Showtime. ‘Gunjiz’ scans the main instrument panel and the three multi-function displays (MFDs) in front of him. Engine temperature okay… EGT (exhaust gas temperature) okay… all green across the board, no annunciator lights.
The Chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force then moves the centrally mounted, hydraulically boosted flight control stick forward, back, left, right, and in a circular motion to ensure the flight control surfaces are free and offer a full range of movement.
The cockpit air-conditioning is cranked to full, but the heat from the jackhammer of an afternoon Langkawi sun tears through the thick Perspex bubble canopy of the Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker like it was nothing.
In the back seat, ‘Sting’ goes through his own checklists and buttons his cockpit down tight. On this particular ‘hop’, the commander of the Gong Kedak Air Base in Terengganu is the ‘Whizzo’. The Weapons Systems Officer (WSO – or ‘Whizzo’ in RMAF parlance) usually manages the complex weapons systems on board the Flanker – planning and executing missions as a tactician, and acting as a second pair of eyes in a close-in ‘knife fight’ or dogfight.
On this evolution, however, he’s part safety officer – calling out airspeed and altitude – and part show manager, helping ‘Gunjiz’ hit all the critical points in the aerial sequence and ensuring the Flanker doesn’t stray too far from the crowd line, show centre, or datum.
Up front, ‘Gunjiz’ swivels his helmeted head once more, sucks in a lungful of pure oxygen through his Ulmer Su30 UECT 82VB oxygen mask, and says into the mic, “Ready… here we go.”
With his Nomex-gloved hands, General Tan Sri Asghar Khan Goriman Khan, 60, pushes the twin throttles on the left console past the detent and goes to full ‘burner.
“Airspeed’s alive.” The Sukhoi Su-30MKM thunders down Padang Matsirat’s Runway 03.
The acceleration is quick. Outside, the twin firecans on the Lyulka (now Saturn) AL-31FP augmented turbofans belch out tongues of blue-orange flame, shock diamonds rippling in the heat blur.
In the back seat, Colonel Mohd Norazan Othman, 46, reads out the airspeed in a syncopated sing-song. “One hundred… one twenty… one thirty…”
At 140 knots, ‘Gunjiz’ hauls back on the stick at 15 degrees AoA (angle of attack or alpha), registers positive climb, tucks in the landing gear to ‘clean up’ the jet, waits a few more seconds for the airspeed to hit 250 knots, then cranks the stick back and to the left in a punishing ‘Max AB Turn’.
The G-meter windmills and peaks at 7Gs, ripping into ‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’. The bladders in their PPK-3P-120M G-suits inflate with the onset of Gs, forcing blood from their lower extremities back to their brains. An oxygen-deprived brain would quickly go into G-LOC (G-induced Loss Of Consciousness), which can often be fatal.
From the ‘Max AB Turn’, ‘Gunjiz’ rolls the jet and repositions for the next manoeuvre – the ‘Toruk Action’. After the initial minimum radius turn, ‘Gunjiz’ rolls the jet, then grabs and hauls back on the stick with both hands, yanking it into his gut and pitching the Flanker’s nose up to 60 degrees AoA. The Flanker judders and shakes under immense aerodynamic loads. Once again, ‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’ are punished by the crushing Gs. The Flanker claws skyward like a homesick angel until it reaches 4,000 feet. At that point, they roll the jet and change orientation from pure vertical to the horizontal to showcase the jet’s phenomenal nose-pointing authority.
At 5,000 feet, they begin bringing the nose low, transitioning into a flat manoeuvre, pointing towards the crowd line, recovering, and turning right to reposition for the next sequence.
The ‘TVC J-Turn’ is a staple in the Flanker’s repertoire. This involves hauling the 22-tonne jet into the vertical, up to 5,000 feet, and initiating the manoeuvre at 180 knots. At the apex of the climb, ‘Gunjiz’ kicks in the thrust-vectoring (TVC) nozzles, and the Flanker performs a wing-over to the left, points its nose down, picks up knots, and recovers towards show centre.
“It’s the same manoeuvre in the movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick’… that scene where the Su-57 does the J-Turn to evade Maverick’s missile shot,” Sting tells Twentytwo13 in an exclusive interview.
“The beauty of the Flanker is that it has no stall limits. It’s one of those jets with unlimited ‘alpha’ (angle of attack) capability. It won’t stall – and it’s controllable throughout.”
‘Alpha’ is the angle between the aircraft’s longitudinal axis (the direction the nose is pointing) and the relative airflow (the direction the aircraft is actually moving through the air).
High-alpha manoeuvring allows fighters to perform aggressive pitch movements, especially in close-in dogfights.
Modern fighters like the Su-30 and F-22 Raptor are designed for controlled high-alpha flight, enabling them to point their noses (and weapons) at an opponent even at slow speeds or under high drag.
Exceeding critical alpha can cause a stall – but with thrust vectoring and fly-by-wire systems, some jets can remain controllable well beyond that point.
The next manoeuvre in the 12-minute sequence is the impressive ‘Tailslide’, another showstopper. The jet turns perpendicular to the crowd line. At 300 knots, ‘Gunjiz’ hauls back on the stick and climbs skywards. Vortices, or ‘vapes’ – puffs of condensation – stream from the Flanker’s leading edge root extensions (LERXes) as moisture is squeezed from the air.
The airspeed winds down as the altimeter spins upwards. Throttles are at idle. ‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’ keep climbing until the Flanker has nothing left to give and stops mid-air at 4,000 feet – airspeed zero. It hangs for a few seconds before gravity wins.
The Flanker then begins sliding back to earth, maintaining its nose-high attitude until it pitches down at around 3,000 feet – well past the horizon. Full recovery comes at around 2,500 feet, followed by a corkscrew to the left to reposition, bottoming out at between 800 and 500 feet. This manoeuvre demonstrates not only the Flanker’s controllability, but also the engines’ extreme resistance to disturbed airflow.
‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’ reposition at show centre for the ‘Half Loop, Tumble, and Yaw’ manoeuvre. Entry speed is a blistering 350 knots – converting potential energy into kinetic. At the designated entry speed, ‘Gunjiz’ pulls back on the pole and hits 5,500 feet. At the top of the loop, he thumbs the ‘Manoeuvre On’ button and enters a tumble at around 60 knots. After exiting, they yaw the aircraft at zero knots. After two rotations, they pitch the nose low, pick up airspeed, and reposition for the next manoeuvre, setting up for the ‘Cobra Spike’.
Entry is at 2,000 feet with 250 knots dead on the dial. In a heartbeat, ‘Gunjiz’ pitches the nose high, past 120 degrees, bleeding off airspeed in a dramatic deceleration that would leave an opponent on his ‘six’, in a world of hurt. It’s a classic dogfight favourite – the same “I’m gonna hit the brakes and he’ll fly right by” manoeuvre used by Lt Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the 1986 blockbuster ‘Top Gun’. This would force ‘bandits’ to overshoot their quarry as the Sukhoi hovers briefly in defiance of physics. With the threat now out in front, ‘Gunjiz’ bunts the stick forward, and snaps back into the fight, manoeuvring in for the kill.
Next is the ‘Belly Barrel’. Starting from 5,000 feet at 250 knots, the Flanker rolls into a vertical spiral, slowing almost to a hover in front of the mesmerised crowd. It’s a breathtaking showcase of the Su-30MKM’s low-speed agility – descending gracefully while spiralling like a leaf in the wind, before lining up perfectly for the next high-octane manoeuvre, the jaw-dropping ‘Spin Roll, High Alpha’.
From the reposition, ‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’ bleed the airspeed down to 160 knots before plugging the blowers to full power at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 feet. Entry speed is pegged at 180 knots. Once they hit it, they start pitching up to 60 degrees nose-high while yawing the jet. When the nose points low, they recover – speed now at 60 knots. Here, ‘Gunjiz’ plugs in full reheat and yanks the nose up to 55-60 degrees AoA.
This is the worst place to be – low altitude, low airspeed. They are right on the ragged edge, with no room for error. The Flanker is kept aloft purely on engine power.
“Engines are at max setting… max reheat. But that’s it – we have no excess power left. This is the most dangerous part, if the engines fail. We’re at max power, and at 2,000 feet. We have an ‘escape route’ but the margins are really tight. If the engines quit, we’ll end up like the MiG,” says ‘Sting’, referring to the crash of the MiG-29 Fulcrum being demonstrated by famed Russian test pilot Anatoly Kvochur at the 1989 Le Bourget Air Show. Kvochur was forced to eject when his Fulcrum ingested a bird at low altitude, causing the aircraft to yaw into the ground.
The 12-minute display of the Flanker, dubbed ‘Toruk Makto’ after the mythical creature in the James Cameron epic ‘Avatar’ at the 17th edition of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition 2025, was a masterclass in grace, power, and precision.
Hardly surprising, since ‘Gunjiz’ had logged more than 2,000 hours on fast jets, including the MiG-29N Fulcrum, while ‘Sting’ has logged over 3,500 hours, 2,000 hours on the Flanker.
Together, ‘Gunjiz’ and ‘Sting’ showcased not just the raw capability of the Su-30MKM Flanker but the skill, discipline, and seamless teamwork within the Royal Malaysian Air Force that bring this masterpiece of aviation to life – leaving the crowd in awe, and reminding everyone why the Flanker remains a symbol of aerial dominance and Malaysian pride.
Main image by Royal Malaysian Air Force.
