From Farnborough to Kubinka: An American MiG-29 Experience

This report begins with an overview of my initial contacts with Valery Menitskii and others at the Mikoyan Design Bureau that led to my invitation to fly the MiG-29UB. It then summarizes the steps I took to coordinate with the U.S. government and to make myself as proficient as possible for the flight. Finally, it offers a comprehensive account of the flight itself, which is the intended main purpose of the report. In that account, I have tried wherever possible to supplement my remarks with reinforcing or gap-filler information from other Western pilots who have flow the aircraft, so as to offer the fullest possible appreciation of the MiG-29 as a flying machine. Appended to the report is a detailed technical portrait of the MiG-29 that gives an overview of the aircrafts performance capabilities, design characteristics, and development prospects. This appendix is based on open sources, ranging from Soviet industry and press comment to direct contact with the aircraft by myself and other Westerners since the MiG-29 was cleared to go public on the international air show circuit in 1988. Also appended is a translation of an article on my flight which appeared in the Soviet press shortly after my return from Moscow.