Presentation Date: August 23, 2001
John Fulton
John is a high-visibility member of the GGW (including Col of the Month, Flying Sponsor of the SNJ, T-33, MiG-17) and a versatile aviator. John shares some of his experiences of how he managed to accumulate his high number of flight hours in so many different aircraft types. Plus some highlights of his dramatic experiences recently in Russia flying the high-performance MiG-29 air-superiority fighter! John is a high-visibility member of the GGW (including Col of the Month, Flying Sponsor of the SNJ, T-33, MiG-17) and a versatile aviator.
John shares some of his experiences of how he managed to accumulate his high number of flight hours in so many different aircraft types. Plus some highlights of his dramatic experiences in Russia flying the high-performance MiG-29 air-superiority fighter!
Most of us who have learned to fly privately, in general aviation, are content to obtain our Private Pilot’s license, fly a four seater, take day trips, and mostly remain within a 1-200 mile radius from home, and enjoy that $100 hamburger; not so, John Fulton.
At 17 years old, (old?) John was a student Pilot and by now (age 37) has his Instrument, Commercial, ATP, and is a Certified Flight Instructor-Instrument, with ratings in Land, Sea plane, multi-engine, Helicopter, Gyrocopter, Glider and many others. At this ripe old age he has accumulated 16,000 hours of flight time. John has flown approximately 200 different types of aircraft (average of about one different aircraft per month for each month he’s flown) and is a CAF pilot sponsor in all three Golden Gate Wing Aircraft, the SNJ, T-33 and Mig-17.
John has flown to all the states in an Aeronca Champ, flown across the Atlantic in a Bonanza, circled the world in a King Air (with Col Doug Cayne), flown to South America, chased giraffes from an African runway, and recently returned from an Alaskan adventure in a Twin Amphibian Grumman. Yet, with all of these accomplishments, John still had "Higher" goals to reach!
John along with wing member Col Sal Rubino (who is the Golden Gate Wing Mig-17 donor) went to Russia, about 20 miles S.E. of Moscow, to train in the Mig-21. Since the break up of the Soviet Union, the cash starved Russian Air Force has made some of its aircraft available for ‘thrill rides’ and training to outsiders as well as putting up for sale many of their older planes.
The Mig-21 first flew in the late 1950’s is capable of Mach 2, relatively easy to fly, easy to maintain, and was popular enough to result in over 5000 built and used by 30 countries. The training took place in the two place "UM" model. Two days of classroom instruction with a Russian Air Force instructor, and an interpreter preceded the flight. Al manuals were in English, well prepared and available from the Internet. Training included ejection seat operation which utilized nitrogen bottles (for training) rather than explosive charges in the aircraft. All the gages and training was in kilometers. John mentioned that all the Macho Military pilots carry their helmet in a Pink Bag, and John is now also a proud possessor of a pink helmet bag.
Student up front, instructor in back, climbed out in full afterburner at 3.81 km/minute (about 12-13000 ft/min). John got up to Mach 1.6, did aerobatics, slow flight and stalls. His loops were entered at 2.3 km/hr (600 kts), and were "amazingly docile" (John’s words)! They would start with 2400 liters of fuel, and seven minutes later after the climb, would have 1000 liters left (264 gallons or 1743 pounds). Landing approach was at 180-200 kts, stall at 160 kts, at touchdown with nose high the rear seat pilot uses a periscope to see the center line. Nice!
Spins were practiced with the engine out from at least 7 km altitude (23,000 feet) and would descend at 10,000 ft./min. and restart on the way down; a unique practice not done in the U.S.!
At the end of the landing roll out, the brakes would be so hot that they would be cooled off with a bucket of water, to make them ready for the next launch. John made two dozen flights in the Mig-21.
Current cost to purchase a Mig-21 (U.S.D) is about $150K in the U.S. or $10,000 in Russia. Following two more days in Ground School, John went up in the Mig-23, a Mach 2.5 airplane; capable of sea level supersonic speeds. This is a swing wing aircraft (like the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat) with a 72 degree sweep. There were about 30 agreed upon terms used for communication in flight with the instructor such as "John, throttle back"! The -23 is a fighter bomber that had not been flown in two months, but only required 3 hours of preflight preparation - in the rain. John said the instrument panel was painted an awful blue green color. The Russian Psychologists had determined that this color would be the most subduing to the combat pilots! ("Everyone is an art designer!") John also added that an F-14 needs a room as big as the O-club to prepare for preflight, in calibrating instrument systems, and this Russian plane needed only three hours also doable in third world countries with minimum support! Start - cycle the wings forward to see if they work, swing back for taxi - so you don’t hit anything, take off with wings forward. The flight reached mach 1.6 and did some mild aerobatics. The -23 is a less forgiving aircraft. It was not as much fun to fly as the -21!
The airfield where training too place was an active military field with all types of aircraft since WWII including the newest and best (not available for test). Among these and available was the Mig-25 Fox bat, a very large, seductive, Mach 2.5+ aircraft built to kill the B-70 which never reached production. The -25 was built to climb very fast and have an extremely high ceiling. John observed: "This is a very expensive and very irresponsible airplane to fly, but once you see it, you have to fly it"! So… back to the classroom and another 3 days of study. Normally limited to 20 km’s (about 65,000 feet) altitude, John negotiated (for three days) fir a "Zoom" ride which was approved! Climbing out at 9.7-10.7 km/hr 33,000ft/min) the mig-25 leveled off, accelerated to Mach 2.5 and zoomed up to 84,000 feet! The first 14 minutes was all with afterburner and the burned up 12 tons of fuel during the first 30 minutes…(must have shut down the afterburner!). John said the radius of action is measured in tens of miles but is still a major threat in certain situations.
John said he enjoyed the Mig-21 the best, the Mig-23 was more ponderous, and that the Mig-25 was a cerebral experience, but not fun. He said that Sal went up in the Migh-29, but he did not. Although the planes were equipped with drogue chutes, they were not used as they were using a long enough runway.
They had the same "meat and potatoes" for every meal. IN the morning’s a well meaning woman brought them a tasteless custard that wound up being a treat for the local feral dogs. Although the Mig-21 is engine TBO’d short (500 hrs) it has lots of entertainment value; Sal bought one!
I know your reporter’s $100 hamburger flights have taken on a whole new perspective!!!
Click here to see the article "Flying the T-33".