Viktor Pugachyov

Viktor Georgiyevich Pugachev (Russian: Ви́ктор Гео́ргиевич Пугачёв) (born August 8, 1948 in Taganrog, RSFSR) is a former Soviet test pilot who was the first to demonstrate the so-called Pugachev's Cobra maneouvre to the general public in 1989, flying an Su-27. He was named Hero of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. He graduated from Yeysk military aviation school in 1970, test-pilot school in 1978 and the MAI (Moscow State Aviation Institute) in 1980. After two years with LII (Flight Research Institute named after M.M.Gromov) joined OKB Sukhoi where he tested the Su-9, Su-15, Su-24, Su-25 and the Su-27. On 1 November 1989 Pugachev landed an Su-27K on an aircraft carrier for the first time in Soviet history. He became famous after his 1989 Su-27 demonstrations on the Paris Airshow. Pugachev is credited with first ever non-vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) from the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

Contents

• Record flights
• Honours and awards
• References

Currently he lives in Zhukovsky and works as the Chief Pilot Designer at Sukhoi Design Bureau.

Record flights

While working as a test pilot at Sukhoi he broke 13 world records in the Sukhoi P-42:

Honours and awards

Hero of the Soviet Union (1989) - for courage and heroism in the development of the Su-27

Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (29 July 1999) - for services to the state, a large contribution to the development, creation of modern aviation technology and years of diligent work

Order of Lenin (1989)

Order of the Badge of Honour (1983)

Order for Personal Courage

Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR (1991)

Order of Ivan Kalita (Moscow Region, 1 August 2008)

Prize Laureate. Vladimir Vysotsky's "Own Track"

Jubilee Medal "300 Years of the Russian Navy"

Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"