Behind the fragile girls (the first recruitment of military pilots in the school in the modern history of Russia) three and a half years of study, 47 hours of flight time on real aircraft. One cadet went to attack aviation, another to distant aviation, two are mastering fighters, and eleven girls chose transport aviation.
Preparation for the first flight begins early - the cadets got up at four in the morning to undergo a medical examination. Everything should be normal - temperature, pulse, pressure. Even a slight runny nose becomes an obstacle to access to the helm. They are then given pre-flight instructions in the classroom. On the walls are posters with schemes of the L-410 cockpit.
- There is no excitement, rather, the anticipation of the flight, after all, we have not flown for a long time, - admits the cadet Olga Shipovalova. - Competent preparation plays an important role: you need to be able to analyze actions in your mind, predict possible incidents in the sky, and it is also good to pick up a model airplane and pass it over the map.
… Well, arrival at the airfield. Equipment has been deployed on the concrete site already in "combat" readiness. The wind rises rapidly, blowing through the group of journalists who have come, but the cadets are too focused to pay attention to its spring-like cold gusts. The main thing for the pilot was visibility, which was good. Before getting into the cockpit, each, accompanied by an instructor, inspects the board - is there any mechanical damage, is everything working properly. Only then are the engines started. It is important that future military pilots perform all actions themselves - both on the ground and in the sky.
“Last year, the girls mastered flying in a circle, to zones and along the route,” says the deputy regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Gusev. - Now, in a few practical sessions, they will have to regain their skills in aircraft control, and then start flying at night, which is much more difficult. At night, the horizon line disappears, it is difficult to determine the landmark, its range (at night the distances seem to be less than they actually are), and you only rely on instruments to control the aircraft. In addition, flights will be tested in various weather conditions. Flight practice will last for more than three months and at the end of the course everyone will pass the exam.
The first flight change coincided with a festive mood. It was literally in the air. While the girls stormed the sky, practicing various tasks, on the ground the orchestra quietly tuned wind instruments. Bouquets of tulips appeared in the hands of the cadets.
- Soft landings for you, clear sky, our most wonderful girls! - greeted the cadets of the regiment's deputy commander, when the pilots completed their practical training. His words were picked up by the musicians, who sang the famous song of the aviators "Time to go, road", and the cadets handed the girls flowers and balloons. The balls were immediately released into the sky.
“All morning I felt that something unusual was being prepared,” says Victoria Vinogradova, a cadet and former champion of Russia in winter polyathlon, with a smile. - This is my first March 8th at the school. It so happened, in the past years I went to the All-Russian Universiade, then to the sports training camp - and did not meet the spring holiday here.
Victoria admits that she is still determined to connect her life with aviation. In other matters, all her fellow students strive for this. The fact that only men became military pilots in post-Soviet Russia does not scare our future pilots. “There is no clear division into male and female specialties,” they unanimously believe. What they think is already shown in practice
