My flight time has been seriously curtailed in the last few weeks on account of absolutely everything else. Tonight, however, I was able to get a little flight time in a few of the different aircraft that I have and one of them was the DCS: MiG-19. There’s some notable changes since the last time I reported on it in my first impressions piece and I wanted to share my quick flight around the block.
Flying better now
The MiG-19 on launch felt a little artificial – like I was flying with a fly by wire aircraft except even that didn’t capture it properly. The Hornet’s system for example keeps you under control but there’s still those little asymmetric and opposite movements. Back to the MiG-19 where the roll rate, turn rate, and pretty much everything when it came to the edge of the envelope felt off. It wasn’t the most auspicious start and I wrote extensively about that in my initial impressions piece.
That’s all changed now as the latest 2.5.4.29004 Open Beta update brings with it some important improvements to the MiG-19.
The patch notes list a bunch of updates but the one that doesn’t appear on the list is the flight model and I think that’s the biggest change. Stalls and spins are now something that can happen. The roll rate seems a little more realistic too. The whole feel of the aircraft has changed in some important ways and you can feel a little yaw instability and adverse roll effects at various points. It doesn’t feel overdone either but rather a series of subtle changes that makes the MiG-19 feel alive.
A few users have pointed out that there are still some issues here and it’s my hope that we’ll see those tackled. Still, we’ve taken some leaps forward and I don’t want to diminish that. This is a big improvement from my perspective.
A note on the cockpit
The new cockpit 
Before
The MiG-19’s cockpit was also far too dark and that made working with it more difficult than it should have been. That has changed for the better with a lighting update. Things are looking pretty good now!
You can see in the above comparison the old and new. While the lighting isn’t exactly the same, its still evident how much brighter the shadow areas are. This still looks good and its more usable in the same breath. Nicely done RAZBAM.
Other thoughts
This was just a spin around the block and its clear to me that the MiG-19 has seen some improvements that tackle some of the biggest problems I’ve had with the module. RAZBAM has worked to improve these and do them in a relatively short period of time and I’m pleased to see the effort going in here.
It’s not just effort but progress that we’re seeing and definitely some results. Does this completely solve the MiG-19s problems? No, not quite but I think this goes a ways towards it being a solid purchase. Keep doing good things here RAZBAM!
In other news, I did some more F-14 flying. This weekend I hope to get enough stick time to finally write my first impressions piece on that module. Stay tuned for that!
Stormbirds 
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