Born in 1968 in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan, Svetlana Kapanina walked in the footsteps of her father, an eager athlete and excellent ice-acrobatic car driver. After arriving at the high school, and with her dorm´s window out onto the airfield (and jumping skydivers), it was the first time she wanted to touch the sky. Soon after her graduation she found a local flying club and walked down its hallway... Instead of skydiving she decided to “do the aircraft“ and began taking lessons. It was not really a surprise that she felt a bit unimpressed after her first solo flight in 1988. For Svetlana it was too calm and too level. That was the moment when she thought of leaving flying at all. Luckily for the entire aviation world she was convinced by Alexander Rukavishnikov, a coach in the Kurgan Aviation Sport Club, to stay.
She then began training “the right choice” courses with Leonid Abramovich Solodovnikov, who later became her coach and instructor for years. Her passion for aerobatic flying has become definite since. In 1991 she became part of the national team of Russia in aerobatics. In 1993 she performed at her first international competition - the European Championships. In 1995 she graduated from Kaluga aeronautical technical school. Svetlana Kapanina world´s top aerobatic pilot career has been launched. In 1996 she became the World Aerobatic Champion in women´s category and began collecting gold medals with regularity. Since 2000 Svetlana has been working at the "Sukhoi" company as an instructor pilot of the 1st class. She lives in Moscow with her husband Vladimir and their two children, who she devotes all her victories.
Source: With a kind permission and support of Svetlana Kapanina. Website: www.svetlana-kapanina.ru Thanks to Svetlana. Photos copyright strictly applied. Video: Youtube Text: Thomas
