41
votes
Accepted
Why don't Russian aircraft sell as much as their European/American counterparts?
If you take out the political angle (which is by far, the most important), there are a number of reasons for this.
Basically, the Russians have a serious image problem. Russian (and Soviet) aircraft ...
- 99.9k
37
votes
Why is there a white line on Russian fighter jets' instrument panel?
I believe it is exactly what your instructor has said - it helps when regaining control of the aircraft during a spin.
The correct procedure for recovering from such a maneuver is to apply rudder in ...
- 2,375
31
votes
Has this USAF flight violated russian airspace?
Are you possibly thinking that the landmass that the aircraft is flying over is Russian territory? It is actually flying over Norway. In the image below I colored in green the border between Russia ...
- 761
30
votes
Has this USAF flight violated russian airspace?
Given the scale, that is far outside the 12 mile limit.
What mission? RC-135W Rivet Joint is for monitoring electronic traffic.
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104608/rc-135vw-...
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28
votes
Is Aeroflot flying airliners without brakes?
The Aeroflot warning, on which the article is based, states:
The exact translation of the message's title is:
"Safety culture (braking with a deactivated brake)". With this wording, "...
- 22.6k
25
votes
Accepted
Do airlines use GPS for critical purposes? If so, why?
GPS, or to be more accurate, GNSS is a commonly used navigational aid in aviation, especially in smaller passenger planes. Larger airliners are more likely to be also equipped with inertial navigation ...
- 26.8k
24
votes
What is the meaning of nose-art on the Tu-160 bomber?
(wikimedia.org)
Most of the Tu-160 in service are named, much like the B-2 bombers are.
The one in the image is S/N: 7-02 "Василий Решетников / Vasily Reshetnikov" named after a WW2 pilot.
You can ...
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23
votes
Is Aeroflot flying airliners without brakes?
It is most certainly not legal* or safe for an aircraft to operate with all its brakes disabled. News reports indicate that the aircraft are 5 Boeing 777 and 4 Airbus of various types. They are less ...
- 10.9k
20
votes
Accepted
Why is the Su-27 so much larger than the MiG-29?
The Su-27 and Mig-29 were the result of high-low concept subscribed by both the USAF and Soviet Air Force (VVS) in the 1970s. Basically, this involved the development of two different fighters, a high ...
- 99.9k
17
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of nose-art on the Tu-160 bomber?
Most Tu-160's are named after notable Soviet military pilots. English Wikipedia doesn't have a complete list; here's a link to the Russian version. Out of 16 currently active Tu-160's, 9 are named ...
- 286
16
votes
Is it possible to use US-made engines in Russian made air-frames?
Re-engine an existing airframe is such a complex undertaking, in a way that so much R&D is required that the entire aircraft ends up being reverse engineered to make it work. Or on some occasions, ...
- 2,765
14
votes
Accepted
What is this feature on a Sukhoi Su-27?
It's the sensor of the IRST (InfraRed Search and Track) system.
An IRST allow an aircraft to search and track aerial or ground targets using passive infra-red radiation only thus reducing the ...
- 1,681
13
votes
Accepted
In what manner was the Vympel R-73 (AA-11 Archer) a game-changer in comparison with NATO's missiles?
The Russians brought some new ideas to the missile warfare when they mated the Vympel R-73 with Mig-29. The most important of these was the high offset sensor lock mode, which allowed the pilot to '...
- 99.9k
13
votes
Do airlines use GPS for critical purposes? If so, why?
As a pilot I do not disagree with the informative comments above, and would like to add a few additional points to ease your fears.
Pilots DO use GPS (satellite) for navigation - in concert with an ...
- 231
12
votes
Why was the Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut never adopted for service?
I do not have inside knowledge, but think it is easy to explain why the Su-47 did not progress beyond the prototype stage:
Sukhoi enjoyed great export success with the Su-27 and its derivatives in ...
- 228k
12
votes
Accepted
Has this USAF flight violated russian airspace?
Do not mix the exclusive economical zone (EEZ, 200 NM) and the sovereign area. The aircraft has been in the EEZ, not in the sovereign area (12 NM) of the Russian Federation.
EEZ
Yes the aircraft ...
- 69.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do Russian Su-30SM fighters have white nose radomes?
In short
White radomes are common in many applications, this is the logical choice, a white material reflects sun radiations which otherwise introduce electronic noise in the antenna.
Black radomes, ...
- 69.9k
9
votes
What is the meaning of nose-art on the Tu-160 bomber?
Both messages are Russian names: Vasily Reshetnikov (flew 307 missions in WWII mainly as a pilot for a long-range bomber, Hero of the Soviet Union) in this picture and Alexander Novikov (Chief marshal ...
- 12k
9
votes
In what manner was the Vympel R-73 (AA-11 Archer) a game-changer in comparison with NATO's missiles?
Yes, the Russians had the better ideas.
The key was the slaving of the radar system to the pilot's helmet, called sight-controlled missile targeting: The missile would lock to whatever the pilot was ...
- 228k
9
votes
Accepted
What are these protruding elements from SU-27's tail?
I believe that these are static discharge wicks. You can see similarly sized/shaped wicks on a 1/32 scale models of the SU-27, as discussed here, but, more importantly, you can find them labeled with ...
- 3,671
9
votes
Is it possible to use US-made engines in Russian made air-frames?
We're not on law.stackexchange.com, but from what I can tell, the legal consequences would be limited to losing some benefits from warranty/support agreements.
There is no reason to do this. The ...
- 22.6k
8
votes
Why don't Russian aircraft sell as much as their European/American counterparts?
I think reputation has a lot to do with this, I'm sure there are Russian aircraft out there that have outstanding safety records, but media has focused on some high-profile accidents as well as shoddy/...
- 147
8
votes
Accepted
What is a "Russian IATA code"?
It's a Russian internal city or airport identifier. Many small cities don't have IATA codes, but do have internal Russian codes.
This system is called CRT (Center for schedules and tariffs, ЦРТ, ...
- 842
8
votes
Is Aeroflot flying airliners without brakes?
There's no reason to believe this to be untrue, it is reported in the Moscow Times which is a Russian language web publication - somewhat ruling out "foreign" propaganda.
So, as of July 31,...
- 31.1k
7
votes
What is this feature on a Sukhoi Su-27?
That is the IRST which can be used for tracking aircraft passively.
- 519
7
votes
Why aren't Russian jet airliners popular even in Russia?
It all comes down to cost. It is rather easy to build a large jet aircraft. To build an efficient and reliable large jet aircraft is not that easy. If you read the Wikipedia articles you linked ...
- 2,026
7
votes
Why are Russian cockpit panels painted in turquoise?
Soviet defector and MiG-25 Pilot Viktor Belenko claimed that this was done because it was found to be more soothing and relaxing for the flight crew to operate in a blue-green painted cockpit. This ...
- 72k
7
votes
Was any MiG-29 modernized to incorporate digital systems?
Yes, India has designed and installed their own home-grown digital cockpit upgrades for their MIG-29's.
- 12.5k
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