Cobra (or: Pugachev's Cobra ) is a top aerobatic figure that demonstrates pitch control in flight dynamics, stability at high angles of attack and the possibility of super - maneuverability of a jet plane .
Content
History
According to the statement of Igor Petrovich Wolf, [1] , confirmed by the words of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation in 1992-1998, P.S. Deinekin [2] , he managed to perform the first performance of the figure, then called “Cobra”, by chance, when his Su-27 was taken out of the critical angle of attack due to an error of the tester and the EMU system ceased to function. Trying to save the car, the Wolf turned off the steering controls and surprisingly found that the Su-27 did not fall into a tailspin and returned to horizontal flight. Nevertheless, the first person who managed to publicly prove the ability to perform this aerobatic exercise was a military test pilot, Viktor Georgievich Pugachev at the Le Bourget air show in 1989 [3] . Therefore, the figure was called "Pugachev's cobra"
Technique and practical application
When performing the "cobra" the plane abruptly raises its nose, right up to dropping back, but at the same time it keeps the previous direction of flight. Thus, the plane goes to angles of attack greater than 90 degrees: for the Su-27 - 110 °, for the Su-37 - up to 180 ° (that is, the Su-37 can fly tail forward). Then the plane returns to normal flight mode with almost no loss of height.
Technically, the maneuver is performed by disabling the longitudinal stability (the alpha channel of the electric remote control system - EDSU ) and by taking the handle .
The practical significance of this figure in combat lies in the possibility of an emergency speed drop (aerodynamic braking - the second name is “cobra”), which allows you to “shake off” the enemy fighter in close combat and “deceive” the radar with the selection of moving targets.
P.S. Deinekin assesses the combat significance of the Cobra Pugachev, which is not so significant compared with its agitational significance for the aviation industry of the USSR and the prestige of the USSR Air Force [2] .
Aircraft capable of performing the cobra
As of 2013, other aircraft can carry out the “cobra”:
- Su-27
- Su-30
- Su-33
- Su-27M
- Su-35
- Su-37 (with angles of attack up to 150-180 ° )
- Su-57 (first demonstrated at the MAKS-2013 air show)
- MiG-29OVT
- MiG-35
- F-22
- F-15 STOL / MTD
- F-16 VISTA
- Saab 35 Draken
Notes
- ↑ From space - by plane. Interview with Igor Volk . www.buran.ru. The appeal date is February 17, 2016.
- ↑ 1 2 Peter Deinekin: The aerobatic “Cobra” figure was first performed by Igor Volk
- ↑ Mike Spick. The Illustrated Directory of Fighters . - MBI Pub., 2002-01-01. - 484 s. - ISBN 9780760313435 .
Literature
- Catalog of aerobatics Aresti FAI = FAI Aresti Aerobatic Catalog. - Federation Aeronautique Internationale, 2002.