“If a pilot is distracted for even half a second, then it is not a fact that at a speed of 600-700 km/h he will be able to maintain his place in the ranks.” Colonel S. Osyaikin, chief of combat training of the 234th TsPAT.
May 6 marks the 28th anniversary of the founding of one of the most famous aerobatic teams in the world - the famous Swifts.
The history of aerobatics in Russia dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Brave Russian pilots, such as Staff Captain Pyotr Nesterov, the author of the loop, became the first in the air year after year. Generations of combat vehicles and the conditions for their use changed, but our pilots continued to remain the best, and today we will talk about the Swifts, the heirs and worthy successors of the school of Russian aerobatics.
The history of the creation of the Swifts aerobatic team
Swifts were born back in 1991 at the 237th base of the Russian Guards Air Regiment, named after Proskurovsky. This aerobatic team included the best and bravest pilots from one little-known airbase called Kubinka, located near Moscow. They fly famous aircraft such as the MiG-29.
The main task of this aerobatic team was and remains the preparation and conduct of air parades. And, to be honest, they perform their task simply to the highest class. It was not for nothing that some of the best pilots were recruited into this group. Which, by the way, remain one of the best pilots in the world today.
Almost at the beginning of the aerobatic team’s existence, it was assigned as an escort to the planes of famous politicians and serious foreign diplomats. In addition to them, the pilots were engaged in escorting aircraft that carried the first Soviet cosmonauts. In general, Swifts had a fairly long track record, which only expanded over the years. As a result, they are very popular today.
Today, the Strizhi aerobatic team is proudly part of one of the largest centers specializing in displaying various aviation equipment. Over the years they have honed their flying experience and today they can easily perform single and even group aerobatics of any complexity. And not all pilots can do this.
It is worth noting that the pilots who served at base 237 were the first to begin mastering the then newest MiG-29 aircraft. This was in 1983. And only 7 years later, in 1990, they began performing the most complex aerobatic complexes. In particular, it was they who began to master all the features of aerobatics from 6 aircraft, while in close formation. The distance between them did not exceed three meters, while they performed simply unimaginable complexes of figures.
What do Swifts fly on?
The aerobatic team, later called the Swifts, was the first in the Soviet Union to use MiG-29 fighters, considered one of the best military aircraft. The supersonic jet fighter, distinguished by its lightness and maneuverability, has been developed at the Mikoyan design bureau since the early seventies of the twentieth century. By the middle of the decade, an initial sketch of the future fighter was created. In addition to its flight characteristics, the new aircraft had to have modern weapons and sighting equipment that would equally meet the requirements of close and long-range air combat.
The first tests of the MiG-29 took place in 1977. After undergoing a series of test flights, the aircraft was put into production in the early eighties. Currently, the fighter is produced in two versions - single and double (combat training model). To date, about one and a half thousand cars of this model have been produced.
Start of flights of the Swift group
Since 1988, two MiG-29 aircraft have visited air shows of various countries, conducting their demonstrations. At the same time, when the question of the world fame of the pilots arose, they began to worry about creating a specific, bright and no less memorable image.
It was during that period that they came up with the color that we can see today. The pilots used white fuselages as a basis. Blue lightning bolts were placed along the sides of the aircraft, and black swifts on a red background appeared on the air intakes under the swells. It is on this basis that the aerobatic team got its name. The official birthday of the group is May 6, 1991, when the pilots performed in their full livery, showing truly aerobatics.
Over the next two years of flights, the aerobatic team gave more than 50 different performances. They included both our Russian holidays and events, and foreign ones. A little later, the guys took part in the famous MAKS-93 air show. After which they went to Malaysia, where they were awarded an honorary award as the best aerobatic team in the world.
“The distance between planes flying at a speed of 700 km/h is a meter...”
The first mass event after the active phase of the COVID-19 pandemic will be held tomorrow in Kazan. They promise that the aviation festival “I choose the sky!” will be no less spectacular than in the previous 7 years. Traditionally, the center of the event will be the Bowl, but you can watch the action from anywhere in the Kazanka city stream. As the BUSINESS Online correspondent found out, for the first time we will see the First Flight aerobatic team, performing on piston aircraft and being able to literally type words in the sky.
Tomorrow it will be again. The official opening is at 16:00, but the flight program will begin at 15:00 and last until 18:00 Photo: BUSINESS Online
WITHOUT LETTING YOUR VIgilance
Tomorrow, everyone who is not indifferent to aviation is welcome near, which will again become. It will be held in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan for the 8th time, and, as Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Timur Samatov , coronavirus difficulties will not affect the intensity of the program, unless there will be a separate playground . But, as Deputy General Director of the exhibition Lyubov Akhmanaeva , the House of Entertaining Science and Technology is preparing an exciting program.
There are no plans to limit the size of the event. Nevertheless, no one has canceled the precautionary measures: mask regime and social distance are mandatory - volunteers will monitor this. At the entrance (which is free), your temperature will be taken and you will be offered a mask and hand sanitizer.
WHAT WE'LL SEE
This time the holiday is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the TASSR and the 80th anniversary of the Kazan Helicopter Plant (to be celebrated in September). The official opening is at 16:00, but the flight program will begin at 15:00 and last until 18:00.
First we will have performances by parachutists. Then - a flight of civil aircraft: Ansat, Mi-8, An-2, MVEN-2 Farmer and even the rare Yak-12. Then long-range and strategic aviation aircraft will fly over Kazan: Tu-160 and Tu-95 will come from the air base in Engels, Tu-22M3 - from Shaikovka.
We will also see a traditional bike show, and those who wish will be able to take all sorts of master classes, for example on how to pack a parachute Photo: “BUSINESS Online”
Next is the performance of aerobatic teams. And if Kazan has already seen the famous “Swifts” twice (the first time - on the 1000th anniversary of the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, the last time - in 2018), then we will meet the aerobatic team of the “First Flight” group for the first time. This is the only professional aerobatic team in Russia that performs on piston aircraft: Yak-52, Yak-54, Yak-18T, Su-31MX, Piper PA-23−250, Sportstar. At the controls are medalists of the Russian and world aerobatics championships. Note that one of the distinctive features of the “First Flight” is the printing of letters in the sky. Tomorrow pilots will write “100 years of TASSR” and “I choose the sky!” over Kazan.
On the ground, we will see an exhibition of aviation-related enterprises; the largest tent, as they promise, will be at Kazan Helicopter Plant, and the medical Ansat will also be exhibited there. We will also see a traditional bike show, and those interested will be able to take all sorts of master classes, for example on how to pack a parachute.
After the flight program and until 20:00, Kazan concert groups will show their skills.
NO DANGER FOR THE CITY
But the highlight of the program, of course, is “Swifts”. They will demonstrate their skills on 6 MiG-29s (in Kazan the group is based at the Borisoglebskoye airfield), in the group’s tent they will be able to purchase branded souvenirs, and thanks to virtual reality glasses they will be able to find themselves in the cockpit of an aircraft performing aerobatics.
Sergey Osyaikin: “I won’t distinguish complex and simple figures: you just need to imagine that the interval between planes flying at a speed of 700 kilometers per hour is 1 meter. This is already quite difficult” Photo: president.tatarstan.ru
As the leader of the group Sergei Osyaikin , assured, the Swifts will show everything they are capable of - they are rolling out the same program, for example, at the Moscow Air Show. There will be both group aerobatics, where pilots will demonstrate all possible formations, and single aerobatics, showing all the capabilities of the MiG-29.
According to Osyaikin, the main program is for a cloudless sky: the entire complex of aerobatics with vertical figures. A backup option is for cloudy weather: straight figures are replaced with inclined ones. The required minimum conditions for group aerobatics are as follows: cloud limit - 600 m, visibility - 5 kilometers. For singles - 400 m and 4 kilometers. According to Samatov, the weather is expected to be good. So we have a chance to see Swifts in all their glory.
“I won’t highlight complex and simple figures: you just have to imagine that the interval between planes flying at a speed of 700 kilometers per hour is 1 meter,” the colonel noted. “This is already difficult enough.” Moreover, he assured that there was no danger to the city. Firstly, the pilots are professionals who have been flying in the same formation for many years. Secondly, everything will happen over the river. “The aerobatics will be compressed and compact,” Osyaikin concluded. “I don’t see any problems.”
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Joint flights of Swifts with Russian Knights
Quite an important stage in the career of the Swifts were and are their flights with another aerobatic team - the Russian Knights. The first flights with a joint crew were made before the beginning of the twentieth century. However, since 2002, both aerobatic teams have gained extensive experience in joint flights. And now they are simply performing with first-class programs, amazing everyone with their skills.
And today, they perform in large numbers with common programs, in which up to a dozen different aircraft simultaneously take part. And if you haven’t seen their performances yet, I definitely recommend attending their joint flight. You will definitely get a lot of good impressions.
The future of Swifts
The MiG-35 could become a new milestone in the history of the Swifts. Testing of the aircraft began in 2022, and is now at the stage of state joint testing. A preliminary conclusion has already been received, allowing the production of the pilot batch of aircraft to begin, Mushegh Baloyan, director of the MiG-29M, MiG-35 and light multifunctional front-line aircraft (LFMS) program directorate at RSK MiG (as part of the United Aircraft Corporation), told TASS.
The commander of the Swifts from the MiG-35 is looking forward to an improved navigation system and new visualization capabilities, which will make the performances even more interesting.
Performance program of the group Swifts
One of the main reasons why Swifts are so loved is that they rarely repeat their tricks. Their repertoire is very large, both in single flights and in group flights. Moreover, due to various combinations of aerobatic formations and a wide variety of performance techniques, they win the hearts of Russian citizens. And not only them. And they usually perform the following aerobatic procedures:
- Pyramid.
- Hammer.
- Star.
- Arrow.
- Cross.
- Wing.
One of the most famous cases occurred at the MAKS-2007 air show, when Swifts, together with the Russian Knights, a group of 9 different aircraft, performed such an element of the air program as a barrel roll, and they did it in an aerobatic formation called a large diamond. Simple words simply cannot describe this spectacle.
It is worth noting that no other aerobatic team in the world has been able to repeat this. So we can safely be proud of our Russian pilots. After all, this is one of the few things that we were the first to do, and, so far, the only ones.
The Swifts aerobatic team has recently been delighting all its viewers with new elements of its program. In particular, a group of six aircraft performs a loop, and they do it not just like that, but with their landing gear down and their headlights on. Everyone who has already seen such a spectacle praises our guys.
And it’s worth saying that the skill of our pilots did not go unnoticed abroad. They receive high aerobatics ratings in many countries around the world. Which, of course, is well deserved.
Heavenly Diamond
Swifts and Russian Knights have conducted joint flights since the late 1990s. But the first public aerobatics took place in March 2003, and on June 12, air groups flew in one formation over Red Square in honor of Russia Day.
Literally a year later, at the opening of the new International Festival of Aerobatic Teams in Zhukovsky, “Swifts” and “Russian Knights” for the first time showed their famous “Cuban diamond”, which to this day is the hallmark of Russian aerobatics.
This unique formation in the shape of a large rhombus is formed by a group of nine aircraft of different types - five Sushkas and four MiGs. The fighters simultaneously perform various aerobatics: turns, slides, combat turns, Nesterov loops and others. Moreover, the distance between aircraft does not exceed one and a half meters.
For 15 years, “Swifts” and “Russian Knights” have been representing the “Cuban diamond” at international air shows and flying together over Red Square on Victory Day.
Aerobatic team accidents
But, despite all the professionalism of these pilots, it was still not possible to completely avoid the accident. In all 24 years of the aerobatic team’s existence, only two accidents were recorded. Fortunately, in both of them not a single pilot from the crew was injured.
The first happened in 2006 - the plane of the Russian aerobatic team fell to the ground almost immediately after takeoff. The entire crew successfully ejected, which subsequently saved their lives. According to available data, the plane was refueling at the airport where the crash occurred. However, almost immediately after takeoff, birds accidentally flew into two engines, which caused a terrible accident.
The second incident occurred a little later - in 2009. During a joint flight with a well-known aerobatic team called the Russian Knights, two SU-27 aircraft belonging to the friendly team crashed. However, neither the planes nor the pilots of the Swifts aerobatic team were seen among the victims. In the entire history of the aerobatic team’s existence, no more serious incidents have occurred. Russian pilots definitely know their job and perform it to the highest standard. For which they constantly receive well-deserved awards.
