Some questions re MiG-21

[<John de Giorgio>]

After only four short test flights, I think I can safely say that this aircraft could easily become one of my all-time favorites.

Great attention to detail and breathtaking to fly.

I do have some questions though which I hope someone can answer. Here goes.

1. ILS works with NAV 2 radio (and not with NAV 1)Can someone confirm?

2. What does the OM-IM selector switch (on the left of the panel) do?

3. Difference between A/P Stabilization and A/P Alignment?

4. Can I get rid of (or jettison) main belly tank?If so how? The jettison button dosen't seem to have any effect in FS2002.

5.What is "Cone Extended" and "Stabiliser for landing"? I assume the latter is the belly spoiler?

6. Are there any panel switches that bring up the radio and main panel without having to hit Shift 2 and Shift 3?

7. The ILS (glidepath and glidescope indicators) are not available on the HUD?

Many thanks for any help.

John, Geneva, Switzerland.

[<RSColonel_131st>]

1. Didn't check yet.

2. Suppose that means Outer Marker-Inner Marker. (ILS). Marker Light is top of the center 4 warning lights.

3. Dunno

4. There are 3 models in your FS2002 folder, one of them is clean, one with a belly tank, one with 3 tanks. No way to drop tanks in FS2002

5. I think CONE refers to the Nose cone, which seems to be extended after takeoff. Dunno whats stabilized for landing means...maybe it means you have the right AoA and good sink rate.

6. Dunno, but it would be cool.

7. Last HUD mode from top to bottom is landing mode, that should offer you a center circle with the info. See the Instruments Manual for more details on that HUD mode.

Hope that helps a little, until Support arives.

[<Michael>]

One awsome sim!

I have a question or two as well, to add to those above:

1. Do MiG-21's, on landing, really float like that, in what I assume is ground effect?

2. With such a faithful reproduction of a magnificent aircraft, why is the indicated altitude expressed in feet instead of metres?

3. In the virtual 3-D cockpit at night, the main instruments in my aircraft are black (not lit) - supposed to be like that?

Best regards,

Mike

[<John de Giorgio>]

Thanks for the info.

I have the basic package. One US and two USSR models. All three have the large central tank and empty rails under the wings.

No reference to ILS on HUD in the manual.

Thanks again.

[<John de Giorgio>]

Mike,

Hi there.

Dropping my speed down to 200kph or below on finals bring mine down like a brick with full flaps. I have to maintain a much higher speed on the approach.

Other point you raised. Are you sure you have switched on your panel lights (switch on extreme left of panel)? Mine light up fine at night.

Cheers,

John.

[<Michael>]

Hi John - given what the manual says, if you do get down to 200 km/h then you will indeed drop - but it says final approach is 320 km/h, throttle to idle at 1 metre altitude....

And yup, light switches on! The problem is not the regular night cockpit, but the 3-D virtual one.

And I'd love an option to put metres on the indicated altitudes...

Mike

[<Smith>]

2. You can set the altimeter to display meters by going into the Options/Settings/International menu in FS2002 and checking under the Units of Measure dropdown. I personally like it in feet. Otherwise when ATC tells you to ascend to FL290, you know what to do without having a calculator in your hand :-)

3. I also noticed that with the virtual cockpit, if the panel light was not on then the gauges are blacked out. Just turn on your panel lights.

&lt;SNIP&gt;
2. With such a faithful reproduction of a magnificent aircraft, why is the indicated altitude expressed in feet instead of metres?

3. In the virtual 3-D cockpit at night, the main instruments in my aircraft are black (not lit) - supposed to be like that?
&lt;SNIP&gt;

[<Michael>]

Hi - having read your reply, I went to check again - the individual instrument lights in the virtual 3-D cockpit can indeed be made to work BUT: they go OUT when the airnav lights switched are on - just discovered this.

Perhaps it's system related?

Regarding altitude in meters, I'd be happy to have the same problems a real MiG pilot might.... it's just more realism ... but don't want to have to change the comp settings each time. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[<Smith>]

1) That's funny ... my instrument lights in the virtual cockpit work as long as I have the panel lights on. The airnav lights make no difference if they're on or off.

2) My suggestion about changing to the metric system wasn't a suggestion but a fact describing how to do it. If you were really "happy to have the same problems a real MiG pilot might.... it's just more realism" then you'd spend the 5 seconds it takes to switch over :-)

[<Michael>]

You're right about the settings to metric - seemed to remember it being more complicated, but it is indeed extremely easy - that solves that. Thank you

Virtual 3-D instrument lights: no fix, same problem - they are somehow linked to the airnav switch. Anyone else have this problem?

[Support]

Most questions are already answered but anyway:

1. ILS works with NAV 2 radio (and not with NAV 1)
Can someone confirm?
=== Yes, for now.

2. What does the OM-IM selector switch (on the left of the panel) do?
=== Right, that's outer-inner marker NDB selector for ADF.

3. Difference between A/P Stabilization and A/P Alignment?
=== None for now, both does'n work yet.

4. Can I get rid of (or jettison) main belly tank?If so how? The jettison button dosen't seem to have any effect in FS2002.
=== Yes, to select "clean" MiG-21 version only.

5.What is "Cone Extended" and
=== Nose cone automatics. At 550km/h and higher the cone goes forward and the "Cone Extended" goes on. If to reduce the speed below 550km/h the cone goes backward and the "Cone Extended" goes off.

"Stabiliser for landing"? I assume the latter is the belly spoiler?
=== Very long story, but finally it indicates flaps full down.

6. Are there any panel switches that bring up the radio and main panel without having to hit Shift 2 and Shift 3?
== No. But we can assign some clickable area for that.

7. The ILS (glidepath and glidescope indicators) are not available on the HUD?
= Yes, the green circle mark works as a director.

[<John de Giorgio>]

Many thanks for your help. Excellent support.
Looking forward to a working autopilot.

John. Geneva, Switzerland.