fixed the issue in lets say early-mid 2012, and you can see in the 2019 video that the older (10-126) JF-17 apparently has an updated DEEC, most likely because they had to go back in and replace the radio to the block 2 standard, and they probably updated the DEEC (either by installing new software, or replacing it outright) at that time, because the jet was in for service anyway, so might as well do it all in one go. The 12-142 probably had the new radio, so they didn't bother updating the DEEC, unless they have to pull out the radio/seat they're going to leave it as is - it's a lower priority fix, a slightly smoky jet still shoots missiles.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Napillo
detailed

[=52d= Skip]

On 4/10/2022 at 9:16 PM, Napillo said:

If we are to have a block 1 upgraded with some block 2 stuff, you'd see the DEEC fixed to prevent the smoke issue,

"Upgrading" the DEEC is an easy fix anyone can do.

 

[Napillo]

22 hours ago, =52d= Skip said:

"Upgrading" the DEEC is an easy fix anyone can do.

 

Now that looks just about right, though I would say there should be a bit of yellowing to the smoke.

[Colmillo]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:51 PM, =52d= Skip said:

"Upgrading" the DEEC is an easy fix anyone can do.

 

Nice!, unfortunately is not IC 

[Hiten Bongz]

I'd like to see much less, or preferably no smoke trail if this issue has indeed been fixed even going back to Block 1.

 

How about it, uboats?

 

Let us actually be able to sneak up on those pesky F/A-18s and such.

[Napillo]

Yea, give us 1% more thrust, fix the smoke, call it a fleet wide DEEC update, the one that went live sometime late 2012...