19.08.2011
Text: Northern Fleet Information Support Group
Photo: Su-33 lands on the deck of Admiral Kuznetsov. Northern Fleet Information Support Group
Pilots of Northern Fleet (NF) carrier-based fighter wing continue to master flight skills and practice in the Barents Sea. As a result of 4-day training, they have performed 80 sorties and 47 landings on the carrier's deck (20 by Su-33 and 27 by Su-25UTG).
Prior to land, young pilots practiced low-altitude and low-speed passes over the deck, and touched the deck with aft landing gears. In total, they have carried out 167 passes and 54 gear touches.
The number of performed drills indicates that the pilots fulfill the training flight plan with little advance in schedule.
On the fourth day of training, air flight commander Capt Stanislav Avdin carried out his first landing on the deck by
Su-33. He hooked the second out of four arresters, which means excellent performance.
Last time a pilot in the rank of Capt landed alone on the deck in 1994. That was the current air wing commander Col Evgeny Kuznetsov.
NF Naval Aviation command expects that other two young pilots – Maj Andrei Pestov and Capt Vyacheslav Lunin – will also perform their first deck landing at this training cycle.
