Russian Sky excerpt
Tags: Sukhoi Mikoyan Flanker Fulcrum aerobatics air maneuvres Russian military aviation airshow airplane aircraft jet TVC
Length: 5:47
Description: -OKB Sukhoi General designer Mikhail P. Simonov.
-Sukhoi Test Pilot Yevgeniy Frolov with the Su-37 711 White (T10M-11 prototype).
http://www.testpilot.ru/russia/sukhoi/isp/frolov.htm
Su-37 was an experimental thrust vectoring fighter. The TVC on this fighter was providing to it super-agility. It was capable to remain in zero speed/ high alpha mode for 3-4 seconds, which was long enough to lock a misile and fire, or quickly recover from this mode. Sukhoi OKB chose the Lyul'ka Saturn AL-31FU (U = oopravlyayemoye soplo - vectoring nozzle) to embody the Su-37. The engine was uprated to 12,800Kgp (28,220 Lbst) in full Afterburner.
The Su-37 (T10M-11) had a digital (unlike the Su-27s that had analogue) FBW control system. The system had a quadraplex pitch control circuit and triplex yaw and roll control circuits. The automatic control system limited the G loads automatically, depending on the aircraft's gross weight and flight mode.
Piloted by Yevgeniy Frolov, the Su-37 stole the show at Farnborough International 1996 in September - and with a good reason too-. The Su-37 was capable of pitching up through a 180 degrees into a tail first position and staying in that position long enough to fire a missile at a pursuing enemy fighter. The spectacular manoeuvre has been called Super Cobra - or as Frolov himself called it, Stop Cobra-. The lack of limits on AOA & pitch rate has made it possible to use the sizeable additional lift generated by the unstable airflow in certain altitudes.
Of course Super Cobra evolved into a 360 somersault that has become known as the Frolov's Chakra (or Kulbit). Other maneuvres include a high speed yo-yo perfomed in less than 10 seconds, a stall turn in vertical climb, Pugachov's Cobra maneuvres with AOA of 150 or 180 degrees ( with an attitude hold for 3-4 seconds), tailslide transforming into a wingover and so on.
Unfortunately, Su-37 711 White crashed on 19 December 2002 near Zhukovsky during a routine flight. The port stabilator broke away during a high-g maneuvre and the resulting hydraulics leak put all hydraulic systems out of action, rendering the aircraft uncotrollable. Tes Pilot Yuriy Vashchuk ejected safely below 1000m (3,280 ft). After the wreckage had been salvaged and studied, the experts concluded that the structural failure had been caused by fatigue due to the design loads being exceeded many times during the aircraft's 6 year test career.
-Mikoyan test pilot Anatoliy Kvochur with Mig-29A Flucrum
http://www.testpilot.ru/review/ispmig/pilot/kvochur.htm
-Mikoyan test pilot Roman Taskayev
http://www.testpilot.ru/review/ispmig/pilot/taskaev.htm
Author: Tsobanian
Source: YouTube
