(John S. Shinal) wrote:


The gossip is that MiG 17s are more of a fun flyer, with fewer
maintenance hours per flight hour, and an easy engine to deal with. I
think spins in the MiG 17 are unrecoverable, though.

I can tell you first hand from filming takeoffs that the MiG is REALLY LOUD!

But not as loud as when the Blue Angels took off and the two trailing planes
split right and left as soon as they were off the ground. "Here, set up right
here. You'll get a great shot. Chuckle chuckle". The left one went right over
my head - way too close to fit in the camera frame at wide angle. Ever have the
experience of actually turning into jello? I was wearing my best hearing
protectors, but it was my insides that went all rubbery :-) I remember watching
Phantom engine tests just for fu. It was nothing like this. But then this time
there were five FA-18s at once.

Poor guy's left gear was stuck down and he had to skip the show and fly to a
nearby Air Force base for a landing.

-- Charlie Springer