During various air shows, Russian pilots repeatedly convinced the world of their superiority. "Air" Championships of different caliber almost always ended with victories of our athletes. On account of the leading pilot of domestic Aeronautics Nikolai Galkin-16 world and 12 Russian records.
Content of article
Dream of heaven
First record
Flight to the North pole
Chief designer
Flight over the Alps
How to live today
Dream of heaven
Nikolay was born on may 21, 1971 in Zhukovsky. Since the beginning of 90-x in this city near Moscow began to hold an international aviation and space salon. MAKS is a spectacular air show demonstrating high technologies and achievements of the Russian aircraft industry.
Nikolai was educated at Bauman Moscow state technical University. During his studies, he became interested in thermal balloons, and in 1996 he first took to the sky. Today the master of sports Nikolay Vladimirovich Galkin can fly on aeronautical equipment of all types. In his sports biography – dozens of achievements of domestic and world level. The balloonist repeatedly participated in the organization of many record flights of different levels.
First record
On February 20, 2004 Nikolay Galkin remembered for all life. On this day, the athlete set his first great achievement on a global scale. On the thermal airship AV-1 " owl " he made a flight that became a record for the duration of this class of aeronautical apparatus. "Filin" was built in the Czech Republic, but Russian designers have made changes to the model, which helped in setting a record. The aircraft was in airspace without landing and refueling 6 hours 4 minutes. The time of the previous achievement, set in 1992 by athletes from Luxembourg, was blocked by more than an hour. The victory of Russians occurred after a significant break, because the last record was set Aeronautics of the USSR in 1936, when there was a tremendous development of the North.
Flight to the North pole
A bright page in the career of Nicholas was the expedition to conquer the North pole. Russian balloon "Holy Russia" was launched on February 12, 2005 from the island of the Middle Northern archipelago. The expedition was prepared for more than a year and a half, paying special attention to safety. Great help was provided by the Ministry of defense and the Ministry of transport. Specifically for the project, the Association of polar explorers has provided several fuel bases in the Arctic ocean. The unique operation carried out a large scientific program for the study of the Arctic natural zone, gained knowledge in ecology and the formation of the Earth's climate, as well as contributed to the study of human activity in extreme cold conditions. The crew made several landings to make snow sampling and monitored the movement of air masses in the Arctic. For his work in the North, Nikolai was awarded the medal "on guard of the Arctic".
Chief designer
Since 2000, Galkin works in the aeronautical center "augur", and not only as a pilot, but also as Deputy chief designer. Nicholas, who has 340 hours of flight on aerostat technology, led the work on the creation of the aircraft " Merciless "and thermal airship"Finch". The speed of the latter exceeded 27.45 km / h, which made it possible to talk about a new world record. The volume of the shell "Finch" was 860 cubic meters, and the payload including the pilot-150 kilograms. By the way, 2005 was rich in records for Russians, because half of the achievements approved by the FAI belonged to domestic balloonists.
Thermal airships – the youngest generation of aeronautical technology, they appeared in the late twentieth century. The unusual capabilities of the new aircraft immediately aroused the interest of businessmen as possible carriers of advertising. They move at a low speed, about 30 km / h and attract attention. This is their difference from the gas apparatus, which increase the speed to 100 km/h.
Galkin is not limited to the practical application of its own engineering creativity in the center "augur" and for several years participated in the projects of the Ministry of defense and Roscosmos, carried out the commissioning of a gas airship in Thailand.
Flight across the Alps
In January 2012, together with the pilot Lyudmila Samborskaya Nicholas for the first time in the world made a flight across the Alps. The expedition was carried out in the framework of the program "East", dedicated to the beginning of space exploration. The flight lasted almost 4 hours 50 minutes, the balloon reached an altitude of 5479 meters, covering a distance of 238 kilometers.
The flight over the Alps was not the only altitude record set by Russian balloonists. In 2016, Galkin participated in the preparation of the expedition of Belgorod athletes who climbed to a height of 5555 meters. In addition to overcoming the height, which they dedicated to the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, one of the crew members made a parachute jump from 4380 meters – this is also a record.
How to live today
Nikolai Galkin is among the five Russians represented by the FAI in the world records register. But he is not going to stop at the results achieved. Today, our compatriots have proved that Russian balloonists are the best in the world, and Russian airships are not worse than Western ones. Nikolay is a member of the Russian aeronautical team and has been awarded numerous distinctions.
Today, the famous balloonist is busy conquering a completely new type of airship RFR-1. It combines the principle of 2 shells, it uses both gas and heated air. Combining both methods, designers have high hopes for the new invention. Probably, in the near future, such a device will set records for range and speed of flight, as well as its duration – up to 24 hours. Today, scientists see a great future for balloons, because this type of transport is indispensable in remote areas of the country.
About personal life of Nikolay Galkin it is known that he has a family-the wife and two children. And yet most of the time it takes a favorite thing, because his dream came true about the sky.