Viktor Georgiyevich Pugachev (born 8 August 1948 in Taganrog, RSFSR) is a retired Russian Air Force officer and a former Soviet test pilot who was the first to demonstrate the so-called Pugachev's Cobra manoeuvre to the general public in 1989, flying an Su-27. The Gold medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to him in the late 1980s. He graduated from the Yeysk Higher Military Order of Lenin Aviation School in 1970, test-pilot school in 1978 and the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1980. After two years with Gromov Flight Research Institute he joined OKB Sukhoi where he tested the Su-9, Su-15, Su-24, Su-25 and the Su-27. On 1 November 1989 he landed a 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. He currently 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