Flight lmpresslons-Yak-18T

The Yak-18T is a fully aerobatic low wing monoplane, with retractable tricycle undercarriage, seating for four people and powered by a Mikulin M-14P nine cylinder radial engine of 360hp which burns about 65 litres per hour in cruise.

A walk around the aircraft showed it to be not very different from any conventional type -the round nose complete with classic Russian radial louvre airflow shutters, paddle bladed propeller and the obviously solid construction of the airframe being the major points to note.

Entry to the cabin was through car-type doors on either side, after climbing onto the wing using fixed steps behind and below the trailing edge. I settled into the left hand seat, noted the leather straps on the rudder pedals for negative ‘G’ operations and tried to sort out the cockpit. The major controls were no problem, but as everything was placarded in Russian and the instruments were in metric, with the altimeter in metres, the ASI in kilometres per hour, and the VSI in metres per second, it took me a while to work out what was what – particularly as Victor’s English was only a little bit better than my Russian!

For start up the master switch is turned on and the master air pressure valve opened. The engine is then vigorously primed by 15 to 20 strokes of a large primer, ignition to “1+2”, throttle set and the air starter button pressed. In this instance there was a distinct crack as the solenoid opened to allow compressed air into the cylinders and in less than a second the engine was turn ing over at 600rpm. By a process of deduction I sorted out the engine gauges, released the park brake, got the aircraft rolling and applied the bicycle type handbrake lever fitted to the control wheel, to check the brakes. There was a slight hiss of air as the brakes came on and I pushed the left rudder pedal forward with a further squeeze on the lever to turn left out of the parking bay. It reminded me of taxying the Bristol Freighter, reviving memories from a distant past.

More or less conventional pre-takeoff checks were completed, during which I noted we had only lap belts in the front and no seat belts at all for the rear passengers. Yak One was cleared for takeoff by Darwin tower and throttle and pitch levers were pushed forward together. Engine revs went up to 98%, manifold pressure increased to 8. 5 and we accelerated. As airspeed passed 130, I raised the nosewheel and lifted off at 150 (actually 80 knots). The mechanical safety latch was moved sideways,the undercarriage lever was pushed in and up and the gear retracted under the influence of air jacks. Power reduction for the climb was achieved by pulling the pitch lever back to 80% with the throttle remaining open. On the climbout, controls were found to be crisp and light. Rate of climb appeared to be about 700ft per minute though the VSI was in metres per second.

I climbed to1,300 metres, checked around and below during a couple of steep turns and decelerated into some stalls. These were reasonably docile, with aileron control being available during the stall. Application of moderate ‘G’ and of unbalanced rudder produced no adverse effects. The clean power off stall occurred at 65kts.

Entry into a spin was achieved via the usual stick back, aileron on, full rudder procedure, where upon the Yak rolled inverted, dropping its nose as it did so, then settled into a conventional, stable spin. Standard recovery procedure worked after half a turn, and so it was time to try some aerobatics. Engine controls were set to 80% revs (about 1,900rpm), manifold pressure to 7. 5 (actually 750 millimetres of mercury, or 25inches). I found the Yak to be viceless in the gentlemen aeros which I tried, reminding me of aerobatics in the Winjeel.

After a brief period of formation flying with another Yak for air-to-air media filming it was back to Darwin for circuits. On the way, Victor showed me economy cruise throttle at 750mm and surprisingly, pitch lever to full coarse, giving about 50% revs or 1,100rpm – I could literally see each propeller blade as it went past. The absence of a mixture control intrigued me and Victor explained that it was automatically controlled by an aneroid device.

Joining the circuit for runway 29, gear was selected down with airspeed below 200kph (110kts). On finals, full flap was selected (my choices were flap up or full flap) and the air operated jacks very quickly lowered the flaps to about 60 degrees. The Yak hit a brick wall, speed decayed rapidly and it took a marked lowering of the nose, combined with a big increase in power to reach the runway while maintaining 160kph (87kts). Additionally, full forward trim was insufficient to cancel the nose up pitch and I had to exert considerable forward pressure on the control wheel to hold the nose down. Roundout and landing was straightforward.

On later flights, leading the Russian formation around Australia, I found that full tanks (195 litres) with a cruise speed of 110kts and a fuel burn of 65Iph gave a safe range of around 260 nautical miles – our longest leg was Bundaberg to Mackay, 273nm, in 2. 6 hours.

On completion of my first flight in the Yak, Victor awarded me a Russian pilot licence, appropriately endorsed for the Yak-18T. So far as I know, it is the first such licence to be granted to an Australian, and a nice piece of diplomacy.

The Russians received several requests to sell their aircraft while in Australia – which they had to regretfully decline. I understand there are about 150 Yak-18T aircraft left in Russia, with a big demand for them from the US. It is likely that we will see at least one or two on our register in due course to accompany the Chinese built Nanchang CJ-6As (refer Airtest p. 63 Nov 91 AA) ex-military trainer variant.

NEXT ISSUE: Ron flies one of the most unusual aircraft in the world, the single engine large biplane Antonov An-2 Colt. Don’t miss it!