Ви́ктор Гео́ргиевич Пугачёв - Viktor Georgiyevich Pugachev

[Ronin_Gaijin]

Test pilot Viktor Georgievich Pugachev, who gave many years to a wonderful, rare, dangerous and very masculine profession, among his many merits has one that has only
inscribed his name in the history of Russian and world aviation: a unique figure of aerobatics called "Cobra Pugachev". This profession requires special internal qualities, and his whole path is a confirmation of that. 
He was born on August 8, 1948 in Taganrog.

Father - Georgy Yakovlevich Pugachev (born in 1912).
Mother - Anastasia Georgievna Pugacheva (born in 1910 born). 
Spouse - Pugacheva (Shvets) Olga Petrovna (born 1950).

Pugachev's parents moved to Taganrog for 12 years before his birth. 
They received primary education under the poverty eradication program; their father mastered the profession of a steelworker, their mother took up child rearing.
In 1941, Georgy Yakovlevich went to the front, met the victory in Prague, and then until September In 1945, he participated in the defeat of the Japanese army in the Far East.
The parents, who created an atmosphere of kindness, warmth and mutual understanding in the family, remained an unshakable authority for Pugachev until the end of their days. 
My father was a man of equal standing-he was confident, thoughtful, respected by everyone, and easily got along with people.
He attracted his son to household chores from early childhood. He seemed to be able to do everything, there were no intractable problems for him. 
He fully transferred his calm faith and solvency to his son. "My mother was a woman of strict rules," jokes Viktor Georgievich, "which affected my upbringing. This has
ensured my successful schooling and further development in life, for which I bow low to my parents."
Childhood passed like all friends of the same age: street, school, fishing, beach, fights. They climbed into other people's gardens-vegetable gardens, were threatened to be flogged.

 

The most vivid impression was a bicycle, a gift from his parents: "To become the only owner of such a treasure in the village was unthinkable luck. This is comparable to owning a 500 series Mercedes today, although they don't react to it as much now as the boys did to my "ZIF" back then.
In high school, Victor had an internship 2-3 times a week at the Krasny Gidropressing plant, which produced military equipment and hydraulic system parts for a combine plant, and received a high-grade turner specialty. At school, under the guidance of a labour teacher, he began building a motor glider with his comrades. He's laughing.: "We have assembled a crazy design… Then they began to realize that it was too powerful, they had to make it easier.
But it was clear that no matter how high it went (and fell), nothing would happen to it. We did not have time to complete the work, it was time to take exams at school… We left it to the next generations to finish our project."
"The idea of entering a flight school was born long before admission and as if by itself," Viktor Georgievich continues. Nearby was the airfield of the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots named after B.M. Komarov. The flights of Su-7, Su-17, and various helicopters gave rise to romantic delight in the boy. He and his friends were allowed to enter the territory of the garrison, to the gym and to the playground of special equipment; they got acquainted with the cadets, looked at their notebooks.

1966, the year of graduation, became the year of double graduation: 10th and 11th graders received certificates at the same time. At the entrance exams, we had to endure a double competition, about 10 people per place. In addition to exams and a thorough medical examination, applicants were offered to undergo a new psychological selection for that time - tests for concentration, performance of tasks in conditions of interference, up to flight simulated on a simulator. According to the results of this selection, Victor entered the best of the five groups. At the college, the theoretical course included higher mathematics, physics, strength of materials, theoretical mechanics, engine theory and other disciplines at the institute level.
"Methodologists, teachers are just academics," Pugachev recalls. Fundamental knowledge and practical skills have been preserved for life. The highest level of teaching and a clear daily routine helped to withstand the load, and social competition in departments encouraged better results.
In the 2nd year, preparation for flights on a Czech training aircraft began L-29 ("Dolphin"). There were no simulators, everything was worked out in the cockpit. Victor was among the first to fly out on his own. "
You experience amazing impressions when you are left alone with the sky. You talk, you turn around to make sure that no one is there. Such euphoria while flying! 
The flight in a circle is no more than 10 minutes, you don't have time to get enough," Viktor Georgievich shares. - And now it's time to land. And the real jitters begin. It seems that you already know how to do everything, but you are alone, and no one will help you… The first landing is like a rebirth!"

In the 2nd year, Pugachev "fell under the experiment." For the first time, cadets of flight schools, bypassing flights on the MiG-17, were transferred from the L-29 immediately to the Su-7. It excited everyone: "I saw the Su-7 from afar - this mighty Sukhoi perfection, amazing, taking off, roaring on the runway with a huge bright flame, it seemed like it was not an airplane, but some kind of beast…
We felt proud of the new aircraft and worried whether we boys would be able to master it." Pugachev's entire group was one of the first to take off on Su-7U "Sparka" (two-seater, pilot plus instructor, training modifications of the Su-7B serial fighter-bomber). The sensations were so wonderful that upon graduation in 1970, Victor refused to be assigned to Germany and remained at the school as an instructor pilot of the 963rd training aviation regiment based in Taganrog.
In March 1971, he was already an instructor for graduate students. Under the guidance of mentors, he studied himself, becoming a pilot instructor of the 1st class. In 1973, he wanted to enter the Test Pilot School, but there was practically no chance of getting a referral from the school. Having already trained 23 pilots, in 1975 he was appointed a flight commander with the rank of captain. And at the same time, the rules of admission to the university changed, and the possibility of admission arose. The head of the school dissuaded Pugachev by offering a promotion, but he objected: "No, I say, do not use a "squadron commander" excuse. I'd rather go to school."

Then the commander of the regiment, V.S. Mikhailov, convinced the head of the school, and Viktor was released for exams. The knowledge gained at the college allowed in October 1976 to pass a difficult theoretical exam with dignity. On the flight exam, the task included landing with an imitation of an engine failure, which he had not worked out before, but he coped with it. 
The decision had to wait a long time, until June next year. Having resigned from the reserve on July 1 "in connection with the transfer to another department," the next day Pugachev arrived at the School of Test Pilots of the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR.
During a year and a half of training, he mastered almost all types of fighters: Su-7, Su-15, Su-17, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, Yak-28 and heavy aircraft: An-24, An-26, Tu-16, Tu-124, Il-18, having flown a total of over 300 hours. There were a lot of new things in the testing methodology, the use of control and recording equipment.
After graduating from school in December 1978, Pugachev was sent to the M.M. Gromov Flight Research Institute, to the fighter squadron, as a test pilot of the 3rd class. :letchikispytatelsssr: 
From the first days of his work at LII, despite his youth, he took part in research on all sections of flight tests: gas dynamic stability, strength, "stability and controllability" and other characteristics; flew on MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-31 and other aircraft as a co-pilot and commander the ship.

In 1980, he became a test pilot of the 2nd class :letchikispytatelsssr: and simultaneously studied at the Faculty of Aircraft Engineering of the Moscow Aviation Institute.
A friend and classmate N.F. Sadovnikov introduced Pugachev to the pilots of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Victor Georgievich tells: "... I went into the flight room of the bureau not without trembling in my knees, because I could see the great V.S. Ilyushin, A.S. Komarov, A.N. Isakov there..."
When a test pilot was needed at the Design Bureau in October 1980, Pugachev, who was graduating from the institute, received the go-ahead for the transition thanks to the support of the Sukhovites and the commander of his detachment, A.A. Muravyov.
Work at the LIK (flight test complex - ЛИК: летно-испытательном комплексе )  began with flights on the Su-17, Su-24, Su-25.
In 1981, he was entrusted with flying a single seat T-10C interceptor fighter, an improved configuration of the T-10, a prototype of the Su-27.
"The euphoria is worse than the first independent flight, because it was the next generation aircraft with crazy capabilities and fantastic characteristics. V.S. Ilyushin, who took off first on it in April of that year, correctly said that we had created an aircraft that was smarter than us," explains Viktor Georgievich.
And in 1982, Pugachev lifted the T-10-15 into the sky (the first production model of the Su-27) and was appointed its lead test pilot.
In 1984, after the completion of the tests, the Su-27 began to enter the army, although officially the Air Force adopted a Government Decree dated August 23, 1990, when all the shortcomings were eliminated. The aircraft was designated Su-27S (serial), and in air defence aviation PVO - Su-27P (interceptor).

Photo: V.G. Pugachev with Deputy General Designer N.G. Zyrin and colleagues, test pilots of the Sukhoi company.

After a successful flight. 
On the left is M.P. Simonov,
In the center is Air Chief Marshal P.S. Kutakhov.
On the right - V.G. Pugachev

"A new car (jet) is a new friend" says Viktor Georgievich. - With this living being, a creation of human hands, you need to live soul to soul. Then you can understand him quickly enough, merge with him, hear the rustles, sounds, his moans, his words, hints that will allow you to successfully complete flight missions and move further along the program."
At the turn of 1983-1984 , the first Soviet aircraft carrier was laid down at the Nikolaev Shipyard; accordingly a decision had been made to build a deck-based aircraft. Sukhoi Design Bureau has begun work on determining the take-off and landing parameters for the Su-25 and Su-27. A ground-based test training complex for testing naval aircraft was built in Crimea (NITKA) for training pilots in springboard take-off and aerial landing:
at one end of the Saki airfield there is an imitation of the landing deck of an aircraft carrier under construction, at the other there is a springboard. 
Ski jumping, weight gain, and contraction were studied distances; the engagement of the aircraft with the cable of the aerial finisher was worked out. For the first time, a tank tractor was used on a delay device at launch (subsequently, the same technique was applied to the P-42 aircraft in the process of setting world records for rate of climb).
The flights were performed by Pugachev and Sadovnikov.
In 1985, the preliminary tests were completed.

On August 17, 1987, Pugachev made his first flight on an experimental single-seat Su-27K (T-10K-1) ship-based aircraft, designed to defend Navy ships from enemy air attack. Several hundred touches and landings were made on the ground "deck". Full-scale tests were carried out on a heavy aircraft carrier (TAVKR) "Tbilisi" (since October 4, 1990 - "Admiral Kuznetsov of the Fleet of the Soviet Union"), and on November 1, 1989 Pugachev performed the first landing on the deck of a ship in domestic practice.
"Very strict requirements are imposed on the pilot, which are not present at the airfield, - Viktor Georgievich explains - by the accuracy of landing,  deviation from the landing axis and the set speed. High level of training is needed. It is difficult to do this in pitching conditions.
And at night it's even more difficult." Upon completion of the tests, this machine received the official designation Su-33 and went into mass production. Its first display to the general public took place on August 18, 1991 during the celebration of Aviation Day in the city of Zhukovsky, and on August 31, 1998, the aircraft was put into service. 
(photo: Viktor Pugachev after setting another world record. 1999)

"I didn't have difficult cars (jets)," Viktor Georgievich Pugachev assures. - Everyone's favourite. I was lucky. I've always lived with them soul to soul. Therefore, ugh, ugh, I didn't have to eject, lose cars. Although situations on the verge of "fifty-fifty" have arisen.
But I was most closely related to the Su-27...
If he were a man, I would describe him as infinitely kind-aggressive; a fighter with unsurpassed capabilities. There is no such aircraft in the world anymore."
It was on the Su-27 that he made unique test flights over the Arctic Ocean with in-flight refuelling and landing at the ice airfield on the GramBell Islands (81° north latitude, Franz Josef Land Island group).

In 1986 and 1993, the T-10-15 established 13 world records of climb and altitude (of which 4 are improvements in their own record results), breaking by more than two seconds the records of American pilot Roger J. Smith (Roger J. Smith) on the F-15, which lasted for more than 10 years.
In the FAI protocols, the T-10-15 aircraft appeared under the name P-42, which General Designer M.P. Simonov later explained as follows: "... in memory of the great turning point in the Battle of Stalingrad in November 1942 and the role of Soviet aviation in it." Excess elements were removed from the aircraft, in preparation for test flights, a minimum of fuel was poured into the tanks only to enter the mode and land, the engines were boosted. All this made it possible to achieve a unique thrust-to-weight ratio of the car at the start. The P-42 accelerated and crossed the sound barrier in vertical climb mode. "Records make practical sense.
For a combat aircraft, the rate of climb is an indicator of its combat effectiveness, the ability to gain maximum altitude in the shortest possible time, accelerate maximum speed in order to quickly reach the interception line," says Viktor Georgievich. "We beat the F-15 to an altitude of 15,000 m. So far, no one has exceeded us."

[Ronin_Gaijin]

The first landing of the Su-27K on a heavy aircraft carrier.
From left to right: V.G. Pugachev, Chief Designer K.G. Marbashev and General Designer M.P. Simonov. 1989

The conqueror of a heavy aircraft carrier "Tbilisi" (now "Admiral Kuznetsov"). The year 1989

In early 1989, it was decided to demonstrate two-seat Su-27UB combat training and fighter jets (the first flight of which was performed on March 7, 1985) at one of the world's largest aerospace salon Le Bourget (Le Bourget, France), held every two years at Le Bourget airport, 12 km from Paris. It is known that a wide audience judges the perfection of fighters by aerobatics in demonstration flights. Mikhail Petrovich Simonov, General Designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, ordered to be included in the program, the lead pilot of which was appointed Pugacheva, techniques of supermaneuvering.
The exhibition was 5 months away. The development of these techniques began in the Design Bureau long before the debut of domestic aircraft at  international air shows. It was clear that the secret of the fighter's combat potential was in the area of high angles of attack and minimum speeds, beyond the limitations set out in the piloting instructions. For example, the so-called "bell" - when the aircraft is nose up at zero speed, and the tail swings from side to side (or back and forth), like the tongue of a bell. In combat, the aircraft becomes invisible to Doppler radars and missile heads with radar aiming at the target. For a long time it was believed that reception was available only to screw aircraft, since most jet engines could not operate at high angles of attack (the angles between the direction of the velocity of the air flow running into the body and the chord of the aircraft wing).
But in the Sukhoi Design Bureau, research on this manoeuvre was carried out on almost all machines.
Under certain conditions, the aircraft does not stall into a tailspin, since the passage time of the critical range is short. After passing through it, the car enters the zone of supercritical angles of attack, maintaining its own stability and acquiring the moments necessary to balance and restore the original flight mode.

Paris 1989.
With his walk-around complete, Victor Pugachev straps on his helmet. The modern Soviet flying helmet is light and comfortable, and is cut well away from the face, giving an excellent field of view. An inflatable bladder inside the helmet can be used to clamp the helmet very firmly to the head, and this is activated automatically in the event of a cockpit depressurization or on ejection. 
Pugachev favours a throat microphone for displays, disdaining an oxygen mask and built-in microphone.

Pugachev straps into his Severin K-36D zero-zero ejection seat. The same basic model is used in the MiG-29, and was convincingly demonstrated at Paris in 1989 when Anatoly Kvotchur had to bail out of his MiG-29 when he lost control after an engine failure during a low speed, low altitude fly past. 
Prominent fairings beside the headrest contain stabilising telescopic drogue arms.

In February-May 1989, equipped with anti-spin missiles and a parachute the Su-27UB has completed a research program that provided knowledge about balancing capabilities and ways to compensate for involuntary rolls and bends in this mode. And on April 28, at the airfield in Zhukovsky, Viktor Pugachev for the first time, he demonstrated to the General Designer the aerodynamic braking mode with access to the maximum angle of attack. The name of the element was coined by M.P. Simonov, comparing the behavior of the aircraft in the air with the stance of a cobra before an attack.  "Pugachev's Cobra" is an aerobatic figure demonstrating pitch control (French tangage - pitching, angular movement of the aircraft relative to the main transverse axis) in flight dynamics. The aircraft sharply lifts its nose, up to tilting back, but at the same time retains the same direction of flight and thus reaches angles of attack greater than 90°: for the Su-27 - 110°, for the Su-37 - up to 180 ° (that is, the Su-37 can fly tail first); then returns to normal flight mode with almost no loss of altitude. The practical significance of the figure in close combat lies in the possibility of an emergency speed reset, which allows you to "shake off the tail" of the enemy fighter.
Pugachev had to carry out the demonstration program at an apparent altitude not exceeding 1000 m, which imposed strict requirements on piloting techniques and on the reliability of the material part. Victor Georgievich admires: "No foreign aircraft is capable of doing this number!" 

Above The Su-27 flies by for a high a pass in the hazy summer sunshine. One manoeuvre silenced every critic, a dynamic deceleration in which the aircraft
briefly pitched back to an angle in excess of 90 a before returning to straight and level flight. They dubbed it 'Pugachev's Cobra', and it had a similar impact to the MiG-29's much-discussed tailslide at Farnborough the year before.

Climbing steeply into the blue to begin his first public display in the West, Pugachev probably didn't even notice the British Airways Lockheed TriStar trundling sedately towards Aeroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle. With both engines in full reheat the Su-27 climbs like an arrow, especially when lightly
loaded for an airshow demonstration. The spectacular take offs had the crowds gasping!

The reception along with the "bell" was included in the program for Le Bourget. A pair of Su-27UB No. 389, piloted by E.I. Frolov, and Su-27 No. 388, piloted by Pugachev, flew to Paris on June 2 in 1989. The organizing committee of the exhibition handed over the schemes of demonstration flights, and Simonov
and Pugachev had to convince the members of the commission of the safety of the manoeuvre and repeat the preliminary training flight (during which the commission turned on the means of external vector measurements). According to the printouts of competitors - F-16, Rafale, Mirage - the Sukhovites saw that they were "inside their figures", that is, the radii and differences of the C-27 are smaller. But the press was silent. The most important day of the exhibition has come: the President of France, the press, television, specialists, thousands of spectators. "Launch, taxiing. The excitement grows to the limit, and only when the afterburner is turned on and the plane begins to take off, it disappears somewhere, excitement appears, and hard work begins in the name of victory.
It's only 5 minutes from take-off to landing, but I've never experienced more difficult minutes," Viktor Georgievich says with excitement.
"Cobra" made a stunning impression on the public and specialists. The aircraft with its unique manoeuvrable characteristics has become an absolute favourite of the exhibition.
For the courage and heroism shown during the development of the Su-27, in 1989 V.G. Pugachev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Merited Test Pilot Viktor G. Pugachev was the most experienced and best-known display pilot flying the Su-27 at air events.

From 1999 to 2004, he tested a two-seat carrier-based fighter Su-27KUB, participated in the training of pilots and test pilots for landing on TAVKR Kuznetsov was awarded the Order of Courage for the successful conduct of the tests.
In 2000, showing skill and presence of mind, he saved expensive equipment and the lives of the crew in an emergency.
In 2000-2010, he developed a methodology for training Navy aviation pilots for the take-offs and landings of Su-25UTG, Su-33 and Su-27KUB on an aircraft carrier, trained pilots from foreign customers of Sukhoi aircraft, participated in the methodological preparation of the first flight of the 5th generation T-50 fighter. 
In a telegram congratulating Viktor Pugachev on his 60th birthday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote: "A pilot of the highest class, you have made a worthy contribution to the development of domestic aircraft construction, strengthening the country's defence capability and international prestige.... It is gratifying that today you are working productively for the benefit of Russia in the legendary Sukhoi Design Bureau." Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov responded as follows: "Victor Georgievich refers to those air aces, who glorified our country with their achievements." Chairman of the Federation Council
The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Sergey Mironov noted: "The legendary pilot, the owner of a personalized pilot trick, a professional of the highest class, Viktor Georgievich made a significant contribution to increasing the prestige of the domestic aviation industry."
Colonel Pugachev, Deputy Chief Designer of the first degree in flight tests of JSC Sukhoi Design Bureau (1999), mastered more than 60 types of aircraft. His total flight time exceeds 3,400 hours, of which more than 2,000 are test flights. V.G. Pugachev is a Hero Of the Soviet Union (1989), Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR (1991).

Awarded the Orders "For Services to the Fatherland" of the III degree (1999, "for services to the state, a great contribution to the development, creation of modern aviation technology and many years of conscientious work"), Courage (2002), Lenin (1989), "Badge of Honour" (1982), Ivan Kalita (Moscow region, 2008); Gold Star medal (1989). One of the first winners of the V. Vysotsky prize "His own track" (2001, "for faith in the boundless possibilities of man, for unsurpassed flight skills, for overcoming overloads"). 
Since 2009, he has been a deputy of the City Council in the city of Zhukovsky. Master of Sports of the USSR of international class in aeronautical sports.
He is fond of traveling by car. 
Sometime in the 1980s, Viktor Georgievich was instructed to investigate the causes of accidents of several aircraft due to a design defect in the air intakes. He made a dangerous test flight in icy conditions and identified the causes. When asked about that case in an interview, he replied: "That 's what testers  are for, so that planes don't fall..."

Photo:
Hero of the Soviet Union, Honoured Test Pilot Viktor Pugachev and President of the group of companies "Top Secret" Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya at
the award ceremony "Own track" in Moscow. On the left, the artistic director of the Taganka Theatre, Valery Zolotukhin. 2012

Sources:
1. International United Biographical Center: http://www.biograph.ru/index.php/whoiswho/52/4786-pdfpugachev 
2. Famous Russian Aircraft - Sukhoi Su-27 by Yefim Gordon
3. Su-27 Flanker Sukhoi Superfighter by Jon Lake

[Ronin_Gaijin]

Honored test navigator of the USSR Nikolai Alekseevich Alferov is standing next to V.G. Pugachev.

[Ronin_Gaijin]

On November 21, 1989, test pilot Viktor Georgievich Pugachev landed the experimental T10K-2 carrier fighter (side 39) on the deck of the heavy aircraft carrier project 1143.5 Tbilisi for the first time at night.

Viktor Georgievich Pugachev recalls: “The night over the sea is like a “black box”. Somewhere below is a small light-ship. The deck is not illuminated, and landing on it is akin to falling into a well. Everyone who goes to the ship at night experiences extreme tension. This is only for strong-willed men...”