Here it is up close and personal.

Fast forward to 00:50

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f78_1445140626

The best airborne footage I've seen of a Mig-21 was from an Israeli F-15 gun camera. This was during an airstrike into the Beqaa Valley. The F-15 was just pulling off target and a Fishbed flew right in front of him. The Eagle pulled a ton of Gs (HUD pitch lines dipped WAY down) and within seconds was gunning his brains out. That Grasshopper didn't learn well enough soon enough.

I saw this footage during the same briefing where they talked about the Tunisia air strike. The strike group was on an ICAO IFR flight plan with a VFR delay near Malta. The PLO never saw it coming.

BZ anytime the PLO has a bad day its a good day for the rest of the world.

When the Soviet Union broke up the bases in the satellite countries could pretty much do what they wanted with the planes that were left to them. I remember Alex (my Russian instructor) telling me how bad the morale was. For fun (the other pilots, not Alex) each pilot would drink a bottle of Vodka, run to the plane, climb to 60 or 70k ft which was above the service ceiling, run out of fuel, and dead stick the landing. I forget what the prize was for landing first. I think I remember him telling me that it would climb at 35k per minute initially and that you had less than 10 minutes of fuel with the happy lever all the way forward with after burner on.

He echoed the comments here that the plane was not built for safety or longevity. It was built to be cheap, maneuverable, and fast.

This plane has been for sale forever. $185k? Maybe for a late (1980s) model 2 seat UM with the R13 engine.

A 1960s single seat, there is zero market for this.

The MiG 21 is a very exciting aircraft to fly. Unfortunately it's always trying to kill you and it really cannot be operated without ground crew and lots of prep before every flight. Don't think this is ANYTHING like an L39, Fouga, Iskra, MiG 15, 17, etc. It's a completely different animal.

High Key for the SFO pattern in a 21 is 20,000+ feet AGL. Anything less and you won't make the runway. That tells you everything you need to know about this aircraft. By comparison, we use 5,000 AGL in the MiG 15 & 17. 3,000 AGL in the L39.

If you want to fly a fairy fast fighter/trainer that is still safe the Gnat like Theo has is about your best choice. The pure trainers like the L39, L29, Iskra, Vampire, etc are easier to fly than a Bonanza IMO. The 21 is always in emergency mode. The Gnat is somewhere in between.

I just can't imagine checking in on the frequency as "Fishbed 121MG". There's no 'cool' in being a "Fishbed".

THIS on the other hand, is cool.

There is plenty of cool on that page...

If someone needs an instructor pilot, let me know.

I've got a friend who used to do that for a living. Graduate of Pakistani Air College, some 3 or 4 years in Russia training, was contract instructor in Libya when Reagan took exception to operations there. Now a US Citizen By Choice (as opposed to so many who are citizen by accident).

It's been a while since he's flown (ok, 30 years<g>), but I'll bet he could pick it up pretty fast.

Dan

Damn!

Robert

Holy S**T: Climb rate (initial) 65,000 ft / min

Wonder what it would cost to maintain that?

If you have to ask you can't afford it

Better do a thorough pre-buy too, I saw a lot of "INOP" stickers in the cockpit.

Gravity and physics are not impressed by flying hours, type ratings, leather jackets or cool flying stories.

Such a cool plane... Its part of my useless trivia about airplanes that have a brake on a front wheel (727, Mig 21, DC3 lol).

Whats-his-name used to do a little demo when we had fly-ins at Castle AFB in his 21. That thing consumed massive areas of the sky in a single squirt.

Wish I had the balls to fly one, but I do not.

T