Interview with Sukhoi test pilot

Interesting:

The Tester Has a Dream…

As air force commander-in-chief, General of the Army Vladimir Mikhaylov, reported the other day, the tactical-technical task for the fifth generation aviation complex has been approved. Any airplane receives its start in the sky, passing comprehensive tests. The airmen who make them know how close theory is to practical solutions. A Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent met with Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company (AKhK) test pilot, Hero of Russia Yuriy Vashchuk.

– Yuriy Mikhaylovich, the Sukhoy AKhK was determined as the lead executor and correspondingly the lead developer of the domestic fifth generation fighter program.
How is the fifth generation airplane viewed from your place of work?

– The fifth generation airplane is a most complicated aviation complex, a peculiar flying computer. Its development is underway based on the requirements produced for this complex by the Ministry of Defense, and also taking into account he trend for the development of the world market of airplanes of a similar class. The distinguishing features of the Russian combat aircraft will be super maneuverability- the ability to make controlled flight at low speeds and high angles of attack; multirole capability- the ability to resolve missions of the destruction both of aerial and of ground targets in any weather and at any time of day or night; low observability in the optical, infrared and radar frequency ranges, and also it will be able to takeoff and sit down on short runways.

Our firm’s designers are trying to create as much as possible a “smart” aircraft that will allow an airman to execute a combat mission while not being diverted by ‘trivia’. For example, a failure of any kind of system occurs, a back-up switches on immediately and the airman only receives information about it. In a situation of this type he would make the same decision that is automated. So why divert attention from the flight when there is another simple way?

We want to establish a dialogue between machine and man. Upon execution of a combat mission, the airplane itself will propose several variants of actions and the right for selection will stay with the airman. Everything looks simplistic with the following example. Several targets have been detected, the complex determines the most important of them. The airman makes the decision. Then follow the suggestion, with which weapon to destroy this target. All the logical ways are being studied of which all work of a military pilot consists. Both we and abroad are attempting this. The question is who will achieve the best result.

Huge work as been done on the airplane’s maneuverability. The Su-35 looks the most striking in this plan.

– In your view, how ready are we for stepping into the fifth generation?

– Everything depends on two factors. First. Right now things are difficult with the delivery of modern aircraft to Russia’s air force. Sukhoy AKhK has to sell new airplanes abroad, and the profit received is invested in the continuation of developments. A cardinal change of the situation that has been created is needed.

I express the opinion of the test pilots which conforms to the point of view of the Sukhoy AKhK general director, Mikhail Pogosyan. Without serious steps for the upgrade of aircraft equipment, it is impossible to speak about the introduction of a fifth generation airplane into the forces. As early as today, both airmen and technicians must be trained for work on tomorrow’s aviation complexes. It is impossible to allow a large gap between what is being used now and that equipment which will come to replace it. The flight and technical personnel are supposed to learn how to make the transition from work with the so-called needle instruments to work with a flying computer, and that, I will repeat, is what the fifth generation aviation complex will be. Upgrade is a obligatory step on the way.

– Second. The holding company is not working alone in this direction, it has many collaborators, and a lot depends on them. The main thing is how timely and qualitatively all orders will be carried out. It is not secret that the manufacturing firms can offer ‘spoiled goods’ or half-done developments which have not passed the proper tests. And some entirely can inflate the prices for exclusive things. As a result, the lead developer suffers, mainly in the financial plan. Therefore, only the state is able and obligated to take on itself the coordination of all operations. Then Russian, using the potential it has, will remain in the ranks of worldwide aviation powers.

– What is in your ‘flight bag’, what aviation equipment have you mastered?

– In my own time I have flown in DOSAAF in the aerobatic team of the Soviet Union (Russia). I graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. I have mastered the L-39, the MiG-15 and MiG-17 trainers, the Yak-55 and Su-26. Since 1992, I have been working at the Sukhoy firm, which paid for my training at the test pilots’ school. I have mastered the MiG-21, MiG-23, Su-24, An-24 and Tu-134. At the same time Su-29 certification took place, and I had, as is said, to study without a break from production.
Then there were still the sports Su-26 and Su-31. Of course, a special page of my flying biography is the Su-35.

– How would you feel if you lifted the fifth generation airplane into the air? Are you ready for that?

– It will be the happiest moment of my life! Every airman dreams about it.

Source: 03.06.04, Krasnaya Zvezda