Ruben Tatevosovich Yesayan (born November 24, 1946) is a Russian-Armenian

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

. Yesayan tested several aircraft, including

Tupolev Tu-334 The Tupolev Tu-334 (russian: Туполев Ту-334) was a Russian short-to-medium range airliner project that was developed to replace the ageing Tu-134s and Yak-42s in service around the world. The airframe was based on a shortened Tu ...

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

, Ilyushin Il-76MF, Ilyushin Il-96 and

Ilyushin Il-114 The Ilyushin Il-114 ( Russian Илью́шин Ил-114) is a Russian twin-engine turboprop airliner, designed for local routes. Intended to replace the Antonov An-24, it first flew in 1990. A total of 20 Il-114s have been built. Productio ...

, and received the title of the Hero of the Russian Federation.

Life

Yesayan was born on November 24, 1946 in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, then in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He graduated from Sasovo Flight Academy and Civil Aviation Academy. In 1987 he has completed training as a test pilot in the

Fedotov Test Pilot School The Fedotov Test Pilot School or FTPS (''russian: link=no, Школа лётчиков-испытателей имени А. В. Федотова or russian: link=no, ШЛИ'') is one of two test pilot schools in Russia (the other one ...

. In 2013, Yesayan, together with other Russian test pilots, signed an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, criticizing the

United Aircraft Corporation , former_name = OJSC United Aircraft Corporation (2006–2015) , type = Public, PJSC , traded_as = , industry = Aerospace, defense , predecessor = Ilyushin, Irkut, Mikoyan, Sukhoi, Tupolev, Yakovlev , founded = , founder = Vladimir P ...

for not producing civilian airliners and outlining other shortcomings in the Russian aviation industry. In 2014, Yesayan's crew landed Tu-154 aircraft on the short runway of a Samara training airfield, where Tu-154 have never landed before.

Comments about Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Following the

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Cont ...

incident, Yesayan, alongside another test pilot Magomed Tolboyev, criticized the Russian version about the airliner's shootdown by a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft: "Someone, unfamiliar with Su-25's capabilities and the Boeing-777 aircraft, is trying a PR stunt. This is a natural bluff. ..Su-25 has a maximum airspeed of Mach 0.82. The Boeing-777 aircraft, which I tested in 1998 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, flies at Mach 0.83 in a

cruise flight Cruise is the phase of aircraft flight that starts when the aircraft levels off after a climb, until it begins to descend for landing. Cruising usually consumes the majority of a flight, and it may include changes in heading (direction of flight ...

. Thus, a Su-25 would not be able to catch up with it at all". Yesayan also noted that the Su-25 air-to-air missiles are

heat-seeking Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is rad ...

and would strike the engine, while the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Boeing was damaged on the cockpit side.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yesayan, Ruben Soviet test pilots Russian people of Armenian descent 1946 births Living people Engineers from Yerevan Heroes of the Russian Federation Fedotov TPS alumni