Skalko Sergey Yaroslavovich (born May 29, 1970, Uman , Cherkasy region , Ukraine ) - pilot instructor, military pilot, member of the Ukrainian aeronautic sport team ^[1] , champion of Ukraine , head of the Kiev Aeronautical Society pilot school, founder of the balloon festival "Hot Air Balloon".

Skalko Sergey Yaroslavovich
Date of Birth	May 29, 1970 ( 1970-05-29 ) (49 years old)
Place of Birth	Uman , Ukraine
Citizenship	Ukrainian
Occupation	pilot instructor
Site	facebook.com/SKALKoFF

Biography

Born in the family of a military pilot in the city of Uman , from an early age he was fond of aircraft modeling, studied at a glider school and from the age of 14 was engaged in the parachute-landing section. At the time of admission to the Kharkov Higher Military School of Pilots in 1987, he had 60 parachute jumps.

After graduating from college in 1991, he served in combat units, where he gained experience in controlling aircraft L-39 , MiG-21 , MiG-29 , An-26 , Tu-154 .

In 1998, the dismissal from the ranks of the armed forces of Ukraine and the work of a legal adviser in a law firm.

In 2000, he first visited the Balloon Festival "The Brotherhood" in Feodosia and began to participate in aeronautics.

In 2001, under the leadership of Sergei Skalko, the Public Organization “Kiev Aircraft Model Federation” was created.

Sergey Skalko graduated from Kharkov Law Academy. Yaroslav the Wise in 2000 , and in 2005 - Tavria National University. Vernadsky, Department of History. After graduation, Sergey Skalko begins to engage in underwater archeology and becomes President of the Union for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage charity, in which he participates in many underwater archaeological expeditions to certify sunken objects.

From 2000 to 2006 he mastered several types of general aviation aircraft: Yak-18 , Aquila A210, helicopters Eurocopter , Robinson .

In 2006, he graduated from the free balloon school and received a pilot’s certificate.

Since 2006, takes part in national and international aeronautical championships and festivals.

2006 - Open Championship of Russia Velikiye Luki ;

2006 , 2007 , 2008 - Georgian Open Championship;

As a member of the national team of Ukraine, he performs at the 2010 World Championships in Hungary , and in 2016 in Japan .

In 2017, Sergey Skalko enters as a pilot at the European Championship in France .

Entrepreneurship

Sergey Skalko is the founder of the aeronautical company Kyiv Aeronautical Society, established in 2005 . The structure of the company includes: a hot air balloon pilot school; a technical center, including an organization for maintaining airworthiness and an organization for maintenance; air base; balloon festival "Montgolfier" and other structural units.

According to Forbes magazine , the company of Sergey Skalko became the first private school for pilots in Ukraine and a service station for balloons. ^[2]

Records

In his account, Sergey Skalko has numerous records:

• The maximum altitude of a balloon in Ukraine ( February 28, 2010). During the flight, a height of 4596 m was established.

• The flight with the largest number of people in a hot air balloon basket was 36 people (November 28, 2010). On the 36th kilometer of the Zhytomyr route, a test take-off of the largest balloon in Ukraine took place. The volume of the shell of the ball is 14,200 cubic meters. The instructor pilot Sergei Skalko managed to put 34 passengers in the basket and take the second pilot, totaling 36 people in the basket. This event is an unprecedented record of Ukraine.

• Simultaneous landing of 8 paratroopers from a balloon basket and the construction of two formations by five paratroopers ^[3] (March 12, 2011), the Ball was piloted by Sergei Skalko. The start took place at the Gayok airfield in Bila Tserkva at 9:28 a.m. At 9:50, the ball reached a height of 3800 meters, and began to decline. At the time of the drop of the paratroopers, the speed of the ball was 5.5 meters per second. This was necessary to balance the lifting speed after throwing. A total of 8 paratroopers left the balloon, including three air operators (total weight of about 825 kg, taking into account the equipment). All athletes successfully landed a few minutes after being thrown on one of the winter fields of the Tarashchansky area. At 10:29 a balloon successfully landed a few kilometers from the town of Tarashcha. The distance from take-off to landing the ball was 42 km.

• “The longest and longest balloon flight and the maximum number of radio contacts from the balloon basket” ”( March 26, 2011). Pilots of the Kiev Aeronautical Society Sergey Skalko and Yuri Beidyk on board the giant balloon "Record" crossed half of Ukraine along the Khmelnik-Donetsk route, setting a new absolute record for Ukraine. The flight duration was 12 hours 23 minutes, the distance - 707.64 km, during the flight there were 799 radio contacts. ^[four]
• Blind parachute jump from a balloon using radio ' . Skydiver Oleg Rychka jumped out with a blindfold from a balloon basket at an altitude of 1620 m, which was controlled by Sergey Skalko. The actions of the extremal were coordinated by two operators on the radio - Maxim Kletsenko and Roman Kurachenko.

• Maximum height of a jump jump from a balloon (May 19, 2015);

• The largest flying rushnyk. Size: 49.10 mx 14.60 m. (June 8, 2015) The rushnyk was raised by two balloons, one of which was piloted by Sergey Skalko.

Contribution to the development of aeronautics

In 2008, he founded the International Golf Balloon Festival "Montgolfier", named after the discoverers of the ballooning era - the Montgolfier brothers . The festival was first held in the city of Bila Tserkva. Since then, the “Golf Golfier” festival, led by Sergei Skalko, has been held annually in different cities and countries. The festival has already taken place in the White Church , Kiev , Sevastopol , Montenegro , Uman .