Typhoon...

Falstaff

temeteus82

Nice plane that is aerodynamically unstable

MIG-31

Thats unstable at slower speeds.. but it comes into it's own for aerodynamics when it comes to the speed it's capable of,Then the looks falls into place.

Nice pic jeff... i finally have a decent pic of the Typhoon to add to my current archive..

I seen this in flight at Waddington Airshow (Maybe 4 year ago) but the rules was set for a solo fly past,which only lasted 30 seconds (maybe less).I only had a cheap Digi cam at the time and the pics i took was poor.

Falstaff

we saw the Typhoon perform the cobra, stall, hammerhead stall, snap roll, inverted flyby and zero to mach 2 climb from a reverse stall. It really pushed the envelope and the crowd was cheering as this chap put it through 15 minutes of fantastic flight that just thrilled me to the core. It was ooooo and ahhhhh for everyone and all you could hear above the din of the twin turbojets were the whirring and clicking of cameras, I will remember it all my life.

temeteus82

Jeff, do you remember who did the Cobra first time and what plane was used?

Falstaff

I know the mig and Sukhoi aircraft could perform it a Farnborough long before we attempted it with the F-18 or any experiment canard aircraft, but I think the Swedish folks did it with the Gripen and the Israeli aircraft the Kfir could perform it briefly as a combat tactic, many have tried but few could sustain it save for the Harrier and canard based aircraft until thrust vectoring and the powerful Turmansky turbo fans were invented, that gave the required power to wieght ratio that the ligher russian aircraft needed to accomplish this. I saw an F-18 do it in 1992 at an airshow in Nevada.

temeteus82

Jeff it was done first in Paris Le Bourget air show in 1989 by a man called Viktor Pugachev in Su-27.
So the name of the maneuver is Pugachev's Cobra. That's one hard maneuver if you ask me..


Pugachev's Cobra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Falstaff

I think it was attempted long before then, citing discussions by USN pilots during the development phase of the f-18 in particuler, anyone can perfect the manuever but I believe if the purpose is to allow an aircraft to extend the flight envelope to the point of a full reverse stationary stall for the purpose of launching missles then Mr. Pug was not the first at all, but he can have his cookie if he wants..LOL
I find information in Wiki or Google valuable but I was there on board Naval Air Station Atsugi in 1984 where sustained 120 degree AOA was forbidden because of the potential loss of control and subsequent loss of the aircraft involved. Even the Russians lost a few aircraft attempting this manuever before they "perfected" it, and that is only without missles and low on fuel. The Turmansky Turbo fans and the low wieght of the airframe and near stall performance of the Sukhoi aircraft allowed the russian pilot to briefly get some stationary air time but as a pure tactical event, the russian couldnt have done it in a true combat enviornment. That is where the USN pilots have the edge with the newer F-18 and of course the F-22 and F-35 series aircraft, but to what end, since it makes the aircraft extremely vulnerable since they dont have energy.
They Typhoon pilot knew his business, but a competent aggressor aircraft could find great advantage dog fighting an opponent that periodically stops in mid flight attempting to avoid a missle lock or gunsight lock by parking their aircraft in the air to achieve a split second look up and shoot oppurtunity.