Spectacular video shows Mig-29 Fulcrum going vertical immediately after take off

August 2, 2015 Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

In case you haven’t already seen it, watch the Polish Mig-29 Fulcrum “going ballistic” after take-off.

Filmed at the recent RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo) at RAF Fairford, UK, the following video shows the Polish Air Force Mig-29 Fulcrum jet beginning its display with an amazing take-off followed by a vertical climb.

Although other fast jets are able to perform the same maneuver, the video went viral because it clearly shows from a good standpoint and through the eye of a zoom the sudden pull and subsequent fast, rocket-like ascension of the Polish Fulcrum.

By the way, we used the term “going ballistic” for the Mig-29’s vertical climb in full afterburner even though the term refers to the ballistic path (similar to the trajectory of a thrown or launched projectile) a jet put into a nearly-vertical climb would follow under the action of gravity, without propulsion.

H/T Giulio Cristante for the heads-up

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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6 Comments

  1. Uhhmm.. There aren’t many fighters that can’t do that. The F-22, F-15, F-16, and F-18, they can all do that. The trick is do get enough horizontal speed once airborne, then jerk the stick, and up you are. All fighters worth their salt have a thrust to weight ration of 1 or around that. Not that I’m poo-pooing the Mig-29. It’s an incredibly capable plane. It’s just slightly better in a dogfight than the F-15 and F- 18. Great Russian plane.

    • Indeed they are also pretty cheap and have low main hours per flight hour. Considering the Russians technical resources its a pretty ingenious design.

  2. I guess you don’t need a Raptor to pull that kind of take off, an old Mig-29 will do the job just fine :)

  4. Hmm,
    I assume you didn’t get the meaning of the quotation marks used with “going ballistic” nor read the article where you can find:

    By the way, we used the term “going ballistic” for the Mig-29’s vertical climb in full afterburner even though the term refers to the ballistic path (similar to the trajectory of a thrown or launched projectile) a jet put into a nearly-vertical climb would follow under the action of gravity, without propulsion.

  5. nice takeoff, same moves as i seen f-18 do. f-22 and f-15 too. but the best is always a su-35

    would like to see the T-50 PAKFA going vertical, it should do even better than the f-22

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