Chapter 364 ? High-Intensity Test Flight of Super-Flanker

Chapter 364 High-Intensity Test Flight Super Flanker

I don’t know when dancing with death began to become a part of life, whether it was from the day I joined the army or the night I joined the gunboat unit, or when I swore an oath to the military flag to dedicate my life to the cause of national defense at the risk of risking my life. It’s time to practice the values ​​of revolutionary soldiers.

Li Zhan remembers clearly that when he first wrote his suicide note, he never thought that there would be a day when gunfire and bullets rained down on him, but now these have become part of life.

Occasionally, when I am sleepless late at night, I often think, why do I do this? Isn't it better to live a happy life as an army cadre than anything else? Without exception, I got an answer that was not very convincing - revolutionary soldiers have a duty to defend their territory. But what kind of society is it now? Everyone is living their own little lives, and no one has ever looked at these people. When Li Zhan occasionally talked on the phone with people outside the military and the other party's focus was on income, he became more doubtful about this answer.

Recalling the scene of the Russian pilot sitting in the cockpit and taking out an absorbent towel, he firmly believed that the answer was correct.

"I am a soldier of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and I swear to obey the leadership of the Communist Party of China wholeheartedly..."

"Zhan, what did you say?"

Li Zhan turned around and saw Vasily standing on the boarding stairs.

"Oh, I'm reciting the decisive rule." Li Zhan said with a smile, half truthfully.

Vasily pointed to the instrument panel and said, "All information is displayed on these two large color screens. No matter how familiar you are, you will definitely like this aircraft."

At this time, in the cockpit of Su-35 No. 03, Li Zhan was already in place, and Vasily was making final confirmation with him. Mao Zi was indeed very nervous, and they were not worried that Li Zhan would crash the plane. But Li Zhan knew that they would rather stay after the plane broke down and exchange a prototype that had been flying for several years for US$100 million in foreign exchange. Only a fool would not do this business.

The tower command center is already on standby.

From six o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock now, the final preparations have been completed, and then it all depends on the pilot. Instructions and reports were requested overnight and preparations were carried out overnight. Maintenance personnel from both parties conducted maintenance and support on No. 03 Su-35 for five hours. At the same time, the staff prepared a flight plan based on the subjects of the test flight, and the meteorological department provided information for the next 20 years. Accurate weather forecast within four hours, each emergency team carried out drills overnight to prepare targeted plans...

From heaven to earth, all preparations were completed within five hours. At 6 o'clock in the morning, the order from the superior arrived, agreeing to conduct a test flight of the Su-35 fighter jet, and also approved the test flight subjects submitted by the 101st Brigade. Obviously, the higher-level leadership must have made the decision after studying it overnight and weighing the pros and cons.

No matter how well the preparations on the ground are done, it all depends on the pilot. Everything depends on the pilot. When the pilot becomes a test pilot, everything becomes more noble and profound.

Glancing at Fang Chenghe, he noticed that the new brigade commander, who had served as a military and political officer, looked very serious. Bao Guanhua smiled and said, "Li Zhan is fine, his ability is better than many test pilots." The aftermarket department of the flight test institute asked our brigade if they could transfer him to the flight test center for a period of time. The air defense base was worried that the meat bun and the dog would never come back, but they didn't agree."

Fang Chenghe couldn't help but laugh, "This kid has a lot of talent. He is a good expert in combat training. No one would be willing to let him go. But the subjects he wants to fly are not ordinary test subjects. You won't believe me if I say that I don't worry about the political commissar. .”

Bao Guanhua looked like someone who had come before and said, "I'm worried too, but it's useless to worry. This guy never makes people feel at ease. He gets used to it when he worries too much. Brigadier, he didn't do that in the Second Division." Don’t let you worry anymore.”

When he mentioned this Fang Chenghe, he shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly.

"It's really weird. This guy lost all his bad luck after arriving in Beiku." Fang Chenghe shook his head and said, "Flying for nine months in the Second Division, he suffered three special dangers and two mission losses. I'm afraid it's unprecedented. There will be no one left."

Bao Guanhua thought of the broken No. 01 Su-27SK and the three scrapped engines, but was speechless for a moment. He can't say that Li Zhan also destroyed some fighter planes and major parts after arriving in Beiku. You must know that the value of the Su-27 is greater than that of the second-generation aircraft.

The two chatted wordlessly. After a while, Li Zhan asked for instructions and slipped out.

Fang Chenghe picked up the transmitter and gave the order in a deep voice, "Dong 3 can slide out."

From a distance, I saw Su-35 No. 03 sliding out from the apron, and I could vaguely see Vasily and the crew lining up neatly to salute the fighter plane that slid out. Nie Jianfeng, the deputy commander at the tower, felt blocked for no reason. When he watched Su-35 No. 03 sliding out, he seemed to see Li Zhan embarking on a road of no return.

Everyone knows the difficulty and significance of today's test flight.

When taxiing to the take-off line, Li Zhan was also thinking that as long as he had one more day, he wouldn't take a big risk. Li Zhan knows very well how big the risk is. It is obviously nonsense to use his so-called luck to offset the risks of the Su-35 mass production machine.

In the final analysis, it comes down to strength.

Li Zhan looked up at the sky and reported to the tower, "Dong 3 is ready to take off, over."

The weather is neither good nor bad, gloomy but not windy. If you are in the southern coastal areas, such symptoms usually indicate that there will be rain in the afternoon, and it is very likely to be a heavy rain. But this is not the case in the Beiku area. It often stays gloomy all day long, with scorching hot days without rain or wind, but the temperature drops sharply by several degrees late at night. The temperature difference between day and night is more than 20 degrees. It is a common occurrence.

But this gloomy look really made Li Zhan unhappy.

After calming down his mind, he quietly waited for the tower's instructions. One hand was already on the throttle lever, ready to push to the end and take off with afterburner.

The strange thing is that it took two or three minutes for the tower to give the takeoff order: "After checking hole three, you can take off, over."

Li Zhan was very cautious. It should be said that he was so cautious for the first time. The most obvious difference between old and new drivers is experience. For example, when driving, the old driver gets in the car, puts it in gear, presses the accelerator and drives away, while the new driver will touch here and there for a long time without being able to put his mind at ease.

Now Li Zhan looks like a new driver, and he always feels uneasy when he looks here and there.

"Flight control system, power system, communication system, temporary identification friend or foe code, radar system..." Li Zhan checked and reported verbally over and over again. The tower could clearly understand Li Zhan's real-time actions.

Fang Chenghe and Bao Guanhua both looked at a flat-screen monitor on the command seat, which had four pictures of the same area drawn on it. The first picture was from the perspective of Li Zhan, and the second picture was from the first-person perspective of the instrument panel. The third one is about left-wing content, and the fourth one is about right-wing scenes. This is a camera temporarily installed in the cockpit and transmitted back through the signal of civilian satellite communication.

At this time, you can see from the second screen that Li Zhan is conducting inspections in an orderly manner, and the first screen shows the front of Li Zhan who has already put on the oxygen mask. The mask has not yet been taken off, and you can see his piercing eyes and sharp expression. Sword eyebrow.

"It's rare to see him so serious." Bao Guanhua said.

Fang Chenghe said in a deep voice, "He knows the importance of today's test flight. Many people up and down are watching."

Glancing at Andreevkoski, who was chatting with the deputy brigade commander in fluent Russian not far away, Fang Chenghe did not reveal more. Although they are at the same level, Bao Guanhua's upper-level information channels are very lacking, and it is difficult for him to learn some little secret information. Even if he learned about it, Bao Guanhua wouldn't care very much. What he cared about couldn't be simpler - taking off alive and landing alive.

Su-35 No. 03 took off. Under the control of the youngest ace pilot of the Chinese Air Force, it used afterburner to take off and crushed the runway of more than 300 meters. Then it suddenly climbed at a high angle and rushed into the sky like a rocket.

It continued to climb through the clouds and reached an altitude of 18,000 meters.

Li Zhan could clearly feel that the power of this aircraft was much stronger than that of the J-11B. He secretly calculated the time and found that the acceleration performance was improved by almost 20% compared to the J-11B. This gap made him speechless. Under the same load, it has been shown that the performance of the 117S engine used in the Su-35 is very excellent. After climbing over 18,000 meters above sea level, Li Zhan turned off the afterburner and gently resumed level flight. This height is enough, there is no need to go higher.

He suddenly turned the nose of the roller downward, resumed level flight, and then dived at an almost vertical angle. The airspeed soon exceeded the speed of sound and then quickly climbed to Mach 2. At this time, the altitude was still several thousand meters.

When it resumed level flight again, it was already 1,000 meters below the ground.

Immediately, he once again climbed to 6,000 meters for a very fast level flight...

The pendulum, the barrel rolls, Immelmann turns, Levisman, the falling leaves float, the fight is half a pound...

All aerobatic maneuvers and difficult combat subjects specified in the syllabus.

The continuous and intense flight for more than four hours is a great test for the fighter aircraft. Conducting test flights on typical difficult tactical subjects is what everyone is most worried about. The so-called typical difficult tactical subjects are low-altitude penetration strikes in mountainous areas. This is the famous stunt of the Falcon Brigade and the signature tactic of the 101st Brigade. In order to solve the problem of radar blind spots in the canyons of the Beiku Mountains, the air defense base urgently deployed several mobile radar vehicles to the mountainous areas last night. Otherwise, no one would be able to see Li Zhan as long as he plunged into the canyons.

After more than thirty minutes of low-altitude penetration, everyone felt relieved.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the test flight was coming to an end, and there was only one last subject left - the Super Cobra maneuver.

Veteran pilots believe that the difficulty of Falling Leaves is more difficult than the Cobra maneuver. The former can only be done with greater certainty using a fighter equipped with a vector engine.

But Li Zhan insisted that the Cobra maneuver be put last.

Nie Jianfeng joked that this was because Li Zhan had never completed the Cobra maneuver in training. Li Zhan's two Cobra maneuvers were both completed in actual combat conditions. The first time he flew the No. 037 J-7E and was forced to complete a highly suspicious Cobra maneuver at ultra-low altitude. The second time he flew the No. 01 Su -27SK also completed the Super Cobra maneuver at a speed of nearly 600 kilometers under passive conditions.

Before that, every Cobra maneuver training he had done had ended in failure, and one time he even stalled and fell into a spin.

However, no one thought that the Cobra maneuver would be more dangerous than the many difficult subjects conducted in the past four hours. In fact, after the Cobra maneuver was gradually included in the training content of some combat troops, this world-famous flying maneuver became less mysterious. .

Su-35 No. 01 appeared on the desert southwest of the base, and then disappeared from the radar detection range. At this time, Li Zhan was flying at extremely low altitude and high speed.

Three meters above the ground, with an airspeed of 560, the powerful airflow from the engine nozzle raised bursts of dust and formed a lying tornado behind it. The speed was still accelerating, quickly approaching the speed of sound. Li Zhan paid attention to the undulations of the terrain. The altimeter data was the most important. This area is also very familiar. It is a rare and relatively flat stretch of road, so you can fly close to the ground with confidence.

At an airspeed of more than 900 kilometers per hour, Li Zhan galloped close to the ground for more than ten kilometers until he reached the landing navigation point five kilometers away from the base before pulling up and climbing back to a thousand meters in the air.

"Tower, prepare for the last subject, Cobra maneuver, completed." Li Zhan called the tower.

Su-35 No. 01 reappeared on the radar screen, and could be seen flying from the southwest.

"Agreed, pay attention to the speed, it's over." Fang Chenghe breathed a sigh of relief. After the Cobra maneuver was completed, today's test flight ended successfully. In fact, we can celebrate the success now.

Enter the altitude of 1,000 meters and the airspeed is 380 kilometers per hour. Disconnect the autopilot, disconnect the angle of attack limiter, and quickly pull the lever to the end. The action is very simple, but it must be completed within the stipulated extremely short two seconds while taking into account factors such as the actual flight attitude of the fighter plane and the weather. It is not something that ordinary people can do. How long can two seconds last, tick tock?

Su-35 No. 03 suddenly raised its head and its elevation angle quickly approached 120 degrees. The tail of the aircraft moved forward under the action of inertia. The engine instantly sensed the sudden decrease in the speed of the fighter aircraft and made a roaring sound. Just like that, the nose of the plane was pointed vertically upward and the belly of the plane was facing forward, flying forward at a speed of less than one hundred kilometers per hour.

Using all the lifting surfaces as speed brakes prompts the fighter to slow down in a very short period of time. This is the significance of the Cobra maneuver. This is generally considered to be an excellent tactical maneuver for a Jedi counterattack, used to get rid of enemies in the rear hemisphere while placing yourself in a powerful rear hemisphere position. But another point of view is that the Cobra maneuver itself is an energy-consuming maneuver, and a fighter plane without energy support is no different from a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

This is where the controversy over the Cobra maneuver lies.

Li Zhan resumed level flight step by step, and the fighter plane sped out steadily and quickly disappeared into the distant sky. Li Zhan was extremely surprised. The whole process went smoothly and without any jerky feeling. This was completely different from when he drove the Su-27SK.

The Cobra maneuver was the only maneuver he failed to pass the test for, and he almost became the laughing stock of the entire brigade. Unexpectedly, he actually performed it smoothly today.

"It seems like it's not that I'm not good at technology but my lack of skills."

Li Zhan was inexplicably happy.