Russian Test Pilot Speaks at Embry-Riddle

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Georgy Mosolov to Tell “Tales of a Russian Test Pilot” at Embry-Riddle

Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 4, 2008 -- World-renowned Russian test pilot Col. Georgy Mosolov will give a presentation, “Tales of a Russian Test Pilot,” on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 10 a.m. in the Miller Instructional Center auditorium on the university’s Daytona Beach campus at 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.

The first man to fly the world-famous MiG-21, Mosolov at one time held two world speed records and one world altitude record in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Like his close friend Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, Mosolov received the Hero of the Soviet Union Gold Star, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Medal of Honor.

“Georgy Mosolov was to test pilots what Yuri Gagarin was to astronauts,” said Rodney Rogers, professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle.

Data collected during Mosolov’s flight testing of the MiG-19 led to the refinement and redesign of the so-called “flying tail,” a technological improvement used in all subsequent jet fighters worldwide to facilitate supersonic flight.

Mosolov’s popularity as a pilot was wide-ranging – children’s homes, schools, gold mines, and frontier posts were named after him – and he personified courage and progress in the Soviet Union, particularly after his near-fatal supersonic ejection from a MiG prototype in 1961.

Mosolov will visit Embry-Riddle en route to the annual symposium of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots in Los Angeles, where he will speak about his adventures. He is an honorary member of the organization.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs, with accreditation pending for Embry-Riddle’s first doctoral programs, in Aviation and in Engineering Physics. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.