Let’s visit the military air base in Khotilovo village and look at pilots of the MiG-31 aircraft at work.
The MiG-31 is a supersonic interceptor aircraft. It is the first Soviet airplane of the 4th generation intended for annihilation of air targets at any height and in any weather conditions. Four such planes are able to control the space which can be 800-900 km long.
The first airplanes appeared on the territory of the Khotilovo airbase before the World War II. The first propeller-driven and jet-powered airplanes were dislocated here in 1950-1960.
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migthirtyone005-28.jpg : Dummy wear OP1 coat.
migthirtyone005-47.jpg : Epic!!!
>” Nobody will feel at ease next to such a mighty machine “< Yes, please don't point that thing at me.
Really neat pictures!
There is one which shows a Su-27, which they had uploaded more of those too.
I have a question for anyone with knowledge on the topic… On the one of the pictures with the canopy of the plane open, you can see some green patches of some soft material, what are these for?
Regards!
The material lining the top and sides of the canopy appears to be a sound absorbing material in order to keep the very loud noise that the MiG-31s engines make out it would also make sounds generated inside the cockpit more clear in short it is similar to noise canceling headphones which most modern aircraft headgear have a version of so the material is likely no longer needed but still in place.
And the “man” in 20 and 21 that is what it appears to be;a scarecrow they use them at airport and air bases around the world.Some military bases have trained hawks that are there to kill birds in order to make other birds avoid the runway for fear of predatory action.Bird strikes are a very common problem at military bases.
It’s real serious insulation for noise reduction and climate control. It’s a jet designed to operate at extremely high altitudes (service ceiling is around 65500 feet). The K36 0-0 ejection seats even have massage pads to keep the pilots comfy on long range missions. The Su-34 ejection seats have this feature as well.
very beautiful plane and excellent photos, some of them are worth being desktop wallpapers, unfortunately none of them are large enough.
Why are the Russian jets so smoky?
It’s the design. Russian jet engines must operate at cooler temperatures than western counterparts, due to inferior metallurgy. Also, the MIG-31 is designed for exceptionally high altitudes, so some lower altitude compromises were necessary.
These ones seem smokier than most, so maintenance or fuel might also be an issue.
That plane is landing the smoke is when the tires hit the asphalt.
You must never have seen the exhaust trial that the F-4 left behind and I think you are confusing the smoke to be from the engines when in fact it is coming from the tires touching the runway on landing(the only photos I see here that appear smokey)The smoke left from regular flight perfectly acceptable for the MiG-31 she was designed to kill B-52s and B-1Bs flying map of the earth not as a dog fighter the MiG-31 is hunter not a fighter.
What you say is true although in the case of the MiG-31 it was designed for and still operates in an environment where airspace is under Soviet(now Russian control)The Strategic Air Command gave up on the idea of escort fighters for Nuclear strike and bomber aircraft way back in the late 50s and focused on infiltration of Soviet airspace alone and equipped with required counter measures and began flying low altitude penetration in the early 60s to counter the Soviet air defense threat which at that time and indeed up to the time that the MiG-31 came into service was very weak at dealing with low altitude penetration.The MiG-31 was a very impressive aircraft when it came out the West was very shocked to see an aircraft with such effective Lock-Down Shoot-Down Radar something the Soviets had for several years been unable to develop.The MiG-31 changed all that and to this day is still one of the best pure interceptors in the world.In the designed for the MiG-31 role a smokey exhaust is not an issue at all.The Foxhound was a very advanced aircraft when it came into service equal to only a few other aircraft and that is still the case almost 30 years later.
Only few years ago, most of these aircraft were broken. Putin must have found some parts spares for them.
The MiG-31 fleet was always of high prioerity and was kept in storage when funds for ongoing flight maintenance wasn’t available during the dark years (1991-2000). So when the proper funding was restored, they could resume operations without too much trouble. Add to that the extensive modernizing programme (MiG-31BM) of recent years.
Most of the “pilots” are overweight ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I dont think this are all pilots of this jets, or even maybe they are also non pilots on the ictures, as some wear glasses.
sad. just because they are airforce, they are free from the physical fitness regime which we ebdured in the ground forces.
Better to handle G-forces, or so I’ve been told.
The MiG-31’s been around for many years, descended from the even older MiG-25.
So?
So that’s where the old Avro Arrow plans went!
FYI The Avro Arrow engineers were British.
I saw some rust, is that normal?
Russian planes are made to be used and the “rust” is paint that peeled back and we c the orange primmer. Its no biggy.