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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

MiG-29K Aircraft Performs Series Of 'Touch-And-Go' Before Landing On Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya [Video]

Video footage from cameras on-board the aircraft shows it landing on the INS Vikramaditya - super cool.

It first performed a couple of deliberate touch-and-go passes, before finally lowering the arresting hook, snagging the arrestor wire to land the bird. These passes may have been performed to ensure that the instrumentation systems were properly calibrated & functioning, before actually landing - all part of the trials.

via kokos613

Russia recently delivered 4 more of these aircrafts, that are now stationed at the Dabolin Naval Air Station in Goa, practicing take-off from a ski-jump & arrested landing at the Shore Based Test Facility [SBTF]. A total of 45 of these carrier-capable MiG-29 variants would be inducted, that includes 4 twin-seat variant. Recent news reports suggest work currently underway to fix the problems detected during its maiden trials. Depending on the source, either 3 or 7 of the ship's 8 boilers failed when attempt was made to sail the ship at its maximum designed speed of 29-30 knots. Insulation used has been cited as the reason for failure. The repair work is expected to continue into the summer, after which it would be 'taken out for another spin'. It has now been suggested that the Vikramaditya will reach India in the month of December, this year. We'll see.

Godspeed

Related: Admiral Gorshkov To INS Vikramaditya: The Metamorphosis [Illustration]