Pugachev Viktor G.

... 1989. International Air Show in Le Bourget. The sky soars our Su-27. Silver Bird makes graceful bends. And then the plane suddenly rises on its hind legs, threw back his nose, swims in an upright position and ... falls down. It was like a swift dash cobra. The stands exploded with applause. "In the sky - pilot Pugachev," - declares the announcer dispassionately. "Honored test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union", - added I.
Pugachev and his "Cobra"
- Victor G., our planes are competitive in the global rynkeN
- Our machines are very manoeuvrable. For example, one of the latest developments behalf of Sukhoi Design Bureau - Su-37 - has virtually no restrictions on the angle of attack. The angle can reach 180 б°, while the aircraft is flying tail forward!

- I am no expert, but now everyone's lips "Berkut". Once a chance to see it in flight, I have a cottage near Zhukovsky. The spectacle was fantastic!
- I know, I know (laughs). When the inhabitants of Zhukovsky observed that the Su-37 vytvoryayut in the sky, then a few days only talked about it, the city we Aircraft. And when they saw the "Berkut", long silent. Kind of like upset, and decided that this is a mistake Designer. Wings screwed on backwards. Such is the construction of aircraft with unusual aerodynamic configuration. We have something to show in August at the air show in Zhukovsky.

- Are you scared to sit in the cab of the machine which was never raised in neboN
- No. I concentrate forces, hear every movement of the machine. I talk to her, consoled her, so as not to upset. We, the pilots, the people superstitious. Always knock on wood three times before the flight. Alas, many of my friends are dead. Alexander Komarov was killed when testing. At Alexander Isakov could not stand the heart. In my eyes - afraid to tell you that you experience during this time - my friend Anatoly Kvochur left the plane a decade ago. Dead engine. And the fact that the catapult, the pilot had one or two seconds. Great good fortune - I've never had to leave the car. After all with her during the trials in the sky are becoming one. Fear appears later, when the land and everything behind.

- How to relax - grasp the validol or valokordinN
- Oh no (laughs), it's better "front hundred grams". And then follows a period of reassessment of their actions. One sleepless night, two, three ... While not done a full analysis of the flight. Jobs LII them. Gromov, in which I got on the distribution of post-school test pilots, taught me a lot. I understood: the farther, the more improved relations between man and machine. Previously required to fifty test flights is at times quite three.
- How did your "cobra" N
- In the late eighties, we have already experienced the Su-27 on Corkscrew, knew the possibility of the machine on exit from a spin, uncontrolled crash. Switched to the study superagility. Work on modeling the stands showed that under certain conditions, the aircraft can immediately go to a very high angle of attack and not fall down, to keep control. In 1989. decided on the participation of the Sukhoi Design Bureau in the international Show in Le Bourget. They decided to demonstrate the possibility of the aircraft, using the elements superagility. One of these elements - a quick turn of the aircraft at an angle 100-120 б°. For chegoN While the enemy did not have time to recover, to put him in a rocket. We had a lot of tough love to get the Cobra back from his military status in the usual. As the name arose figuryN with light hand General Designer. Mikhail Simonov told reporters: "Imagine a cobra when she attacked". No aircraft such regimes did not perform. The Americans then experimented for a long time, but have not been able to change the management system and refused to do such superelement. And we continued to improve the Cobra, and now she has several options supermanevrov.

- As far as prestige and promising Russia's interior compared to Le Bourget and FarnboroN
- Our shop is just beginning. But even if it will be presented only aircraft of domestic firms, this is a daring composition, which is sure to arouse great interest in the world. This year, we will show all the "Su-constellation" and a dozen more models supercar. This is a new word in the aircraft industry. A novelty, a surprise will be a C-80 - freight and passenger destination.

- How is life today pilots ispytatelyamN
- Unfortunately, many found themselves out of. This reduces the skills. As for Test Pilot School, also a fun little, to speak on the deterioration of the level of training. Earlier this Ministry was engaged in the aviation industry, which grew in flight crews, trained and distributed between the design bureau of the needs, but today everything has changed. Now, each aircraft factory or a company take a pilot, and then, if you need it, send it to study. The cost of training has always been very big, so today, our future aces study on an abbreviated program ...

- What do you feel during the flights have time to consider whether neboN
- Feelings arise only in the first flights on the supersonic car, when it seems you have to overcome something unusual. Although in fact nothing special happens. The plane simply flies faster than sound. But it can be seen only on the testimony of devices. There are specific things that happen with the aircraft when passing the speed of sound: it rocked. At an altitude of more than twenty kilometers of the sky begins to change color - turns into a dark blue, then purple. This is a sign that soon the cosmos.