On September 1 of this year, Alexander Yuryevich Garnaev, Hero of the Russian Federation, Honored Test Pilot of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Economic Sciences, turned 65. Over the period of more than 40 years of flight, he has mastered more than 70 types of serial, experimental, and upgraded aircraft - domestic and foreign, with a total flight time of about 12,000 flight hours. He repeatedly competently got out of emergency situations created during flights, saving experienced aviation equipment.
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| Test pilot Alexander Garnaev. |
| Source: Valery Ageev |
For example, in August 1987, when performing a test flight on a MiG-31 aircraft as part of a crew with A.N.Kvochur, a test pilot at the A.I.Mikoyan Design Bureau, at a flight speed near the supersonic limit (more than M=2.5) and an altitude of more than 17 km, the lantern collapsed and the cockpit was explosively depressurized. The crew successfully reduced the speed to subsonic, made a descent, approach and landing at the Ramenskoye base test airfield (Zhukovsky).
The hard way to the sky
Alexander Garnaev was born in Zhukovsky, Moscow region, on September 1, 1960, into the family of Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Yuri Alexandrovich Garnaev. In 1967, my father died while performing a government assignment on an Mi-6 helicopter in France.
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
Alexander was incredibly proud of his father. During the Great Patriotic War, Yuri Gagarin was a fighter pilot, and after it he ended up in the Gulag, but he did not break down, he passed this test with honor. He became an honored test pilot of the USSR, he had the most difficult flights to his credit. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Surprisingly, Sasha wanted to become an astronaut as a child. Back then, in the 60s of the last century, all boys and girls dreamed of flying into space.
As he recalled, "the guys and I often played in the yard — we built a spaceship out of branches. The friend from the next door was Valentina Tereshkova, and I, of course, was Yuri Gagarin.
When the first cosmonaut of the planet came to our home, Gagarin asked:
"What's your name, soldier?" Let's get acquainted! Then I was indignant.:
- I'm not a soldier, I'm Gagalin! Yuri Alekseevich, of course, was taken aback for a second. I insisted that I was Gagalin, stubbornly stamped my foot and was about to cry when the cosmonaut smiled broadly, held out his hand and said:
"The world?" Okay, we'll have two Gagarins! Agree?
I was quite satisfied with this option, and, satisfied, I ran away to continue playing rockets and airplanes."
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
However, after his father's death at the age of seven, in his first interview with Pionerskaya Pravda, he was asked who he wanted to be when he grew up, Sasha replied:
- Like Dad, a test pilot, a hero. And he kept his word.
Since 1975, Alexander began flight training at the gliding department of the Zhukovsky Aviation Technical Sports Club. In 1977, he graduated from Zhukovsky Secondary Special School No. 3 and entered the Armavir Higher Military Aviation Red Banner School of Pilots.
In 1981, Garnaev graduated from this college with a gold medal. He also received his first award here. As a fourth-year cadet, a Lenin scholarship recipient, he was awarded the badge "Military Valor" for the first cadet interception of an air target in the front hemisphere on a MiG-23M (on a collision course).
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| Test pilot Alexander Garnaev. |
| Source: Valery Ageev |
In 1981, Alexander graduated from college with a gold medal, after which he served in flight positions in the Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District (Kubinka).
Here in the regiment, he was a member of the leadership group, being a senior lieutenant in the Guard, who already then, in the first half of the eighties of the last century, received permission to use nuclear weapons from fighter planes. It was a special group, which did not include all the pilots of the regiment, it was trained and trained in the strictest secrecy.
I'm a tester!
In 1985, Garnaev entered the Test Pilot School of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, after which, in June 1987, he was sent as a test pilot to the Mikoyan Design Bureau. During the period of flight testing work at the Mikoyan Design Bureau, he conducted flight tests of experimental MiG-29M, MiG-29K, MiG-31B, MiG-31D, and izd. 05 aircraft. On MiG-23, MiG-27, MiG-29, and MiG-31 aircraft, he conducted tests on the use of various aircraft weapons systems and experimental missiles.
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
On August 13, 1991, Garnaev performed the first ascent of an experimental aircraft, which later became the first prototype of the Mikoyan advanced fighter with a deflected thrust vector. He conducted a large test cycle of the experimental strategic complex "izd.07", which was successfully completed by conducting test combat operations on orbital objects.
In 1994, he transferred to flight testing work at the State Scientific Center, the M.M.Gromov Flight Research Institute (LII).
Since 1990, he has participated in numerous shows of single and group aerobatics on MiG-29, Su-27 and Su-30 aircraft at a large number of air shows and airshows in Russia, CIS countries, Europe, Asia, and the USA. He performed comparative, joint flights under international military-technical cooperation programs for air combat, flight test methods, including on foreign combat aircraft at foreign military and test air bases in the United States, France, and Arab countries.
For many years, Alexander Garnaev commanded a detachment of test pilots at the LII. He participated in the tests of an experimental Yak-130 aircraft, performed aerial refueling flights day and night, and ultra-long-range flights on the Su-30 in a group led by Hero of Russia, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Anatoly Nikolaevich Kvochur with a flight time of more than 10 hours with numerous aerial refueling, including over the ocean, in various regions - from polar to tropical latitudes.
By decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated January 15, 1998, Alexander Garnaev was awarded the title "Hero of the Russian Federation" for his courage and heroism shown during the testing of new aviation equipment. On September 21, 2002, he was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Test Pilot of the Russian Federation."
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
In 1998, Alexander Garnaev graduated with honors from the Russian Academy of Public Administration with a degree in Public and Municipal Administration. He completed postgraduate studies at the same academy in 2002 and defended his dissertation. He holds a PhD in Economics.
In 2002, he completed flight test work at LII. Since 2008, he has been a private pilot of business aviation. In 2009, he graduated from the USA Airline Transport Pilot Academy (Trenton, NJ) and received the FAA-ATPL qualification (USA FAA Airline Transport Pilot (2009[4]). He completed a full course of study at the Airbus Training Center (Toulouse, France), then at a number of other foreign flight training centers, worked for Aeroflot (including as commander of the Airbus A-330 aircraft) until 2017.
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
Reflecting on his profession, Garnaev sometimes asked himself and answered himself:
- What is a high-class pilot? In my understanding, I have been flying for more than forty years actively in the most critical areas. He was an Air Force fighter pilot, a test pilot, a line pilot on long-range aircraft, and an aircraft commander. In more than 40 years, I have never, anywhere, or under any circumstances disrupted a single flight, been suspended, or missed a flight. That's all. This is not heroism — it is a professional duty in my understanding. Maybe that's the main thing!
One day I caught myself with a very interesting thought: I'm not ashamed of a single day I've lived! Not a single day has been wasted by me.: I always went towards some high goals. Sometimes I stumbled, and then I set myself even higher goals. And I went even more stubbornly towards them and achieved them... and so I lived my whole life, I am not ashamed of a single day I have lived!
Valery Ageev
