Firefly's video archive

[Firefly 602]

Disregard the erroneous title, it's quality stuff. I believe this was the first time Soviet jets came over to North America to do an airshow. 

 

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

This is great stuff!

[Firefly 602]

Excellent quick walkaround of a Polish MiG-23MF. Apologies for linking to Facebook, video takes AGES to load. 

 

[Firefly 602]

How to turn jet fuel into noise, Croatian style:

 

[Firefly 602]

Some interesting cockpit shots here. Please excuse the SHOCKING soundtrack.

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

These are great videos, Firefly!

[Firefly 602]

Glad you like 'em, there's plenty more to come. I'm only just starting to uncover the depths of YouTube.

[Firefly 602]

Tonight's selection is brought to you by the Polish Air Force. 

Cockpit video taken a few years ago from a PAF MiG-29. Note the pilot has the HMS monocle on, which suggests there may be some captive R-73s under the outer wing pylons. This vid is a really good display of a standard landing pattern. 

A farewell flight of a MiG-21 pilot based in Malbork (nowadays the base hosts a squadron of Fulcrums). Notice how different the mid-90s kit is from what's being used today. This one has a great display of a formation takeoff.

A glorious throwback to the early 90s, when tactical 'staches were still very much in vogue. Features MiG-21 and TS-11 Iskra operations from a highway airstrip as well as a guest appearance from the 28th Fighter Aviation Regiment, one of Poland's finest air units of the time, in their beautiful MiG-23MFs. 

I really like this one - it's a mid-90s snapshot of a MiG-21 regiment in operations in all sorts of conditions and at different times of day. Highlights include full afterburner takeoffs at dusk and low-level barrel rolls. 

Last but not least is this Su-22M4 cockpit tour. Note that this was taken in 2018, so it's a good indicator of what these aircraft look like today. The changes from original spec aren't huge (no more toothpaste green in the 'pit!), but the aircraft is basically a placeholder anyway. It's going to be a couple of years before the Fitters get replaced by F-35s. I just hope I'll be able to see one in flight again before this happens. Needless to say it's a really good display aircraft.

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

I love the highway landings!

[Willi 42]

On 9/13/2020 at 12:47 AM, Firefly said:

Tonight's selection is brought to you by the Polish Air Force. 

Cockpit video taken a few years ago from a PAF MiG-29. Note the pilot has the HMS monocle on, which suggests there may be some captive R-73s under the outer wing pylons. This vid is a really good display of a standard landing pattern. 

 

 

I like how smoothly the pilot can control the MiG-29 in the pattern in RL, no oscillations, no excessive pitch-up, the plane goes where the pilots wants it... and then there is the DCS MiG-29

[Firefly 602]

3 hours ago, Willi said:

I like how smoothly the pilot can control the MiG-29 in the pattern in RL, no oscillations, no excessive pitch-up, the plane goes where the pilots wants it... and then there is the DCS MiG-29

Exactly. It's just like we talked about a couple of days ago. IRL the plane gives plenty of feedback to the pilot by modulating stick forces and physically moving the column around (think force feedback on steroids). This is adjusted automatically with speed, altitude, angle of attack, stick deflection and other such parameters. It takes some getting used to (Robert Hierl, a Luftwaffe F-4 driver who got to fly the Fulcrum-A before moving on to the Eurofighter programme as a test pilot, mentioned this in his interview), but once mastered it makes the Fulcrum a formidable opponent in the WVR arena, with ample feedback for the pilot and a great sense of controllability despite the high deflections required. In many ways this is the crowning achievment of computer-aided analogue flight control. Note that most of its contemporaries and the aircraft that followed, both Western and Eastern in origin, had fly-by-wire controls right off the drawing board to contain the natural aerodynamic instability that originated from supermanoeuvrable airframe design (think Su-27, Eurofighter and Rafale). 

In DCS the plane seems far too sensitive to stick inputs (pitch in particular), which - and this is entirely my conjecture - may be down to the fact that ED modelled the Fulcrum's aerodynamics correctly but failed to appreciate the importance of the FCS. While IRL the plane would give you certain inputs through the control column, in game those are entirely disregarded, resulting in a flight model that is far too sensitive to even moderate stick deflection. Modelling this correctly would be a challenge, but with so much data available on the Fulcrum I don't see why they haven't even attempted it. Hopefully the rumoured full-fidelity Fulcrum-A will change things. 

[Britchot 2,370]

1 hour ago, Firefly said:

Hopefully the rumoured full-fidelity Fulcrum-A will change things. 

What? Where? I'm intrigued! 

[Firefly 602]

41 minutes ago, Britchot said:

What? Where? I'm intrigued! 

Simon from ED strongly hinted at it in a recent podcast with the Grim Reapers. They haven't made a formal announcement yet (they're "looking into it"), because they have the Russian MoD information barrier to overcome. Not sure if the Fulcrum would come before or after the also-rumoured AH-1 or AH-64, but after a major rotorcraft debut in the form of the Mi-24 I'd expect their next release to be fixed-wing (and not NATO, because F-16 and F/A-18C). 

Summary of the interview here. 

[Willi 42]

8 hours ago, Firefly said:

Hopefully the rumoured full-fidelity Fulcrum-A will change things. 

My hope is that this Yo-Yo, who seems to be responsible for the DCS MiG-29 flight model, will not be involved with the full fidelity MiG-29, as he is totally resistant to any input. He indeed did quite a good job with the aerodynamic intricacies (although they feel a little exaggerated here and there, but this may well be due to the crappy steering behavior), but he totally failed to take into account the limitations of PC flight simulation hardware and adjust the simulated FCS accordingly - and he is not willing to change this one bit. It's frustrating.

[Firefly 602]

Incredible air-to-air footage of Su-25SM3s in action at a target range. Note the variety of aircraft at the airfield: Su-35s, Su-30s, Tu-22s, Il-76s, MiG-29s, Su-34s and others. 

 

[Firefly 602]

I love these clips of Italian F-104s. It's 90s extravaganza - there's porn film music, tactical 'staches, questionable editing and Cold War jets. What more could you possibly want? 

 

 

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

Ah, the Widowmaker!  Love that aircraft.

[Firefly 602]

The Swedish Dragon in all its afterburning, rollerskating glory. I'd love that plane to be in DCS. 

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

10 hours ago, Firefly said:

I'd love that plane to be in DCS. 

Me too.  Always loved the Draken.

[Firefly 602]

I don't believe I featured these before, so here we go. Standard disclaimer for Polish videos applies - the editing and soundtrack are... questionable, to put it charitably. Still, the footage is great. Some of the scenes were filmed on board older, unupgraded series 30 (or later) Su-22M4s with the IT-23M television screen (used for aiming the Kh-29T) left in place. Pay close attention to part 2, the pilot was kind enough to stick the camera right behind the ASP-17BC reflector gunsight, very similar to what was used in the Su-25. Also note the presence of a gun camera in a few shots, apparently some of these segments were filmed during live fire exercises. 

 

 

 

 

[Klaiber 4,328]

I know we've talked about this before, but I would love to see the Su-22 in DCS.  Such a cool aircraft.

[Firefly 602]

5 hours ago, Klaiber said:

I know we've talked about this before, but I would love to see the Su-22 in DCS.  Such a cool aircraft.

Exactly. Its major advantage as a DCS prospect is that most of its major weapon systems are already in the game in one form or another. Whoever makes it won't have to start from scratch. 

[Firefly 602]

Glorious!