Christoph Dellingshausen could estimate lucky himself: when he participated in the summer in the Pernod Ricard profit play, he could not suspect yet, that he would appear 5 months later in the cockpit of a Mig-29, NATO code name ' Fulcrum '. Read here now his exciting experience report of his "Mig-29 high altitude and Aerobatic Flight�, which ordered mydays.de by our side.
The Take Off
After a short waiting period rolls the machine right around the curve and stands now ready to be launched on the runway. Over my helmet I receive each quantity Russian radiograms between Sascha and the Tower. Sascha lets few instants later howl the engines the first time correctly, whereby itself - due to the still determined brake - the nose of the jet lowers. After a short period of waiting, the take off begins�
After the brakes are loosened, the machine begin to accelerate rapidly, whereby the power of the engines is out-played noticeably, but the jet takes off at a speed of approx. 260 km/h after few seconds. We approach equivalent into a link curve and to steer to the cloud-imposed sky steeply. I am surprised of it, like calmly the machine lies in the air - it slides like an arrow by air. From extreme centrifugal forces I notice still nothing at this time. This load could bear even my grandmother, I imagines. At this time I thought still nothing bad... Yes, we fly...
After - compared with a passenger plane - extremely short time we push by the cloud cover, where we are welcomed by the sun and radiating blue sky. The flight is further extremely calm, centrifugal forces is minimal and I enjoys the view. With my Sony Camcorder I catch each quantity of beautiful pictures, in order to be able to grant apart from the impressions, which burn themselves into my memory, also for future generations a few impressions. To reaching a flight altitude of approx. 12000 meters, we fly some gentle curves, which really do not provoke my condition however yet. Sascha informs me that he would like to rise now to scarcely 20000 meters.
At this time we are already scarcely 18 minutes in air. The nose lifts itself and the sound of the engines becomes louder. It approaches (in the blue sky not yet visible) to the stars. The cloud cover among us departs more and more, and with a view I notice upward that the blue over us becomes gradual darker. After approximately 3 minutes we reach a altitude of approximately 20000 meters, I enjoy first the breath-robbing prospect and notice that Earth's curvature on the horizon is to be seen easy. While the line of the horizon track-send is bright, the blue tones become upward darker ever - an ingenious picture. Space makes impressively attentive on itself...
May the force be with you
I hear Saschas voice via Intercom in my helmet: "Christoph, your control", the Russian accent inescapably audibly and somehow cool. Carefully I embrace the control stick before me and slope him completely easily to the left, in order to find the reaction out of the machine. The jet leans to the left immediately, drops thereby however easily, why I pull the clubs at the same time a little to the rear, in order to hold the horizontal flight attitude. I fly a relatively steep link curve and bring the bird then by steering back to a horizontal position. After I had played in the time before my flight a little with the Microsoft Flight simulator, I knew that a relative to strong impacts of the rudders would lead rapidly to extreme inclination of the airplane, why I held back myself thereby.
Sascha makes content notes and asked themselves whether I would have already flight experience.
"No, I have just game experience with the Flight simulator on my PC" is my answer and must laugh. Then I think that it is actually with "DO-it-yourself" flies now enough and release the Joystick - without previous announcement -. I do not know also, which devil rode me here.
In the next moment the machine makes for light link drift and sags somewhat. The situation was probably not at all dangerous, but in this moment I was not conscious. Immediately my hands are again at the control stick, in order to intercept it. I fly still small right curve and hear briefly thereafter already in my helmet Saschas voice: "Christoph, my control".
Rock'n'Roll
We go into strong link drift, whereby we lose height properly at the same time ever more downward with bent jet point and I feel for the first time, how centrifugal forces take me correctly into the pliers. My legs and arms become "heavy" in the truth sense of the word and that, although I am wide awake in the situation. After some seconds Sascha turns the machine into a right curve to change over in order to place it - after a short phase in the horizontals - to the left with a role on the head then from this position into the dive. WOW - which for a feeling! Still the cloud cover removed relatively far races at a speed of approx. 1.7 Mach (more than 2000 km/h) directly on us too. The jet vibrated under the load and on me working centrifugal forces press me in particular when pulling up the machine into a again horizontal flight position, strongly into my ejection seat. Out of the horizontal we go again into a sharp left curve, which is to lead us into the next dive. The altimeter before me turns as wildly in the circle and - with approx. 300m per second - in condemns short time put back altitude difference, causes for me due to the constantly rising pressure on my ear meanwhile extreme pain.
Now an extreme stress situation is for me approaching. In the right hand I hold my Camcorder, with link hand I try to open my oxygen mask, in order to be able to accomplish by closing of the nose a pressure balance. Only today I know, why the mask could not be solved simply. My helmet visor was still closed, which I did not notice in the slowly budding panic. One of the Russians had still specially pointed out me when putting on the flightsuit, that without opening the visor removing of the oxygen mask is not possible. In this moment, this knowledge was as blown away. My pain is to be meanwhile hardly still borne. Sascha inquires via Intercom whether with me everything is correct, which I answer in the negative. When he hears of my ear pain, he instructs me to accomplish as fast as possible the pressure balance. And - finally - the oxygen mask can be solved. The pressure balance relieves the ears of the extreme pressure, which lets the pain disappear immediately.
I draw a deep breath and can enjoy meanwhile again the horizontal flight finally. Sascha leaves however only a short pause to me. The cloud cover came noticeably more near and a �looping� was announced. Only two seconds later is it so far. The machine pulls steeply upward, I notion air and I feels like an old car in an wreckpress, which is crushed the car. With 5G my fivefold body weight rests on me (with me approx. 435 kg). From the principle, the feeling from the roller coaster is well-known - the difference is the time factor. The forces continue during the entire Loopingphase, i.e. over 30 seconds, while one is confronted only very briefly in the Rollercoaster with such gravitation forces. I can hold the small, extremely easy SONY Camcorder straight still in the hand - which has the thing for an unbelievable weight at one time! Fascinatingly... Sascha goes to end of the looping into an extreme right curve and flies then in such a manner scarcely over the cloud cover, that one has the feeling to be able to touch the "white cotton wool".
He informs me about the next flight maneuver - a parabola flight with "Zero G" situation, in which we are become weightless in the machine. From the horizontal flight position he pulls the machine into an extreme zooming up. As it were a rocket race we approx. 20 second push in the vertical line against space. Unbelievable gravitation forces of 5G affect us also here, while the engines howl loud. Sascha takes the thrust away, at one time completely, which leads to the fact that the jet tilts forward and occurs (in this case much confines), the jet follows a parabolic flight path. We fall against the Earth! During this phase, forward of tilting, we are completely weightless due to the waived gravitation forces for some seconds. The g-meter, which indicates the positive gravitation forces of 0-9G, swivels from first 5 suddenly on 0. I notice, how I - although I am buckled - easily from my seat take off and my feet the tax pedals abandoned. GLARINGLY!
Without consciousness
I do not know whether me with these whole maneuvers without anti-nausea plasters would have become bad. In any case, ones I felt good, although something exhausted and did not have times a stocked dull feeling in the stomach. We break through the cloud cover - this time from above downward - and fly back now into some minutes to the airbase. In order to still offer to the met public on the soil no insert, Sascha flies over the runway in good, but rather moderate speed. He knew already, why. At the end of the course he breaks out sharply to the left with our machine! The maneuver, a so-called "outbreak curve", is an emergency maneuver for the air combat. Normally thereby approaching rockets or persistent pursuers can be shaken off. The bearing areas stand thereby perpendicularly to the soil whereby the machine can lose strongly at height and speed. The arising gravitation forces are extremely, so extreme that I lose briefly consciousness. I have a classical Blackout for approx. 4 seconds - me eyes becomes black �
Touch down
When I come back to senses, we already are on the approach flight, which consists of two relatively gentle link curves. Later mother Earth has us in her hands. A singular experience is to end. We roll to our starting point, where I am taken by my crew in receipt. It is knocked against with Pernod to fetch back around me beside my body also mentally again on the soil; -) After removing the helmet I notice that my right ear was not assigned, and despite repeated pressure balance to any more, but it does not open.
Back in Cologne my HNO physician will diagnose a few days later the fact that I suffered a Baro trauma in such a way specified that also in the dipping sport of the more frequent occurs. It arises, if a necessary pressure balance takes place too late or not at all. However I carried fortunately no permanent damage off. After one period of two weeks elapsed, I heard on both ears again equivalent well. Afterwards I by the way very experienced that, the Russian lady doctor Sascha referred apparently to me good physical condition, why my flight program - various my predecessors compared with - might have failed probably something "more intensively"; -)
Christoph Frh. von Dellingshausen, 09.12.2004 - Romanenskoje-Airbase - High Performance Jetflight MIG-29
Copyright (c) MMV. All rights reserved. Text by Christoph v. Dellingshausen, pictures captured out of Video-Film, filmed by Christoph v. Dellingshausen.