| A display team called "Lyotchiki-Ispyttahteli" (Test Pilots) was organized at Lii (MM Gromov Flight Research Institute) by the well known test pilot Anatoliy Kvochur - among other things with a view to advertise the Flight Research Institute and possibly attracting foreign orders for R&D work. His closest aide was Test Pilot 1st Class Vladimir Logvinovsky . Over the years the team also included other well know test pilots - Sergey Trevsvyatskiy, Alexandr Beschastnov, Alaxandr Garnaev and Alexandr Pavlov. They demonstrated their skills in many airshows over the world - in Thailand, the UAE, Germany, the UK, Australia, France, the Czech Rebuplic, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and other countries -. The team operated tow single seater Su-27P coded 595 White & 598 White. The latter was subsequently retrofitted with a Su-27K style IFR probe in accordance to Kvochur's request, becoming the one-off Su-27PD. Originally the team also flew 2 probe-equipped Su-30 two-seaters, 596 White & 597 White. These were sometime erroneously called Su-27PU by the popular press. At times the pilots of the team went too far in their desire to impress the spectators, ignoring safety. At the Hydro Aviation Show 1996 Kvochur descended to just 5 m (16ft) above the water. This infuriated Sukhoi OKB General Designer Mikhail Simonov so much, that he barred Kvochur from the flying-display and the jet was flown by another pilot for the rest ... |
