Jeff's Russian Adventure
In August and September of 1995, I had the opportunity to tour Russian
aviation sites in St. Petersburg and Moscow. This was through a tour organized
by East-West Travel and sponsored by the San
Diego Aerospace Museum.
I extended my tour to take advantage of the incredible adventure offered
by MiGs Etc. They arranged a week of unbelievable
flying in both an L-39 jet trainer and a
MiG-25
supersonic interceptor.
Some highlights of the trip:
-
Seeing the Czar's palaces in St. Petersburg from a chartered Mi-8 helicopter.
-
Touring Star City escorted by the director of cosmonaut training.
-
The Moscow Airshow (only held every other year).
-
Hand flying terrain following at 600km/hr at 20 meters down a river
valley in the L-39.
-
Me rolling the MiG-25 at Mach 1.4.
-
The black sky at noon from 22km (71,500ft) altitude at Mach 2.35
-
My 3rd L-39 flight when the instructor let me do all of the flying from
taxi-out to landing, including a 14 maneuver aerobatic routine featuring
tail-slides, a 4-point roll, and a loop with vertical rolls both on the
way up and back down.
-
Flying rolls down the ILS approach.
-
Inverted passes down the Ramenskye runway
at 100meters.
-
Shopping at the Izmailova market. I was able to buy my own Russian flight
suit and helmet!
To help me prepare
for the flying on this trip, I turned to the great guys of the Flemming
Tigers Fighter Squadron in South St. Paul, Minnesota. They teach high performance
flying and aerobatics in the SF-260 trainer aircraft. They are a part of
Fighter
Pilots USA that organizes aerial combat training and experiences for
civilians, pilot or non-pilot. This aerobatic experience was the perfect
warm up for flying jets. By learning to pull 5 G's (five times the force
of gravity) in the SF-260 without an anti-G suit, I was able to handle
7 G's in the L-39 with a suit.
Other pilot's impressions of the MiG-25:
-
Bushcat: lots of
great photos of the same plane I flew, MiG-25U #02. He also
flew the MiG-29
-
Flight Test
Report of Buran Training Landing profile flights in the MiG-25.
I disagree with the author's review of stick forces and roll rates.
I thought it rolled aobut the same as the L-39.
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