
It looks like Chinese pilots like self-portrait photos as their “Western” colleagues
We have already published an interesting “selfie” (as self-potrait shots are dubbed) taken by a PLANAF (People Liberation Army Naval Air Force) Shenyang J-15 “Flying Shark” pilot.
It’s not clear whether the following image was taken during the same flight. Nevertheless it is quite cool as it was taken during the departure of the jet from the angled flight deck of Liaoning, the China’s first (Soviet-era, refurbished) aircraft carrier.
The J-15 is a domestic variant of the Russian-designed Sukhoi Su-33, the carrier-based derivative of the Su-27 Flanker.
Image credit: PLANAF via Alert5.com
The Flanker carries plenty of fuel; the notion that the ski ramp somehow hinders the capabilities of the jet only applies to the maximum payload it carriers, which is dependent on the engine thrust and not the fuel load.
Satire is fine, but the quote is much appriciated :)
Two tonnes of missiles though, that’s still two R-37’s (or Kh-31’s) and six R-73’s (or PL-9’s)… It’s not a full load out, but hardly “nothing at all to worry about” as Corbis claims, up there. It just… Doesn’t seem all that bad to me. :?
Unless has both the short range and the limited ammunition, then indeed I can see how it would make for only limited power projection – that or a huge hassle with tanker aircraft. The point of such an air craft carrier is to have an airforce somewhere else than your mainland, after all.