Mig-21 external fuel tank

[Miracles]

I'm wondering how do we tell when the external fuel tank has been used up especially in Mig-21(F/PVM/PFM/MF)

 

I asked because literally after just about 6 minutes into flight time my (internal) fuel indicator would start to show that the fuel is starting be consumed/being depleted little by little. I mean I have a 490 liters of external fuel so why does the fuel indicator indicates that my internal tank is being consumed just after 6 minutes into flight time.

 

How much engine power you need to apply for the long cruise to the objective and back? I usually go for 27% in Mig-21

 

game is WoV patched to P3.

 

Thanks

[Czech6]

490 liters is only 129 gallons = 838.5 pounds. Checking the flight handbook for the F-100D (comparable to a MiG-21), a cruise consumption is 2990 pounds per hour = 460 gallon per hour = 60 gallons per minute. That's at cruise setting. The F-100D usually carried two 335 gallon wing tanks = 670 gallons, which is way more than 129 gallons.

 

Were you in burner during those six minutes? That would be even higher. I don't fly the MiG-21, but does it have a fuel flow meter? If it does see what it is using.

[Miracles]

Well I don't think it has a fuel flow meter. I'll check again. Thanks for the explanation so it's really a small ext tank.

 

I suspected there was a bug that the additional fuel from the ext tank wasn't being added/used at all.

 

And I only use afterburner during takeoff and throttle down to 26-28% of engine power for most of the cruising

Edited January 29, 2008 by Miracles

[Czech6]

If you use the DisplayDebug feature, you can see how much total fuel (in pounds) that the aircraft is carrying. You could compare with and without the external tank and see what the difference is in pounds, or using the external tank, watch as the fuel is consumed down to the internal fuel weight just to verify that the external fuel is being used (just in case there is a bug or typo in the aircraft data.ini file which isn't allowing the use of the external tank).

[Viggen]

FYI the MiG-21F had really bad range in real life.

[Rambler 1-1]

just putting this out there, but you could put your plane onto autopilot ("A" is the stock command, I think) and once it levels off at a cruise-ish altitude and speed, take note of the throttle setting. That way you'll get the most efficient cruise. This added about a minute of extra burner time for me in the Su-27.

[sparkomatic]

couple of points: standard practice for 60 years in the fighter community is, eyes on bad guys, dump the bags, go get them...

 

second, yes the Fishbed was designed as a point defense fighter; ie, range was not much of a consideration because the Doctrine was all about defense therefore no need to range very far if its over your ballpark

 

personally, if I am about to mix it up with a flight of Crusaders I wait until the turning is about to begin, then ditch the bag and fang's out...watch the AI...that is what they do in the game also

 

but I like the way that you are thinking, it gets more immersing that way, I caution you though as this game will disappoint you if you go too far down that path...as much as I ENJOY it, this is a game, not a simulation

[+Crusader]

re: the origional question about external tank things..

all MiG-21 pits have a tank indicator light on one of the status panels ( on the right side of the instrumentpanel ..) which lights up if the external tank(s) are empty ..

and if the fuel gauge for internal fuel is calibrated correctly ( they are, AFAIK) then the moving of the needle also indicates that the externals are empty cause fuel is now used from the internal tanks.... easy...