Karapetyan, Gurgen Rubenovich

Gurgen Karapetyan was born on December 9, 1936 ^[3] in Sverdlovsk . By nationality - Armenian . His father, a participant in the Great Patriotic War , died in 1943 on the Kalinin Front . Having entered the Sverdlovsk flying club in the 10th grade and having mastered his first Po-2 aircraft, Gurgen Rubenovich firmly decided to become a military pilot. His uncle, Gurgen Beibutovich Karapetyan ^[4] , the chief designer of the design bureau at Uralmash , who replaced his father, persuaded the boy to enter the faculty of aircraft engineering at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI).

In 1961 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. At the same time, he was engaged in glider and helicopter sports at the MAI flying club. So, in 1960, Gurgen became the champion of the USSR in helicopter sports . Since 1961, he worked as a leading engineer at the Design Bureau of M. L. Mil , and already in 1962 he graduated from the helicopter department of the School of Test Pilots.

From 1962 to 1993 - during flight test work at the Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M. L. Mil . Since 1974, Karapetyan worked as a senior test pilot of the plant. He lifted into the sky and tested Mi-26 and Mi-28 helicopters, tested Mi-14 , Mi-24 , Mi-26 and Mi-28 helicopters in autorotation mode (landing without an engine), participated in the tests of Mi-2 helicopters, Mi-6 , Mi-10 , Mi-14 and their modifications. In the period from 1962 to 1982, he set 10 world aviation records (8 of them as a second pilot) of speed and load capacity on helicopters Mi-6 , Mi-10K , Mi-24 and Mi-26 .

In May 1986, Karapetyan participated in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident . On May 9 at night, they called him home and said that it was necessary to fly to Chernobyl to liquidate the Chernobyl accident. The very next day, Karapetyan (as the representative of the cost center Mil) and his colleague Anatoly Grishchenko (representative of the M. Gromov Flight Research Institute ) arrived to help the Guards Helicopter Regiment operating in the area of ​​the Chernobyl accident. On a Mi-26 helicopter, they were able to perform the most difficult task - using an external suspension, close the reactor with a dome weighing 15 tons for three minutes and thus cut off the radiation.

Unfortunately, the success of the operation was overshadowed by the imminent deterioration of the health of the pilot Anatoly Grishchenko. Due to the extremely high dose of radiation exposure, he developed leukemia . Gurgen Karapetyan provided assistance and assistance, connecting all his connections to save his comrade, but despite treatment in the United States and a successful bone marrow transplant, July 3, 1990, Grishchenko died in a clinic in Seattle .

On June 8, 1989, test pilot Gurgen Karapetyan and test navigator Viktor Tsygankov first demonstrated the Mi-28A at the Le Bourget air show near Paris . The Soviet combat helicopter then, as expected, became the sensation of the air show and the entire exhibition as a whole.

On January 24, 1991, by decree of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev for the courage and heroism shown during the testing of new aircraft, test pilot Gurgen Rubenovich Karapetyan was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal .

On May 6, 1993, Karapetyan, along with test navigator Sergei Seregin, was the first in Russia to carry out Nesterov's loops , barrels , coups, and other aerobatics on a Mi-28A combat helicopter.

For a long time, from 1974 to 1994 , Gurgen Rubenovich was chairman of the methodological council of the flight test complex of the plant. In this position, he did a great job of improving the quality and safety of flight tests, was engaged in advanced training of flight crews ^{[5] [6]} .

In the late 1990s, the helicopter factory named after M. L. Mil, at which Karapetyan worked, was on the verge of bankruptcy. In this regard, Gurgen Rubenovich was invited to the Presidential Administration , where, together with the Security Council of the Russian Federation, measures were developed to remove the company from bankruptcy proceedings. December 16, 2000, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed the necessary instructions for the preservation and development of the Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M. L. Mil and the integration of the main enterprises of helicopter engineering. For participation in this work, Gurgen Rubenovich was awarded the medal of the Security Council of the Russian Federation “For Merits in Ensuring National Security”.

Gurgen Karapetyan lives in Moscow . He worked at the Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M. L. Mil as a deputy general director for strategic development ^[7] . He currently works at Helicopters of Russia JSC as the head of the flight safety service ^[8] .

Over the years, Karapetyan mastered 39 types of helicopters, gliders and airplanes, and taking into account modifications - more than 100. He spent more than 5500 hours in the air, flew all types of Mil helicopters. Has 8 (see JI) of patents for inventions, published a number of scientific articles in domestic and foreign journals.

• Hero of the Soviet Union ( January 24, 1991 , medal No. 11640) - for the courage and heroism shown during testing of new aircraft ;
• 2 Orders of Lenin ( April 27, 1977, January 24, 1991 );
• Order of the October Revolution ( 1982 );
• Order of Friendship of Peoples ( 1989 );
• Order of the Badge of Honor ;
• medals.
• Honored Test Pilot of the USSR ( 1986 ).

• Wife - Lyubov Konstantinovna Karapetyan, a graduate of the aircraft engineering department of the Moscow Aviation Institute, is fond of parachuting .
• Has a son Artyom, daughter.

• The name of Gurgen Karapetyan is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as a pilot, setting world records for speed and altitude. He holds two world records: flight speeds - 368.4 km / h on a Mi-24 helicopter ( 1978 ) ^[9] and a flight altitude with a load of 10 tons - 6400 m on a Mi-26 helicopter ( 1982 ) ^[10] .
• Karapetyan is a member of the Heroes Club of Zhukovsky ^[11] .
• Gurgen Karapetyan is the last Soviet test pilot to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

• Honored Testers of the USSR / A. A. Simonov, - M .: Aviamir, 2009.

Karapetyan, Gurgen Rubenovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".

• Prominent Armenian scientists whose activities are related to space, space rocket weapons // Yerkramas .
• Karapetyan Gurgen Rubenovich // Encyclopedia of testers .
• Karapetyan, Gurgen Rubenovich // Big Biographical Encyclopedia .
• The man who lifted the helicopter into the sky // Primorsky branch of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Russia .
• About exploits - first hand // Moscow: Society and Power Portal .
• Courage: He taught helicopters to fly // Magazine "Brother" .