Official Freewing MiG-29 Fulcrum Twin 80mm Thread

[GliderGuy]

Hi AG….The wind added some interesting zero ground speed effects to the maneuvers. Nice job handling the gusts on approaches, too!

What were the ground winds? I’ve flown mine in 15 mph G 20 mph, but much prefer 12 mph and less.

-GG

[Airguardian]

Thanks!

I don't recall how much it was... but again, it's not so much about the magnitude but turbulence!
One can fly in pretty strong laminar winds and not have any issues but as soon as the air dirties up with rotors, gusts, eddies and swirls... things get messy pretty fast! :p

[Shaun Evans]

My craziest (non-vectored) MiG flights to date (raw edit, no music/slowmo version):

That's hot!

I wish I had that kind of instant thrust in my MiG! Well, I guess not enough to fly it on EDF, but you get what I mean!

[Shaun Evans]

Hi,

Who makes a good, yet inexpensive, light kit for this bird?

[Airguardian]

Probably can use Motion spare parts?
They sell a lot of standalone nav lights and stuff for most of their jets.

And the jet already features wingtip lights and landing light... you are basically only missing the white light in the left vertical stab and that the landing lights should be two, and installed on the main gear doors (which are not placed correctly) instead of nose gear strut.

[Turbinefancy]

”I feel the need! The need for speed!”
The Mig-29 is plenty exciting to fly, especially at the level that Airguardian is flying. But for the less skillful, like me, a change of perspective from LOS to FPV from the cockpit can turn mundane flights into pretty exciting adventure from the fighter pilot perspective. Here I try to shoot for a greaser doing multiple touch & goes. Was grinning from ear to ear the whole time, and have sweaty palms afterwards.

[Airguardian]

I really need to get my FPV build going, :p

Awesome stuff!

[Greyhound61]

Successfull maiden of my MiG 29. Nice flyer, so far no bad habits. Mods as follows:
a) CG approx 1.5 cm behind factory mark
b) 3mm reflex on flaps, ailerons & wingtips
c) upgraded FW servos
d) strengthened elevator linkages
e) 4 chokes on the leads between ESC and battery.

Landing with full flaps deployed

[Shaun Evans]

Successfull maiden of my MiG 29. Nice flyer, so far no bad habits. Mods as follows:
a) CG approx 1.5 cm behind factory mark
b) 3mm reflex on flaps, ailerons & wingtips
c) upgraded FW servos
d) strengthened elevator linkages
e) 4 chokes on the leads between ESC and battery.

Landing with full flaps deployed

Good job!

Congrats on the maiden. Did you also reflex the tips?

[Shaun Evans]

Hi,

So yesterday I found that not-so-sweet spot with the nose-high stall/falling leaf deal. I was experimenting with MCAS, with full flaps down, and before you knew it, the plane was not responding to anything I did. Not throttle, not control surfaces... nada. Before I realized I was stuck, I'd lost enough altitude (by trying to get out of it by throttling back) that sustained idle wasn't really an option. For the second time in the plane's life, tall weeds saved the day. She went in, somewhere in the Tijuana River estuary--full of bones, sewage, snakes, ticks, all manner of detritus and bacteria--and emerged with only two bent missiles. Turbine was still running! Other than the ordnance, there was zero damage. Someone must've been praying for me....

Now to figure out how to get out of that regime should it ever happen again...

[radfordc]

Usually going to zero power causes the plane to drop nose down and allow recovery. Perhaps the turbine has too much thrust at idle to allow that to happen?

In my crash the plane was in a vertical full stall attitude and immediately pitched straight down when I chopped power.

https://youtu.be/l22ftmf2qK8

[Evan D]

Both good and bad... congrats for the good and sorrow for the bad.

[Airguardian]

Now to figure out how to get out of that regime should it ever happen again...

Thrust vectoring... but if you are using a kero engine... then need to modify thrustline I guess.

Yesterday I crashed mine. Stalled on landing approach and the thrust I added to compensate sent the jet into high alpha.
At that altitude there was really nothing I could do without the TV nozzles. T.T

Will repair...

[Shaun Evans]

Thrust vectoring... but if you are using a kero engine... then need to modify thrustline I guess.

Yesterday I crashed mine. Stalled on landing approach and the thrust I added to compensate sent the jet into high alpha.
At that altitude there was really nothing I could do without the TV nozzles. T.T

Will repair...

Hi,

The thrust line is as good as it's gonna get, I think. Based on pitch behavior with throttle change, at lease. I don't have more thrust than weight like I do on most of my sport jets, so that didn't help. One thing I realize now I didn't do was dump the flaps. They stayed in full down the whole time. If I'd gotten behind the power curve like that in a Cessna, I'd have probably tried to pull some flap out of it and see what happened. I bet I would have been more successful at getting the nose down. :(

[GliderGuy]

Yesterday I crashed mine. Stalled on landing approach….

Will repair...

Ouch! Since I had a gust pitch mine up on base leg with a subsequent high alpha lock….on gusty condition days, I am now carrying more speed in the pattern and am watching for any pitch-up ready to counter it with forward stick immediately. Not reducing speed until low on final = a much flatter approach.

Typically, on a not gusty day, I reduce to about 30% on down wind (pattern entry at about 50%) then 15% on final until time to glide her in.

On a gusty day, I am leaving her at about 50% until established on final and low. Then transition to a glide farther out. But individuals will need to use a pattern method that they figure best helps avoid an alpha lock while in the pattern.

It seems MiG drivers will need to be mindful of pitch ups in the pattern and respond instantly to force the nose back down where it needs to be.

Luckily when mine happened, I was high enough on base that I could chop the power and get the nose down, but I did recover by instinct….below the tree line and out of sight.

Thermals and encounters with dust devils/whirlwinds during summertime flying may be interesting.

-GG

[Airguardian]

Agree GG.
TV would cure that though.

I'd have probably tried to pull some flap out of it and see what happened. I bet I would have been more successful at getting the nose down. :(

Not necessarily. Flaps down typically have a pitch-down contribution, particularly at high AoA.

My MiG is coming back together. She's almost ready to fly again minus a few cosmetic touch-ups...

[mshagg]

I'm going to figure out how I can get the forward battery into the front most compartment, hopefully without having to add too much dead weight to the tail. Im convinced a part of what makes the bird so unstable when exiting post stall with TV is having 900g of weight sitting so high up relatively to the wings. The more I fly my other TVd planes the more I realise how poorly the mig behaves post stall.

[Evan D]

And I have to add I don't think TVs are the "fix"... They help but there is still something going on. I agree the battery up high in the middle spot may be adding to the situation too. When I moved my forward battery to the front spot I was able to get my balance at about 5-10mm behind the mark. It feels a lot better there than at the 30-35mm I had it at before. I also think if you add the reflex it like the more forward balance better.

[kallend]

Yesterday I crashed mine. Stalled on landing approach and the thrust I added to compensate sent the jet into high alpha.
At that altitude there was really nothing I could do without the TV nozzles. T.T

And the lesson of that story is. . . . . ?

[Airguardian]

The sooner I install the TV nozzles, the sooner I won't ever have to care about that again. (:
And as I've said multiple times, TV is not just about aerobatics but overall safety of operation.

This said, I think flying this jet for a while WITHOUT the nozzles supposes a challenge that I like to take head-on, as it ultimately makes me become a better pilot so... no regrets. (Not actually recommending this course of action though... my official position is you should rather get a TV set and install it).

I'm going to figure out how I can get the forward battery into the front most compartment, hopefully without having to add too much dead weight to the tail. Im convinced a part of what makes the bird so unstable when exiting post stall with TV is having 900g of weight sitting so high up relatively to the wings. The more I fly my other TVd planes the more I realise how poorly the mig behaves post stall.

I don't think that's the core of the issue but could certainly have an effect.
Anyway... I don't think post stall handling is that bad... I mean... The F-18 post stall is terrible. The MIG-29 is pretty decent, even without TV and compared to many other jets, I'd judge it to be pretty good in fact (if we ignore the fact that thrustline sucks).