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Screen shots by AFS Design |
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The MiG-21 is one of a series of delta-wing, short-range, supersonic fighter jets developed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Company (thus the abbreviation "MiG") in the Soviet Union starting in the 1950s. The MiG-21 followed the MiG-15, MiG-17, and MiG-19. More than 30 countries have flown the MiG-21, including some allies of the United States. The fighter is best known for its combat with U.S. aircraft during the Vietnam War.
AFS Design is a European developer of aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator®, including the Panavia Tornado, the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the Airbus A380. The MiG-21 was chosen because the developer's aerobatics teacher, who was MiG-21 pilot in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), asked for a simulation MiG-21.
The developer heralds these among other features of its MiG-21 package:
Ten models are included: DDR (GDR), Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, and "repaint," (a blank model for repainting). Each of the models has four versions: Single seater, two seater, formation, and instructor. The single and two-seater versions are obvious. The formation version consists of four aircraft flying in formation. The instructor version seats users in the back seat instead of the front seat. This MiG-21 model is for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 only.
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EXAMPLES OF PAINT SCHEMES |
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DDR |
Egypt |
Russia |
India |
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Four of the Models |
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| Screen shots by Bill Stack | |||
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PURCHASE FEATURES |
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Instant download from the Pilot Shop |
YES | |
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Installation program |
YES | |
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License key required |
YES | |
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Copyright acknowledgment required |
NO | |
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Uninstall program included |
NO | |
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Installation instructions included |
NO | |
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Operational manual included |
NO | |
The MiG-21 visual representation seems very accurate compared to photos I found on the Internet. All exteriors, including paint schemes, appear like those in the real-aircraft photos. The cockpit layout and colors are also true to the real-aircraft photos.
Reflective surfaces, light effects, shading, and surface textures make the aircraft appear realistic in various lighting conditions such as dawn, daylight, dusk, and with sunlight coming from various directions.
The pink/purple coloring on the India model is so unusual that I checked the Indian Air Force website but found nothing. In response to my question, the developer gave me a link to a photo of a real Indian MiG-21 in such colors, and his representation is accurate.
The real MiG-21 has air brakes, which are panels in the fuselage that hinge out with hydraulics to increase drag. I was unable to find these on the AFS-Design representation.
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COCKPIT & PANELS |
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Virtual Cockpit |
Two-dimensional Panel |
2D Panel & Subpanels |
| Screen shots by Bill Stack | ||
To be at a military air base with sufficient runways, and to be near sea level, I used Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station (KNKT) in North Carolina, U.S.A.
As would be expected of a high-performance military jet, this aircraft accelerates quickly from zero to take-off speed with partial power. It lifts off around 300 KPH. (Its airspeed indicator shows kilometers per hour, not knots.) It gains airspeed and climbs quickly, even with partial power.
Also as expected, it is very nimble. It turns left and right and pitches up and down very easily. It also does a complete roll without losing control or stalling. In fact, it can do several rolls in succession.
This aircraft holds airspeed well after throttle has been reduced. It continues flying at hundreds of KPHs even with the throttle at zero. I don't know if this is how the real MiG-21 performed, but it seems unnatural for an aircraft to hold high airspeed for so long after the throttle is zeroed. This condition makes decelerating for landing approach a big challenge.
It can fly an airport circuit at low airspeed such as 150 knots, but close pilot attention to airspeed and altitude are required on all legs and especially during turns.
All these flight maneuvers require considerable trials and errors because no flight manual is included with the package and the checklists and reference sheets don't tell us much, either. We don't know the correct airspeeds for taking off, approaching, or landing. And we don't know the correct flaps settings for any maneuver. The checklist simply says "as desired" for flaps, but "as desired" does not apply to high-performance aircraft.
Instruments are metric, as would be expected of a Russian aircraft, but airspeed and altitude data in the reference sheet and checklists are shown in knots and feet. I found during my flight tests that this aircraft will not fly properly if the airspeed indicator is read in knots instead of kilometers. As a result, simulation pilots must convert the imperial measurements in the checklists and reference sheets to the metrics shown on the instruments.
Stopping on the runway is an unusual experience for two reasons: First, the F2 key accelerates instead of decelerates the aircraft. The latter is conventional in MSFS and recommended in the checklist accompanying this product. As a result, my MiG-21 accelerated instead of decelerated when I tried to use reverse thrust to decelerate on the runway. I confirmed this by engaging it while stopped on the ramp. The aircraft quickly advanced forward instead of backward when I used F2. The developer said the aircraft has no reverse thrusters, but he did not explain why his checklist says to use F2 to apply reverse thrusters or why F2 accelerates instead of decelerates the aircraft. Second, this aircraft lacks the air brakes that were used in real MiG-21s for stopping on runways. The developer did not explain this, either.
| MiG-21s IN FLIGHT | |||
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| Screen shots by Bill Stack | |||
The package is available for instant downloading from the Pilot Shop.
An installation program puts all necessary files into a folder that it creates for the MiG-21. No further installation efforts are required.
The subpanels for radios, throttles, and engine instruments are taken from other MSFS aircraft. As examples, the radio stack is from the Cessna 172/182s, and the throttles and engine instruments are from the Boeing 737. They would be more realistic if they resembled the actual MiG-21 equipment, which is accurately represented in the two-dimensional instrument panel and the three-dimensional virtual cockpit.
These subpanels windows are so small that they are nearly impossible to read. Not all flight simmers have high-resolution monitors, and some don't have sharp eyesight. These windows can be enlarged by dragging the mouse, but buyers should not have to do this. The subpanels should be larger in the first place. The developer should issue a patch or update to fix this error.
The GPS device is nice to have, but it isn't historically realistic. The MiG-21 was built and flown before GPS was available to military pilots of the United States or the Soviet Union. Using it for simulations of Vietnam dogfights, as one example, would be inappropriate. Using it for present-day simulations would be realistic, however.
The checklists and reference sheets do not appear in the kneeboard because the required codes are absent in the basic configuration file (aircraft.cfg). When I added the codes to that file, the checklists and reference sheets appeared in the kneeboard. Not all flight simmers know how to do this, however, and users shouldn't have to do it in the first place. The developer acknowledged this and promised to issue a patch or update to fix it.
The canopies are supposed to open, but I couldn't find anything about how that's done, and the developer didn't explain it, either.
The lack of operating manual makes using this aircraft very challenging.
| NIGHT EFFECTS | |||
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Screen shots by Bill Stack |
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Afterburners show burning hot exhaust, as seen in several of my screen shots.
The instructor version puts users in the back seat, where an instructor would normally sit, instead of in the front seat. The instructor's virtual cockpit is noticeably different from the forward cockpit.
The formation version adds three other MiG-21s to form a typical military formation. The other three aircraft are visible only when the landing gear are fully retracted. They appear after the landing gear disappear inside the aircraft, and they disappear as soon as the landing gear begin deployment. All aircraft in this formation fly in unison with the flying aircraft.
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SPECIAL FEATURES |
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Formation Aircraft |
Instructor Cockpit |
| Screen shots by Bill Stack | |
Information about the MiG-21 can be found at these websites, among others:
Visually, AFS-Design's MiG-21 is a very nice aircraft. It's realistic inside and out, and its paint schemes are true to real-world photos I saw. Flying this aircraft will be a challenge because of the lack of technical information and the conversion for metric instruments. The few small issues I found wouldn't stop me from recommending it, but the developer should issue an update.
Bill Stack
Learn More About AFS Design's MiG-21 For FS2004
AFS Design also offers an
FSX version
Bill Stack is author of several books about flight simulation, a regular author in flight-sim magazines, and a contributor to Flight Sim Com. His website is www.topskills.com