WORLD AIR WAR HISTORY


 
  India   Indian Air Force (IAF) • Bharatiya Vayu Sena (BVS) • भारतीय वायु सेना
Republic of India (Bharatiya Ganarajya / Bhārat Ganarājya)

Indian Air Force  •  Naval Air Arm  •  Army Aviation & AD  •  Coast Guard Aviation  •  Border Guard Aviation  •  Police Aviation  •   • 
AF NEWS  •  AF HISTORY

Sky an open road for SU-30 pilots

Sky an open road for SU-30 pilots

In its class, the Su-30 MKI has no competition. Those who tried - the F-18 and F-16 - have failed.


Ask the most experienced Su-30 pilots in the country. They'll tell you why. Ashu and Parag Lall, who are flying the Su-30, said: "No other aircraft in the world can perform the yaw turn and the tail slide, or do a vertical climb at 80 degrees and prepare for an angle of attack."

The yaw turn is a 360-degree turn that the Su-30 can perform mid-air, while climbing or descending in flight. "If it is an attack situation, the Su-30 has the capacity to slow down, turn around immediately in any direction and shoot. Most other aircraft will have to do a big circle," Ashu explains.

In actual flight, the sight of the 360-degree turn as the Su-30 descends, is a wonder you'll think is humanly impossible.

The tail slide too, is as amazing. "The aircraft virtually stops mid-air and then begins to fly reverse at zero or even negative speed. No aircraft in the world flies reverse. Flying reverse puts enormous stress on the engine. But the Su-30 can take it," Lall says.

Yet another wonder of the aircraft is the angle of attack. "The Su-30 can climb and attain an angle of attack of 80 degrees alpha, something which is never easy. And it does so comfortably," pilots Jeetu Yadav and Rahul Chauhan add.

The four Pune-based pilots say thrust vectoring nozzle is the technology in the Su-30 that allows it to do near-impossible manoeuvres. "The Su-30 defies the laws of aerodynamics. It defies the laws of control,'' they echo.

Ashu has been flying the Su-30 from 1997, which means his complexity threshold has been set by the Su-30. "All my life, I've been flying only the SU-30. There is no mission I've not undertaken in the aircraft. Every day begins and ends with the Su-30. So, it has come to a point where its complexity is second nature to me. I now try to do anything more complex than the existing state of complexity in the aircraft - that's the extent to which I am used to it. I breathe and live the Su-30."

Has fear of death ever crossed his mind? "I feel safest in the Su-30 cockpit. Where's the place for fear? There is no traffic jam out there, is there?" he asks.

The pilots have this to tell students: "Try the ultimate job in the world. There is no high that is comparable to the high of piloting a combat aircraft. We would like students to give it a try. Get to an aircraft, smell it and you'll soon see that you want to fly it."


Source: Prashanth G N, TNN, Feb 11, 2011

(25.02.2011)


 
EMPTY
EMPTY
India AF
Scheme
EMPTY
 

 
  CONTINENTAL NEWS:

American Air Force News
African Air Force News
Asian Air Force News
European Air Force News
Middle Eastern AF News
Ocean Air Force News


• Final C-17A Globemaster III Delivered to Indian Air Force

(25.12.2019)
Boeing delivered its final C-17A to the Indian Air Force on August 26 when the airlifter touched down at Hindon Air Force Station, Ghaziabad. ...>>

• IAF's Sukhoi Su-30 MKIs to take on French Air Force's Rafale jets during Garuda VI air exercise

(7.06.2019)
The Garuda VI air exercise in July 2019 will see IAF's frontline fighter Sukhoi Su-30 MKI taking on the Rafale multirole jets of the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force)....>>

• Indian Air Force to equip 40 Su-30 MKIs with BrahMos cruise missile in next 3 years

(3.06.2019)
"As for the plans, the serial production has been launched and rearmament will be carried out, as our Indian colleagues have promised on many occasions. About 40 planes as the firs...>>

• Lockheed Martin says F-21 won't be sold to Indian Air Force (IAF)

(13.05.2019)
US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin says it will not sell its newly rolled out F-21 fighter jet to any other country if India places an order for 114 planes, in an offer aimed at pi...>>

• Indian Air Force Gets Its First AH-64E (I) Apache Attack Helicopter At Boeing Plant In US

(12.05.2019)
IAF Boeing AH-64E (I) Apache Guardian is an advanced attack helicopter that can engage both air and ground targets with relative stealth using low-altitude obstacles like trees and...>>

• Indian Government Justifies Higher Cost of Locally-Developed Su-30s

(1.02.2019)
Disagreeing with the opposition's interpretation of an audit report that found that Su-30 fighter jets supplied to the Indian Air Force by the local firm HAL are costlier that thos...>>

 




       info@xairforces.net Webmaster: REFLX DESIGN - © 2011 xairforces / Aviation Society,