In August, the official entry into the Russian Book of Records named after 21-year-old Alice Kukvinova will take place. The youngest crew commander of a twin-engine helicopter in Russia works in the National Air Ambulance Service (NSSA) of Rostec State Corporation. To date, she has spent a total of 550 hours at the helm.
Alice Kukvinova has dreamed of flying since childhood. While still at school, she mastered the control of two types of aircraft – four types of aircraft and an autogyro – a hybrid of an airplane and a helicopter, on which she took to the air on her own at the age of 13. Then there was a flight school in Omsk, where the girl added to her skills the ability to control various types of helicopters. A year ago, the dream of becoming a professional pilot came true – Alice received an invitation from the Rostec National Air Ambulance Service and in a short time went from trainee to crew commander of an ambulance helicopter.
"There is no concept of "the weaker sex" in air ambulance. Girls are trained and pass flight standards on an equal basis with men. At the age of 21, Alisa Kukvinova, despite her young age, became a professional pilot, rightfully received the title of commander of the ambulance helicopter crew and earned the respect of senior colleagues. Her personal record is the record of the entire Russian air ambulance, it demonstrates perseverance, professionalism and loyalty to the chosen path. I am convinced that all the NSSA crews, without exception, deserve high praise – they save people's lives every day where it would not be easy for doctors to get on the ground," said Rostec Executive Director Oleg Yevtushenko.
"My great-grandfather was an aircraft mechanic, one grandfather served as a military pilot, fought in World War II, the second was a navigator of a cruise liner. My father is the captain of a ship, however, not of the air, but of the sea. So, probably, it's fate to manage equipment, perform flights and transport people. At the age of seven, I made a parachute jump, perhaps this is what gave me the impetus to choose my future profession. As for the record, I take it calmly. This is not my merit, but all those who helped me and who believed in me – my father, instructors, my teachers and colleagues from the NSSA. By the way, it turned out that I have the smallest age of a commander of a twin-engine helicopter not only in Russia, but also in the world. I was approached with a proposal to be included in the Guinness Book of Records, but I refused," says Alice Kukvinova.
In the future, Commander Kukvinova plans to join the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad. And Alice has already taken the first steps in this direction. She was noticed and promised to be invited at the time of the start of the selection to the squad for long multi-stage tests.
The National Air Ambulance Service was created within the framework of a federal project implemented by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and Rostec State Corporation on the basis of instructions from the President of Russia. The project provides for the creation of a fleet of sanitary helicopters, 130 aircraft basing points, a network of mobile refueling complexes, helicopter pads on the territories of more than 1.5 thousand healthcare institutions.
In 2022, the NSSA consistently provides flights on the tasks of sanitary aviation in the Sakhalin, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Voronezh, Novgorod, Leningrad, Tver, Samara, Astrakhan, Kursk and Ryazan regions, the Republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia, the Republic of Dagestan and the Chechen Republic, Stavropol, Kamchatka and Primorsky Territories, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and other regions. In May of this year, the NSSA service area increased to 39 regions.
