September 2006 Feature Story:
The Ultimate Flying Experience:
Flying the MiG-29

Story by Capt. William F. Span USN (Ret.)

As a captain in the U.S. Navy, Bill Span made more than 1,000 carrier landings, earned two Silver Stars, five Distinguished Flying Crosses and a Bronze Star. He also received two U.S. Navy commendations, the Vietnam Air Cross of Gallantry and several other awards and decorations. He flew 289 missions in Vietnam as part of VA-164, the Ghost Riders. They flew A-4 Skyhawks, single-seat attack jets off of the carrier Oriskany.

En route to a ski vacation in New Zealand a few years ago, Bill came across a tiny ad in an in-flight magazine. It was from a Sarasota, Fla.-based company called Incredible Adventures Inc.

“Fly a Russian MiG,” the ad said.

A couple of months after returning to Virginia Beach from the ski trip, Span called for information. In return for a significant amount of money, plus air fare to and from Moscow, he would get 45 minutes in a MiG-29 with one of Russia's top test pilots. The Russian military, short of money, would get a cut of the fee. The Russian pilot would get badly needed flight time.
Bill tells the story:

While in Moscow I stayed at the “Intourist” Hotel, a beautiful hotel close to the Kremlin, Red Square and Lenin’s Tomb. I was to take my flight physical, pre-flight briefings, ejection seat checkouts and flight gear checkout at the once top secret Russian Gromov test facility at Zukvsky Air base, 30 KM south of Moscow.

The day of my arrival in Moscow was a day of rest, after a sixteen-hour flight from the U.S. through Frankfort, Germany. While adjusting to the eight-hour time difference, my English-speaking Russian tourist guide, Marina, showed me the sights of Moscow, including Red Square and the Kremlin.

On the day of the flight the weather was absolutely perfect, a sunny day with high cirrus clouds and temperature in the seventies. Prior to checking in, Galina (a Russian escort) and Kelly (an American escort) drove me around Zukovsky Airbase where we saw the Russian Super Sonic Airliner, the TU-144. (In the early 1990s IBP Aerospace negotiated an agreement between Tupolev and NASA. They offered this Tu-144 as a testbed for NASA’s High Speed Commercial Research program. In 1995, Tu-144D (reg. 77114) built in 1981 and with only 82 hours, 40 minutes total flight time, was taken out of storage and, after extensive modification at a total cost of US$350 million, was designated the Tu-144LL. It made a total of 27 flights in 1996 and 1997. In 1999, though regarded as a success, the project was cancelled for lack of funding.) We also saw various Russian Combat jets and a few test jets like the SUKOI 31 and 32.

We then went to the Gromov Flight Research Institute for my flight physical, given by a Russian woman flight surgeon. I was fitted for my “G suit”, flight helmet and oxygen mask. There is a difference in how the Russians wear their “G suits” and I compromised and split the difference. Tanya, who assisted me with my flight gear, was very persuasive.

I then met with Alexander Gamaev, called “Sasha”. He is their Chief Test pilot and was assigned to fly with me. He conducted the pre-flight briefings. It is the procedure for all foreign pilots to fly the MiG 29 from the back seat. I related my Navy experience to him and he made an exception. I was allowed to fly the MiG 29 from the front seat.

There are certain controls only operated from the front seat and it could be dangerous if a pilot did not understand the operation of those controls. Sasha tests Russian experimental aircraft and had very recently received Russia's highest award, Hero of Russia, and received a commemorative watch from President Yeltsin. Sasha is 36 years old and is the son of a famous Russian test pilot. Sasha has flown a total of 3,600 flight hours and has flown over 42 types of Russian aircraft. He conducts flight operations all over the world and demonstrates the famous Russian “Cobra” and “Tailside” maneuvers.

After the briefings we drove out to the parked MiG 29. It was beautiful, glistening in the Russian sunshine, but also threatening, as if it might suddenly surge forward into a predatory prowl of the sky. I climbed into the front cockpit where Sasha explained the flight and engine instruments.

Oddly, the cockpit instrumentation was not too different than an American cockpit. The altimeter was in meters instead of feet, the air speed in kilometers per hour and the main flight instrument (VGI) was reversed.

In the front cockpit I had control of the ejection seat. Sasha said, “Bill, if I give the word EJECT, EJECT, EJECT that is not a subject for discussion, I go first then you.” I agreed completely and without reservation. After about 20 minutes of cockpit orientation he climbed into the back seat and we started the engines; first the left, and then the right. We completed the necessary instrument and flight control checks, received the clearance from the control tower and then taxied for take off.

After our afterburners were selected and engine checks were made, we started our take-off roll. The thrust was so great it reminded me of a catapult shot from an aircraft carrier. We were airborne in six seconds and 1500 feet. Sasha immediately pulled a 6G loop and then bottomed out over the runway at 150 feet, heading down the Moscow River at 600km/h. I took the controls and made several turns. I did a few Aileron rolls left and right to get the feel of the airplane. I was surprised the MiG 29 was very responsive and easy to fly and control.

While speeding along at an altitude of only 150 feet along the Moscow River Sasha pointed out a Russian Church, a small Russian village and a chemical factory. Since we were speeding along like a runaway space capsule, I just nodded my head and gave a polite “DA, PRE KRASNA” (Meaning: “Yes, very beautiful.” Russian phrases came easily to me since I am of Czech descent and my grandparents spoke Czech, a language somewhat similar to Russian, to me when I was young.)

Sasha took control, selected the afterburners, pointed the MiG straight up and climbed to 53,000 feet, pulling an immeasurable amount of G’s. In addition to the extreme pressure from my flight suit, I had to force-grunt to keep from blacking out. I clocked the time to climb at 48 seconds. When we leveled off, he accelerated the MiG and went supersonic to 1.4 MACH.

He asked me prior to the flight if I wanted to go faster or higher, and I decided that this was high and fast enough so we could save fuel and spend more time on exotic maneuvers. He then said, “Bill, I will do the following maneuvers, then you will do them!” It sounded like a Russian order but he had no idea how anxious I was to do them.

I replied in my perfect Russian, “Da, pre krasna.”

We rolled over and did a “Split S” to a lower altitude into a “7.5 G loop”, followed by an “Immelman”, a “Climbing Turn”, and then the famous “Cobra” maneuver where the MIG flies at the same altitude but in a vertical position. He then recovered and flew the plane straight up, pulled back, both engines reached “0” air speed where upon we slid back on our tail in a vertical position. We then applied power from both engines, first the left, then the right. That was the “Tailslide”.

Sasha had done these maneuvers so quickly and brilliantly, that I did not catch all the G’s and air speeds for each one. When did them I had to rely on G-force and feel. Sasha then said, “Bill, the airplane is yours, you will do them.” I then started with the loop and remembered from my flying days to keep the wings level and the G’s constant.

Since the VGI operates opposite to ours, it made the loop a little difficult at first. At the top of the loop I rolled my head back as we passed through the horizon and, lo and behold, my wings were level and I completed a good loop. Sasha said, “Good, good, Bill.” The “Immelman” came as easy, although Sasha said, “A little more G, Bill.” I thought I had enough as my G suit was exerting tremendous pressure on my legs and stomach. The “G” suit was keeping me from blacking out. These two maneuvers are fairly standard but in a MiG 29 they are done with great speed, power and high “G’s”.

The next two maneuvers were simply awesome. The “Tailslide” was done by pulling “G” to a vertical position, pulling the throttles back to idle while the air speed dropped to “0”, with the MIG pointing straight up. Upon reaching “0” air speed the MIG slid back to earth tail first. I kicked hard rudder and fell through to a nose-down recovery as we brought the engines back in, first left then right.

It felt so awesome that I repeated it again. The “Cobra” came next. I picked up speed and horsed back on the stick bringing the MiG again to a nose-up vertical position, selected proper power while our momentum propelled us forward in a vertical position. The sensations I felt during this maneuver were incredible for an aviator not used to such an exotic maneuver. I then released back pressure and, while pulling negative G, recovered to level flight. Again, I was so excited that I did another one, this time with more precision. Sasha performs this maneuver at very low altitudes at air shows. I would need a whole lot more practice before I would do the “Cobra” as low as he does.

After doing each of the maneuvers twice, Sasha told me to take up a heading towards ZUKOVSKY air base and make an ILSA instrument approach to a low pass. That was the easiest part of the flight since the MiG 29 is so stable and the controls very responsive. After a discussion in Russian with the control tower Sasha said, “Bill, give me control and I will put on an air show for you.”

He made a hard pull up to the right then a quick hard turn back to the runway followed by a series of quick Aileron rolls, a quick reversal and a roll over to inverted flight; flying down the runaway at 100 feet. It was quite a thrill to look at the runway while flying upside down for that long a time. He then throttled back, pitched up to a downward turn and said, “Now, Bill, you take control and make the landing.”

We were in close to the runway so I turned a tight approach at 300 KM down to a near perfect landing. I could not believe how easy it was to land a MiG 29. We touched down at 230 KM and had a short roll out but did not deploy the drag chute.

After turn-off I taxied back to the flight line. It turns out that the most difficult part of the flight was on the ground. The MiG 29 has a settable nose-wheel; you must push a button to engage it and then steer with the rudder pedals.

As I climbed out of the cockpit I shouted in Russian, “YA RAHT! YA RAHT!” (I’m happy! I’m happy!) I had just finished beating the sky into submission with the brute force of a Russian MiG 29. What a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Sasha shook my hand and said, “Bill, you are a true professional, all of your maneuvers were perfect. You did the ‘Cobra’ and the ‘Tailslide’ and very few pilots have done that.” I thanked Sasha and told him he was the best pilot that I had ever known.

We then went to lunch at the Gromov Flight Research Institute. I truly felt a bond developing between Sasha and me during the long conversations that followed. We talked about U.S. and Russian aircraft, tactics and experiences. He was quite interested in my Vietnam combat experience and asked several questions about the Russian SAMs and aircraft during that war. He related his test pilot experiences and the planes he flew, including the U.S. Navy F-18.

I presented Sasha with a U.S. Navy flight suit, an Air Force flight jacket, a bottle of Military vodka, a personal computer organizer, and a Top Gun ‘97 baseball cap, which he wore for the rest of the day. I was presented with a model of the MiG 29, a signed certificate of the flight profile, and a beautiful Russian watch with a picture of the MiG 29 on the face and an inscription on the outer watch ring in Russian that reads, “Defender of the Native-land”.

Sasha and I embraced as we bid farewell. I detected a glint in Sasha’s eyes. I held back tears in mine as well as I said, “Another place, another time, we might have had to fight each other.” I continued, “I would have hated to have fought you.” Sasha said, “And I you.”