MiG-19/J-6 Handling, Stall and Flight Test (Aviation Weekly and Space Technology)

[+ordway 17]

 This flight test report is derived from an Aviation Week and Space Technology journal article in a book called Military Aircraft Pilot Reports (McGraw-Hill ,1996)

 

This is only a summary derived from a flight test of a two seat MiG-19/J-6/FT-6  and single seat MiG-19/J-6s from Pakistani pilots. You can take it for what it is. 

 

For the two seat Soviet/Sino MiG-19 (J-6) its maximum roll rate at 917 knots at 35,000 feet is more than 50 deg per second, although this rate is more than 150 degrees per second  at subsonic speeds. This is slow enough that it can be exploited by many competing fighters in a dogfight.  Its thick wing really limits it in some aspects.

 

The two seat MiG-19/J-6's s lateral stability and control decrease markedly at lower airspeeds. At slower airspeeds, coarse use of ailerons can flick one wing into a stall. The MiG-19 tends to run short of longitudinal trim at speeds above 458 knots. It only has an effective flight time of about 45 minutes.  

 

It includes other notes on the MiG-19's flight characteristics as well such as at high subsonic speeds and medium altitudes, it had light and responsive controls  and wide buffet boundaries. It had outstanding turn rates without buffet or loss of airspeed to about 8+g.

 

The Mig-19's/J-6's stall characteristics and spin characteristics are also described as the stall having first light airframe buffet and then a pronounced wing drop.  The spin recovery requires 7,000-10,000 feet to recover…not a good thing if close to the ground or in the landing pattern.

 

During aerobatics the two seat maneuvering MiG-19/J-6's maneuvering stick forces remain moderate throughout the speed range. Very little rudder was needed.  At low speeds rudder was needed for adverse yaw. You have to be very careful at very slow speeds with ailerons and only use rudder to roll. Trim changes were small.

 

Much more information on the MiG-19 handling was included as well in the report.

 

The book is available from some sellers on Amazon.com used book market. It also includes pilot test reports on the Super Tucano, Hawk, PC-9, SU-27, MiG-29, T-34C, S.211, U-2, SR-71, Mirage 2000, etc. This book might be helpful to a lot of modders.

 

EDIT: I deleted the word "short" which I repeated two times in a row and changed a misspelling of "that to "than."

Edited May 30, 2015 by ordway