FLYING THE MiG-15

MiG-15. The controls and switches arescattered about in a somewhat randomfashion, rather as in the Vampire. Ittakes some time to get used to whereeverything is placed, and along theleft-hand side I still need to search forthe speed brake, elevator and ailerontrim switches, none of which fall easilyto hand or eye. After some practice,though, it starts to become moreintuitive.Almost everything about the

MiG feels over-engineered. Theflying controls are very solid and thecontrol stick rather tall, this, I guess,because the first version didn’t havehydraulically-boosted ailerons. Theysimply made the stick taller so the pilotcould more easily roll the aircraft athigh speeds without requiring all hisstrength. This is, of course, essentialin a dogfight. The SB Lim-2 I fly hasboosted ailerons and the hydraulicboost system is separate from themain hydraulic system that moves theundercarriage, flaps and speed brakes.

The starting procedure is similar tomost jets. After you open the high-pressure fuel cock, the engine emits avibrating howl as it begins to spool up.The vibrating sound goes away as youback off on the fuel lever and modulatethe fuel that’s going into the engine. Youmust monitor the jet pipe temperatureat all times during start-up and work thefuel lever a bit if required. The cockpitchecks are otherwise quite simple.

Taxiing the aircraft, you usedifferential braking to make it turn.Squeezing the brake handle on the stickas you push either rudder pedal steersthe aircraft in the desired direction. Thisis the same system as on the Vampire,and was common to a lot of early jets. Ittakes a bit of practice.Lined up and ready for take-off, make

sure the nosewheel is centred before youbegin throttling up and start the take-offroll. Advance the throttle to 7,000rpmto check the isolation valve, and furtherforward to 9,000rpm to ensure that thebrakes hold you in position — then,release brakes, go to full throttle, lookfor 11,200rpm and check the otherengine gauges. For directional control,first steer along the runway centrelineusing differential braking before thespeed increases enough to affordsufficient rudder authority. This usuallyoccurs at about 40kt, depending on howstrong the crosswind is.The MiG accelerates swiftly down

the runway. You push the stick slightlyforward during the take-off roll, andat around 105kt rotate the nose toabout 5 degrees nose-up and wait forthe aircraft to fly itself off the runwaywhile maintaining that attitude. Theaircraft rotates very easily, and you mustapply that bit of forward stick or it willover-rotate. This is very dangerous, asthe MiG gets easily into the so-called‘Sabre dance’, in which one wing dropsand, upon trying to correct it, the otherwing does likewise. You then rapidlylose control of the aircraft in the rollingplane. The only way to escape is to

50 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2016

o me, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 lookslike a real first-generationjet fighter and a true Cold

War warrior. Its shape and form arealso clearly very Russian. It has thesame 35-degree wing sweep as its NorthAmerican F-86 Sabre contemporary.The fuselage was, of course— as in somany early jet fighters — designed toaccommodate the engine. The KlimovVK-1 is a copy of the Rolls-Royce Nene,a centrifugal engine, so the fuselage hasto be rather fat to make room for it.When you climb into the MiG-15’s

cockpit, you notice how spacious it is.I am 191cm tall and well-fed, and evenI have to sit on a couple of cushionsplaced underneath the seat parachute inorder to be able to see over the canopyrail. Rumours that the Soviet pilots whoflew these jets had to be very small maynot be right. Another thing that strikesyou is the pleasant smell of fuel and oilusually common to historic aircraft.As always with older Russian types,

the rudder pedals are placed a bit tooclose to you. If you want to stretchyour legs, you find it’s not possible.The reason for sitting like this is that itmakes your body able to tolerate moreg. Most MiG-15s do not have an anti-gsystem, so the pilot cannot wear a g-suit.The aircraft has a limit of +8g withoutthe drop tanks on.Given that the type first flew in 1949,

the cockpit is naturally old-fashioned,but it is still a clear step forward from,for example, the de Havilland Vampirethat took to the air five years before the

T

OPPOSITE:Kenneth Aarkvisla

flying SB Lim-2N104CJ of the

Norwegian Air ForceHistorical Squadron.

This civilianoperator acquiredthe aircraft, whichit has painted as a

MiG-15UTI flown bySoviet cosmonaut

Yuri Gagarin,from previous USowner Clint Burkeduring early 2014,after which it was

prepared andshipped across theAtlantic ready forthe 2015 display

season.

Flying the

‘Midget’‘Midget’WORDS: KENNETH AARKVISLA

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD PAVER

The Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron’s WSK-Mielec SB Lim-2,the Polish licence-built version of the two-seat MiG-15UTI — NATOcodename ‘Midget’ — was a star of the airshow season gone by. Its

operator and pilot provides a ‘from the cockpit’ perspective

❖

ð

ABOVE: Thesurprisingly roomy

cockpit of thePolish-built MiG-15.

RIGHT: Pre-flightchecks being

undertaken byKenneth Aarkvisla.

The recently-retired SAS Boeing

737 captain hasamassed muchexperience of

the UK airshowcircuit in recent

years, leading theNorwegian AirForce Historical

Squadron’sVampire pair.

lower the nose and reduce the angle ofattack. This can also occur during finalapproach and landing if the airspeeddrops too much.Once airborne, quickly select gear up

as the airspeed increases rapidly. Withthe wheels retracted, the undercarriagehandle must be set to neutral, otherwisethe hydraulic pump will not be able tokeep the pressure as high as it should be.At a minimum of 160kt you select flapsup. With the MiG-15, 20 degrees of flapis selected for take-off. The flaps are of

the split/Fowler type and have threepositions: up, 20 and 55 degrees,the latter to be used for landing.Again, once the flaps are up thehandle has to be moved back toneutral.Now reduce power to

10,800rpm for climb-out (I oftenuse 10,500rpm). The MiG-15’sclimb-out speed at sea level is as

high as 370kt, but normally I keep

it down a bit, to around 300kt. Onceyou have cleaned the aircraft up andestablished the climb setting andairspeed, check the gauges, enginehydraulics and pneumatics. If all is well,you can leave the circuit.

The aircraft is nice on the controlsand a joy to fly. Its elevators are verylight and responsive, requiring careto fly straight and level. The rudder,too, is very light, and you need tolook at the ball to make sure you havecentred it properly. The MiG-15 lacksa small degree of directional stability,and sometimes you notice it fishtailingslightly. Although it was nothing muchto worry about, the Mikoyan designerscorrected this on the MiG-17 bylengthening the fuselage.You can cruise low-level at an

economical 250kt indicated, or if in a

hurry you can push it up to 378kt. Thatis the aircraft’s maximum speed if thereis fuel in the drop tanks; it’s 430kt ifthey’re empty. Banking the aircraft intoa turn with the speed down at 250kt, itis very noticeable, even with only 30-45degrees of bank, how much you have toraise the nose by pulling the stick back inorder to maintain altitude. This is one ofthe effects of the 35-degree wing sweep.Speeding up to around 300kt, this effectis much less noticeable, and you soonfeel that the aircraft is better suited tothis higher speed.Aerobatics and turns in the MiG are a

real pleasure. The entry speed for a loopis 370kt, according to the manual, butonce you know the aircraft it may bereduced a bit below this. The elevatorsare light and responsive at normaloperating speeds. Rolls are normallyflown at an entry speed of 300kt orhigher, but can be performed at about250kt. The ailerons have a hydraulicboost system, assisting the pilot whenrolling the aircraft at higher speedsby maintaining the lightness of thecontrols.My aerobatic display routine is a mix

of Cuban eights, rolls, Derry turns, half-Cubans, turns and wingovers. Pullinga bit too hard on the stick in turnsinduces a slight buffet. The aircraft alsotends to sit slightly on its tail in a high-gturn. If this happens, you must push thestick forward a bit to correct. The reasonit behaves like this is not aerodynamicbut due to the counterweights on theelevator.Spins are absolutely forbidden in

the MiG-15, although US pilot PaulEntrekin, the first Western civilianowner-pilot of the type with more than3,000 hours’ experience on it, had tospin the aircraft during certificationflight tests. He carried out spins of upto two-and-a-half turns that resulted ina very slow recovery with a loss of morethan 10,000ft. Soviet fighter pilot ViktorBelenko, who defected to the West inhis MiG-25 in 1976, was an instructoron MiG-15s and said: “If you are stupidenough to get yourself into a spin, mostlikely you are not smart enough torecover from it, so eject at once. You canpull out of a spin, but it is hard.”The MiG takes only 1,800 litres of

fuel in total, limiting drastically its rangeand endurance. Internal fuel comprises1,000 litres in three fuselage tanks, withthe forward two (numbers one and two,often referred to collectively as numbertwo or the main tank) containing 840litres and the aft tank (number three)160 litres. Under-wing drop tanks eachhold 400 litres. There are no wing tanks.Fuel feeds from the drop tanks first, thenfrom number three tank, and lastly fromnumber two (main) tank. When thedrop tanks are empty, a light comes onin the cockpit. Another illuminates whenthe aft tank is empty. You then switch offthe aft tank transfer pump switch.The only fuel gauge starts at 700 litres,

and the needle begins to move whenthe fuel remaining drops below that

up. Wis sele

thept

ucl

high

FLYING THE MiG-15

52 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2016

❖

ABOVE: Goingthrough its pacesat the JerseyInternationalAir Display lastSeptember.BEN DUNNELL

quantity. It is then time to think aboutlanding, or at least to ensure that you’renot too far from an airfield at whichto land. Having 700 litres on boardis not much in a MiG-15, but at leastwhen the main tank gauge needle startsmoving you have an accurate indicationof the fuel state, one much better thanthe lights you will have seen up to thatpoint.Uneven fuel transfer from the drop

tanks, and fuel being left in one ofthem, is not uncommon. This situationbecomes noticeable as the aircraft hasa tendency to roll to the heavier side,aileron trim being required to correctthis. A warning light comes on when theremaining fuel is down to 300 litres.In the circuit and on landing the

MiG is not that different from otheraircraft, but it needs to be watchedcarefully during this phase of flight.It has bad slow-speed handlingcharacteristics, with poor lateral anddirectional stability. Aileron authorityat approach speeds is insufficient andoften requires near-full deflections. Thisis mainly due to the wing sweep. Thewingtip tends to stall first, not a verypleasant experience. Stalling of the outerwing causes a nose-up pitch moment,which may get the aircraft into thedangerous ‘Sabre dance’. Flying atapproach speeds, the MiG can be a bitof a handful as it is unstable in both rolland yaw and has a tendency to Dutch-roll. This is a characteristic you get usedto after a while. It is handled by usingrudder input at the correct time.The undercarriage can be selected

down at a maximum of 243kt, ascan 20 degrees of flap. I extend thegear on the downwind leg abeam mytouchdown point. With three greens,

the undercarriage handle is positionedback to neutral. Three indicator pins— one on the nose and two on theupper surfaces of the wings — that caneasily be monitored from the cockpitprovide further confirmation that thegear is down. My airspeed at this pointis normally 200-220kt. I use the speedbrake to slow down if necessary.Starting my turn from downwind

towards finals, I select flap 20 andestablish the aircraft at 150-160kt.The flap handle is moved to the firstnotch, and this time you leave it in thisposition. About 90 degrees or less frommy final track I usually go for full flap,55 degrees, by moving the handle to thesecond notch. Once the flaps are at 55degrees, indicated by a green lamp in thecockpit and the indicator pin atop theport wing, the flap handle is moved backto neutral.

Final approach is flown at 125-130kt.Normally, I now pop the speed brakesout and leave them out. Reducing speedslightly over the threshold, I start a gentleflare. You must watch now for a wingdrop. If the airspeed is a couple of knotstoo high the aircraft tends to float inground effect. The MiG’s undercarriagehas fantastic suspension and it usuallyaffords a really soft touchdown. Onlanding, Dutch roll often makes theaircraft hop from wheel to wheel a fewtimes before settling.After landing you can brake

aerodynamically by holding the stickaft and the nose up. Directional control

is maintained by using the rudder. Asthe elevator loses its authority, lower thenose so the nosewheel makes contactwith the runway. The greatest concernabout landing the MiG is often itsability to stop. It has to be flown veryaccurately and at the right approachspeed to touch down at the correctspot, especially on shorter runways.If brakes are applied too early or toohard on a short runway it serves onlyto lock the wheels (there is no anti-skidequipment) and it takes a while for thelift to vanish and for the aircraft’s weightto settle onto the wheels. Only then caneffective braking be carried out by gentlysqueezing the brake handle on the stick.Having now flown the MiG for a

season, I still feel much the same aswhen I checked out in it nearly sixmonths ago in New Mexico. This isnot an aircraft I want to fly in bad

weather or in the dark. However, myconfidence in it, both operationally andtechnically, is building. It has very goodperformance and is most enjoyable tofly in the middle of its envelope. At theedges, it must be handled with morecaution, and I don’t plan to go theremuch. Any aircraft will bite, but theMiG-15 has the potential to do this veryrapidly, especially in pitch during high-energy manoeuvres. I try to stay awayfrom that. Fortunately, it is the kind ofaircraft capable of giving an impressiveand exciting flying display without thepilot having to do anything tooclever, and this I appreciate in it.

For more informationand to enquireabout airshowbookings, visit www.historicalsquadron.no

‘The MiG-15 is most enjoyable to fly inthe middle of its envelope’

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2016 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 53

WSK-Mielec SB Lim-2 ‘Red 18’/N104CJNorwegianAir ForceHistorical Squadron

RICHARD PAVER