So someone had asked me about landing the MiG-21 without the braking chute, so I took her around the pattern this morning to see. This was a mid-weight landing (no external stores, 50% fuel) at Krymsk airfield. I tried to stay on or around the landing profile and figure I crossed the numbers with full flaps at around 320kph. I did not use the airbrakes upon touchdown - the manual does not mention deploying them for normal landings, so I'm not sure that they are regularly used for that. So basically, this was a pure wheel brake energy landing roll. As you can see, I took up a bit over 2/3rds of the runway, so as long as you are on speed and put the aircraft down in the touchdown zone, you can still stop even without the braking chute. Assuming, of course, that you have pneumatic air still available for the brakes. Because you DID remember to stow that landing gear handle in neutral right? Right?
I also flew the first bit of the gun tutorial (before my pager went off and I had to abandon ship!). Quite a few buttons and switches to set prior to using the guns. I can already tell there are going to be a lot of us lining up on the enemy, squeezing the trigger, and getting nothing but a swear word because our cockpit isn't properly set up for the engagement...
Instructed to set 17.5 meters wingspan for the gunsight width "flower" reticle using the knob on the left side of the HUD..
Pow pow pow... Where is your escort you Yankee Hog Dog!!?
I should get a medal for my non-maneuvering kill..
I'll refly the mission later and see what other targets come up later in the training mission...
BeachAV8R