Now it is already difficult to surprise someone with a woman in a “male” profession. But it is impossible not to be surprised by the talent of Svetlana Kapanina, the seven-time absolute world champion in aerobatics in aircraft sports. At the same time, her femininity and softness surprise and fascinate, which you do not expect at all when meeting such a person. Airplanes, aerobatics, motherhood, family… talking with Svetlana on all these topics, I could not get rid of one single question in my head: “Is it really possible?”
Watching the flights of Svetlana Kapanina, the best pilot of the century (according to the International Aviation Federation) and the most titled pilot in the world of sports aviation, is a real pleasure. What the plane under her control does in the sky seems simply incredible, something that “mere mortals” cannot do. While I stood in the crowd admiringly watching Svetlana’s bright orange plane, comments from colleagues, mostly males, were heard from all sides. And all these comments came down to one thing: “Just look at her, she will make any male pilot!”
“Indeed, this is still mostly a male sport, because it requires a lot of physical strength and responsiveness. But in general, in the world, the attitude towards female pilots is rather respectful and approving. Unfortunately, at home, sometimes you have to deal with the opposite attitude, ”said Svetlana, when we managed to talk in between flights. Planes hummed heavily overhead, controlled by the same male pilots – participants , the next stage of which was held on June 15-16 in Kazan. Svetlana herself did not participate in this competition, but several times she made demonstration flights. Personally, I think that the rest of the pilots were just lucky – who could compete with her?
Of course, when I got the chance to talk to one of my idols of my youth, I couldn’t help mentioning that, like many Soviet children, I once dreamed of becoming a pilot. Svetlana smiled slightly condescendingly and kindly – she had heard such “confessions” more than once. But she herself got into airplane sports absolutely by accident and as a child she did not dream of aerobatics at all.
“I wanted to jump with a parachute, feel the feeling of fear in front of the open door of the plane and the moment when you take a step into the abyss,” says Svetlana. – When I came to sign up for parachuting, one of the instructors intercepted me in the corridor and asked: “Why do you need parachutes? Let’s get on airplanes, you can jump with a parachute and fly!” So I signed up for aviation sports, having no idea what aerobatics is and what kind of planes you have to fly. I am still grateful to that instructor for the timely prompt.”
It’s amazing how this could happen “accidentally”. So many achievements, so many awards, world recognition – and by chance? “No, it must be some special talent inherent only to the elite, or outstanding mentors,” such a thought flashed through my head, perhaps partly in an attempt to justify myself to myself from childhood.
Svetlana herself acts as a mentor: now she has two wards, pilot-athletes Andrey and Irina. When Svetlana talks about her students, her smile becomes wider: “They are very promising guys, and I am sure that they will go far if they do not lose interest.” But it may not be just a loss of interest – for many people, flying is not available simply because it requires excellent health, good physical data and considerable financial resources. For example, you need your own plane, you need to pay for training flights and participation in competitions. Aerobatics is an elite and very expensive sport, and not everyone can afford it.
Svetlana tells an amazing thing: in the Voronezh region, they invite you to learn how to fly gliders for free, and most of those who want to learn how to fly are girls. At the same time, Svetlana herself does not distinguish between her students in this regard: “There is no question of female solidarity here. Both guys and girls should fly, the main thing is that they have a desire, aspiration and opportunities. Understand that there are no untalented people. There are people who go to their goal in different ways. For some, this comes easily and naturally, while others can go for a long time, but stubbornly, and they will still come to their goal. Therefore, in fact, everyone is talented. And it doesn’t really depend on gender.
Here is the answer to the question I never asked. And frankly, this answer is much more inspiring than the idea that someone is simply “given” and someone is not. Given to everyone. But, probably, it is still easier for someone to join aviation, and not so much because of the opportunities, but simply because of the proximity to these circles. For example, the daughter of Svetlana Yesenia has already joined the flights – last year the pilot took her with her on a flight. The son, Peresvet, has not yet flown with his mother, but Svetlana’s children have many of their own sports hobbies.
“When my children were small, they went with me to training camps, to competitions, and when they got older, they got carried away with their work – they “fly” on snowboards, jump from springboards – these disciplines are called “Big Air” and “Slopestyle” (type competitions in such sports as freestyle, snowboarding, mountainboarding, consisting of performing a series of acrobatic jumps on springboards, pyramids, counter-slopes, drops, railings, etc., located sequentially throughout the course. – Approx. ed.) . It is also beautiful, very extreme. They have their adrenaline, I have mine. Of course, it is difficult to combine all this in terms of family life – I have a summer season, they have a winter season, it can be difficult for everyone to cross paths together.
Indeed, how to combine such a lifestyle with full communication with the family, motherhood? When I returned to Moscow and enthusiastically told everyone around me about air racing and showed video of Svetlana’s performances on my phone, every second person joked: “Well, it’s well known that the first thing is airplanes! That’s why she’s such a master!”
But Svetlana does not at all give the impression of a person who has flying in the first place. She seems soft and feminine, and I can easily imagine her hugging the kids, or baking a cake (not in the form of an airplane, no), or decorating the Christmas tree with the whole family. How is it possible to combine this? And do you have to choose which is more important?
“I don’t think that a woman can realize herself only in motherhood and marriage,” says Svetlana. “And, of course, I don’t see any problem with a woman having a “male” profession – after all, my profession also belongs to this category. Now men also claim all the “female” occupations, except for one – the birth of children. This is given only to us women. Only a woman can give life. I think that this is her main task. And she can do anything – fly an airplane, manage a ship … The only thing that makes me feel protest is a woman in a war. All for the same reason: a woman was created in order to revive life, and not to take it away. Therefore, anything, but not to fight. Of course, I’m not talking about the situation that was, for example, during the Second World War, when women went to the front – for themselves, for their families, for their homeland. But now there is no such situation. Now you can give birth, enjoy life, raise children.
And this, it seems, is what Svetlana is doing – the smile that does not leave her face suggests that she knows how to enjoy life, all its aspects – both airplane sports and children, although it can be really difficult to divide your time between them. But recently, according to Svetlana, there have been significantly fewer flights, and more time for the family. Saying these words, Svetlana sighs sadly, and I immediately understand what this sigh refers to – aircraft sports in Russia are going through hard times, there is not enough funding.
“Aviation is the future,” Svetlana says with conviction. — Of course, we need to develop small aircraft, we need to change the legislative framework. Now, fortunately, the Minister of Sports, the Minister of Industry and the Federal Air Transport Agency have turned in our direction. I hope that together we will be able to come to a common denominator, create and implement a program for the development of aviation sports in our country.”
Personally, this sounds like hope to me – perhaps this area will develop so much that the incredibly beautiful and exciting aircraft sport will be available to everyone. Including those whose inner little girl still sometimes reproachfully reminds: “Here you write and write your texts, but we wanted to fly!” However, after talking with Svetlana, I cannot get rid of the feeling that nothing is impossible – neither for me, nor for anyone else.
Just as we were finishing our conversation, rain suddenly began to drum on the roof of the aircraft hangar, which turned into a terrible downpour a minute later. Svetlana literally flew away to drive her plane under the roof, and I stood and watched how this fragile and at the same time strong woman pushes the plane to the hangar with her team in the pouring rain, and as if I still heard her extreme ones – in aviation, as you know , there are no “last” words: “Always go boldly towards your goal, towards your dream. Everything is possible. You need to spend some time, some strength on this, but all dreams are feasible. Well, I think it is.