Initial Rate Of Climb Record.

[willedoo]

Was reading an article about last Thursday, 27th October, being the 25th anniversary of Viktor Pugachev setting the record for time to climb to 3000m in 25.4 sec. In 1986 he set the climb records for 3, 6, 9 & 12 thousand metres in an Su 27, beating the previous US held F15 records by a couple of seconds, and are still unbeaten. I remember reading somewhere that the initial rate of climb record is held by a Mig 29. Question is, I was wondering if anyone knows how the initial rate of climb record is determined; have looked around & can't find anything. My first guess is that it would be measured from initial point of take-off, possibly to a given altitude, or within a certain time. Also can't find anything about time to climb to altitude records, whether they are from point of take-off, or a set, horizontal low level flight to gain speed first. Just curious.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Not sure but you would be pulling some g...

 

 

[dazza 38]

I thought the spaceshuttle would have the time to climb record.:D. All jokes aside Willie- that is a very good question.I dont know either. AEnglish Electric Lightning I reckon would have been up there in its day.

 

 

[willedoo]

Not sure but you would be pulling some g...

They say the initial rate of climb record is 330m/s or 65,000 ft/min. The pilot's face would have looked interesting. The climb to 3000, 6000, 9000 & 12000 work out at about 118, 162, 204 & 220 m/s respectively.

 

 

[willedoo]

I thought the spaceshuttle would have the time to climb record.:D. All jokes aside Willie- that is a very good question.I dont know either. AEnglish Electric Lightning I reckon would have been up there in its day.

The old Lightning was certainly a rocket, seems like it might have held the record for a long time. Here's a link to a comparison with the F15, written by Lightning pilot, Wing Commander Brian Carroll. His comments about the Mig 25 height record of 123,000 ft are interesting & he goes on to mention that he once had a Lightning up to 87,000 ft:

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/memories.php

 

 

[Ignition]

Sukhoi SU-27 is my dream plane... Fast cruise, Long Range, Great rate of climb, Great manoeuvrability, Take off and landing runs aren't all that long...

 

 

[willedoo]

Sukhoi SU-27 is my dream plane... Fast cruise, Long Range, Great rate of climb, Great manoeuvrability, Take off and landing runs aren't all that long...

Yes, Ignition, I can agree with that. The Su-27 & it's derivatives are certainly up there in the most sucessful fighter list, it's certainly given western designers & engineers a few sleepless nights. It would be nice to have the spare 16 thousand for a flight in one. Standard flights usually include the sound barrier, tail slide, Pugachev's cobra , split S, Immleman, loops, rolls, power dives, climbs & turns, etc. They even let you do some turns, but I suppse at that price, they'd want to. The later models with the 3D thrust vectoring are nice to watch doing aerobatics; most of their aerobatic maneuvers have some military significance as the Russians have always been great believers in dogfighting & all train regularly to do it. Sukhoi test pilot, Viktor Pugachev was also the first pilot to take off & land a non vtol plane on a Russian carrier. I suppose that led them to develop the Navy variant of the Mig 29 with thrust vectoring nozzles like the Su's.

It was interesting in August to watch the 5th generation Sukhoi Pak Fa T50 prototype streaming live from the Maks airshow. Being the first public demonstration, I thought it would be a bit sedate, but they did quite a bit of aerobatics, although not as elaborate as the Su 27/35's. After it had a flame out & aborted take off, the T50 taxied past the Su 35 & it was quite noticable how much smaller it was compared to the Flankers. The Americans were there with their F15 Strike Eagle aerobatic crew & did themselves proud, although I don't know how modified their F15 is. But I suppose I could talk about Flankers all night, even if I had to talk to myself; bit of an addiction I guess.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[dazza 38]

The old Lightning was certainly a rocket, seems like it might have held the record for a long time. Here's a link to a comparison with the F15, written by Lightning pilot, Wing Commander Brian Carroll. His comments about the Mig 25 height record of 123,000 ft are interesting & he goes on to mention that he once had a Lightning up to 87,000 ft:http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/memories.php

I realy Enjoyed that Willie.Thankyou very much.A very interesting read

 

 

[Guest Michael Coates]

I might be wrong that I can remember speaking to a P 51 owner at Oshkosh a long time ago and he was telling me how it was only recently that the jet aircraft beat the record held by a propeller aircraft, EG P51.... All of these records are from a standing start at runway level. Regardless, it is quite a climb rate !

 

 

[willedoo]

I might be wrong that I can remember speaking to a P 51 owner at Oshkosh a long time ago and he was telling me how it was only recently that the jet aircraft beat the record held by a propeller aircraft, EG P51.... All of these records are from a standing start at runway level. Regardless, it is quite a climb rate !

If they're from a standing start, Michael, that might explain the Sukhoi holding the record, with the thrust vectoring nozzles allowing a shorter take-off & the high thrust to back it up. The initial rate of climb record held by the Mig might be on account of it's small size giving it a high thrust to weight ratio. From a standing start, it would be easy to imagine the P51 holding it's own for quite a while. The fastest speed record for a propeller driven aircraft is still unbroken since 1961, so anything's possible, I guess.

Cheers, Willie.