Cope India '04

[rasi]

Hai guys, I will post here pics and news from the historical Cope India '04, the joint exercise by the IAF and the USAF, at our base - Maharajpur AFS, Gwalior.

The scanning of the pics is underway now, so wait until tomorrow for some breathtaking and funny pics.

 

[rasi]

Talking of funny pics, we had a very, very funny moment yesterday.

A top US official, administrative not military, had a peculiar wish. He wanted to sit in the Su-30 MKI, the MiGs and the Mirage. There is nothing peculiar about this issue, don't you think. But, there was a big problem. This guy is a 130+ kg person and about twice broad as me. He managed to get into the Sukhoi. Then he came to the Mirage, climbed the ladder and was standing on the saddle. The Mirage is only about three-quarters the width of a Sukhoi, and even I feel a bit uncomfortable with the seating. This guy just went in, and his abdomen got stuck into the throttles. : : : ( The throtles lie just to the left of our hip ) His shirt was torn, and it became like a emergency situation, people scurrying here and there and it took more than half an hour to remove him from the cockpit. : :

We even have a photograph of the guy stuck in the cockpit. But, we have strict orders not to release the pics, not to make it an interational affair.

The entire thing happened in the hangars. The press should have seen the incident. : : :

 

[rasi]

The MiG issue:
************

Today, after the debriefing, the Air Chief Marshal was speaking to us, when a US engineer came up with a, well, question.

He said, "Sir, it is about the MiGs. They are technical marvels, the Indian pilots are some of the finest, the maintenance is good as well, but, just why are they crashing?" The ACM was taken by surprise by the question, but he answered it. The answer was simple and straight, "Captain", he said," we do not have original MiG spares. The MiG company is not producing enough to supply the Russians and the IAF. So we are forced to use the European spares, the Dassault spares. The situation is so critical that even 20% of the Russian MiGs use these spares. We are producing 90-95% of the low-end spares indigenously at HAL, but the high-end, technically complicated parts of the fuel-injection and the electronic systems are now being studied. We are confident that these spares will be manufactured by HAL itself in 2008."

Well, I will never be able to ask that question to the ACM. Even we knew about his problem only today.

 

[ricky123]

Originally posted by Iniyan@Feb 23 2004, 08:23 PM
Talking of funny pics, we had a very, very funny moment yesterday.

A top US official, administrative not military, had a peculiar wish. He wanted to sit in the Su-30 MKI, the MiGs and the Mirage. There is nothing peculiar about this issue, don't you think. But, there was a big problem. This guy is a 130+ kg person and about twice broad as me. ? ? He managed to get into the Sukhoi. Then he came to the Mirage, climbed the ladder and was standing on the saddle. The Mirage is only about three-quarters the width of a Sukhoi, and even I feel a bit uncomfortable with the seating. This guy just went in, and his abdomen got stuck into the throttles. :? :? : ( The throtles lie just to the left of our hip ) His shirt was torn, and it became like a emergency situation, people scurrying here and there and it took more than half an hour to remove him from the cockpit. :? :

We even have a photograph of the guy stuck in the cockpit. But, we have strict orders not to release the pics, not to make it an interational affair.

The entire thing happened in the hangars. The press should have seen the incident. :? :? :

: : : really funny

 

[ricky123]

B) but u dint mention the accident which happened some days a go.

american plane crashed or what???

 

[rasi]

It did not crash. It was a mid-air refueller which came with the F-15 C's. It landed in Delhi for refuellnig and when it took off, its engine caught fire. It was landed in the same airport. No casualities.

 

[ricky123]

B) so did u guys get to fly any f16s

 

[rasi]

No. The Americans brought only their F-15 C's.

 

[ricky123]

Originally posted by Iniyan@Feb 24 2004, 07:07 PM
No. The Americans brought only their F-15 C's.

B) so did u guys get to fly f15 or even sit in it for a while?

u must have made a lot of friends

 

[rasi]

I flew the F-15. I also flew the Su-30, the MiG 21 and the MiG 29.

I made quite a lot of friends. Many of the guys are from Alaska, and they are suffering from the Gwalior heat.

I even flew under the American command for the Beyond Visual Range combat simulation. Infact, all the Mirages were under the American command, while the Sukhois and the MiGs formed the Indian command for this exercise.

We were the bandits, trying to bomb Gwalior, and every one of the American Command was 'shot' down. I managed to get three 'kills' and was shot down once. Interestingly, only two of the fifteen Sukhois were 'killed'.

Here the 'kills' stands for 'radar lock'. Once you are on a radar lock, 9 out of 10 times you are going to be shot down.

 

[ricky123]

B) thats cool man , u must a be a good pilot,

so who won.

 

[rasi]

The Sukhoi and the MiGs won.

I was brilliant in the BVR simulation, but in the close combat simulation, I was 'killed' four times and made just one kill.

Maybe because, 101 hours of my flight log have been in the night time. So, I have become used to instrumental flying. I have logged 113 hours since my commissioning.

Also, the reason we under-performed in the close range dogfights, is that our aircraft ( ie., the Mirage-2000H's and the F-15C's ) are as manoevrable as trucks and the other aircrafts (Su--30 and the MiG 21 & 29s) are like bicycles in a traffic jam.

 

[ricky123]

B) it must have been great to see this from the ground.

and since i have got u here,what happened to ur dream selector

 

[rasi]

You can play it next month. I am trying to get it completely automated.

You know, I will be free only from 26th. The exercise is coming to a close tomorrow.

We are free for the next two months. The IAF is going to do maintenance and upgrades on our Mirages in the next two months, beginning 27th Feb. The MiGs in here will stay and do the patrols and stuff. We have absolutely no work for the next two months.

 

[rasi]

I have some terrific videos from my cockpit of the formation flying and the night-time sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI. It is too big to post here.

I even recorded the BVR Simulation using my Sony Handycam, from the cockpit of my Mirage. If you see it you will know how exactly, it feels flying a fighter and shooting the enemies off the air. and also the way different aircrafts fly and handle.