Mach 2 in a MiG 29

by Tom Watson

Tom's dream machine

As he promised on the May modelflight mailbox page, here is Tom's write-up of his once-in-a-lifetime experience - a flight in a Mig 29 jet fighter!

I have known about the Russian MiG supersonic flights for some time. Over the past few years I have been working a lot and decided it was time to do the flight before I got too much older!

I contacted a company that organised all of the arrangements - Incredible Adventures.

My friend and I left Sydney, Australia, on Sunday 13th April and flew to Moscow via Hong Kong. The difference in service and the appearance of the aircraft between Cathay and Aeroflot was very apparent. But we did make it to Moscow OK. The strange thing I noticed on Russian aircraft was that when the aircraft landed, ALL of the Russian passangers clapped loudly (I guess to thank the pilots for a safe landing). It happened again on the Aeroflot flight back to Hong Kong.

We were transferred to the hotel in Moscow and after checking in walked around Red Square. We were then taken to the train station to catch a train to Nizhny Novgorod. This is where the Sokol Aircraft Building plant is located. It is where the MiG aircraft are built. All of the pilots used for the supersonic flights are test pilots and all have military experience. My Pilot Andrey Pechionkin, has flown in combat in the Sudan and has had eight years experience in the MiG29.

The airfield and the building looked to be in a poor state of repair.

After a blood pressure test I was dressed in a flight suit and fitted with a "G" suit and helmet (click thumbnails for larger images)..

Andrey and the interpreter went through the details of the flight and what I could expect. I told him I did not want the flight to be very violent, but well, fighter pilots just cannot help showing off.

A short van ride to the flight line where we did a walkaround of the MiG. It appeared to be in good condition and looked very powerful.

I was strapped into the cockpit and Andrey gave me some last minute instructions. The most important was "If it is painted RED, do not touch". He was referring to the ejection seat handles between your legs. It seems that BOTH pilots can command the ejection. So if I were to have pulled the RED handles then we would have both been shot out.

Engine start and taxi to the runway was uneventful but what was to follow was very exciting and very physically demanding. We took off with full afterburners and climbed verticaly and then rolled over and flew away.

I had asked to limit the aerobatics but to go as fast as possible. We flew to a less populated area and reached just over MACH 2. The feeling going through MACH 1 was uneventful, just a slight tremble for a few seconds then smooth as silk. MACH 2 was not noticeable. I tried to feel the cockpit window to see if it got hot but it was normal.

We did a "Tailslide", Andrey called it "The Hammer". When we returned to the airfield we flew over the runway INVERTED. It was very exciting looking out of the top of the cockpit and seeing the runway going past.

I felt slightly unwell but managed not to be sick. The "G" forces caused the "G" suit to pump up a few times.

The landing was smooth and very welcome as I was just about at the end of my ability to cope with the forces.

We were given a short tour of a small museum attached to the factory.

After the flight

Back to the hotel and then a flight back to Moscow and a week of sightseeing.

Russia is a fascinating place and I felt completely safe. We did have a Russian guide and driver who showed as all around Moscow. We visited a really great museum called the Monino Airforce Museum. It is about 30 km out of Moscow and has examples of just about every significant Russian aircraft.

At the museum

After a week in Moscow we went by Aeroflot back to Hong Kong.

I would recommend this for anyone who wants to experience the thrill of Supersonic flight. Supersonic flight for civilians, as far as I know, is not available anywhere else in the world. It was not cheap, but "You can't take it with you".

Part of the price was a video of the flight, taken both in and out of the cockpit. Here is a link to the video.

Purely by coincidence, Tony Whiteley sent me a link of a guy being given a flight in a Blue Angels F-16 - watch this one and then be filled with admiration for Tom! (You need to click successive scene titles.)

Come Inside an Airbus 380

"Check this out," says Bill Rogers. It's a great 360-degree panning view from inside an Airbus 380 cockpit and well worth playing around with for a few minutes!

Here's the link; you can use the tools at the bottom of the pic for moving in specific directions or just move your cursor around over the main image and go where you like inside the cockpit!

The Burnelli Enigma

Jose (Joseph) Seymour

1924 Burnelli RB-2

Burnelli Aircraft. Never heard of them? Well read on, it's as much of interest to modelflight readers, as it should be to anyone who has ever flown as a passenger in the standard metal tube we call aircraft.

I have recently become very interested in the history of this company, product, founder/designer and the politics behind its failure. Much has already been written on the subject and many web pages dedicated to it, so my intention is only to spread the message further afield, by trying to draw more people's attention to something that failed, but probably shouldn't have.

It is the opinion of many, that thousands of lives could have been saved had this design been accepted and I am fast becoming one of those people who is wondering what may have been. Short take-off, coupled with low landing speed is paramount to safety, without considering lower fuel consumption.

The best I can do is supply links to some relevant web pages and let each reader draw his or her own conclusions as to the feasibility of this design being produced in the future and casting the pretty, but comparatively dangerous flying pencils that are in use today to the dustbin of history.

Flying models have been made of this design and I think an interesting page to start with is this one, it even contains some detailed plans for a rubber powered model. Or, for you biplane enthusiasts, how about one of his earlier designs, the RB-2? Plan available here.

I imagine that a radio controlled Burnelli would make an emminent addition to any true enthusiast's collection and be fun to fly as well. I'm even considering coming out of modelling retirement to build one in the near future and that's a surprise to me! Luckily, I have a pair of slightly used .25 Irvines that should see some use while I'm still able to think.

If your appetite has been whetted enough to learn more, there is a further link below, but a simple Google search on Burnelli should produce enough links to satisfy most people, if not solve the 75 year old riddle.

I suggest reading all the informative pages available on this link if you want to learn most of the story. The story began in the 1920s and continues to this very day.

Footnote: Probably one of the most successful r/c models made of a Burnelli aircraft - if not the only one - is the one pictured here, designed and build in 2000 by modelflight reader and contributor Alan Heim. It is approximately 1/12 scale and has a wing span of 76" and powered by twin K&B .45 Sportster engines.

This beautiful 1/12th standoff scale RB-2 is featured among the linked material provided above by Jose, included among which is this link to a great article about the model by Alan himself.

Eye Candy

The airplane shown here is a 1927 Stearman C3B. It is the oldest Stearman flying. Its serial number is #4 and was the last Stearman to be built in California before Lloyd Stearman moved his operation to Kansas.

This historic airplane belongs to Larry Tobin. Based at Felts Field, Spokane, Washington.

Larry will fly this airplane in the 90th anniversary commemoration re-enactment flight hauling U.S. Air Mail along with Addison Pemberton in his 1928 Boeing 40 and Ben Scott in his 1930 Stearman 4E Jr. Speedmail. The flight starts September 10th from New York and will make 15 mail stops at the original stops and arrive in San Francisco on September 15th, 2008. From Malcolm Logan

This strange-looking machine is the Abrams Explorer and is a picture from an interesting collection of Prototype Airplanes that you might enjoy viewing.

The link to the full collection is shown below, and was sent from Bill Rogers.

http://rareaircraf1.greyfalcon.us/UNITED%20STATES.htm

I was intrigued and amused by the mass of 'scaffolding' on this 1915 Hall biplane which appears among the new entries in this month's update of Herb Sieger's Early Birds II. The plane was built in the UK by Hall Aviation Co.

Picture courtesy of M.H.Goodall and A.E.Tagg (deceased) authors of British Aircraft
Before the Great War, published by Schiffer Publishing Co. Atglen.