Nikolai Melnik
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Nikolai Melnik is a soviet pilot, most famous for placing radiation sensors on reactor 4 during the Chernobyl crisis and earning the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
[edit] Life
Melnik's interest in aviation followed his father, who was among the first pilots to test-fly the MiG-9, the first jet fighter made by the famous design bureau after World War II.
In 1972, Melnik started off his career as a pilot flying the Czechoslovak L-29 trainer jet, later progressing to the MiG-17 and MiG-21 jet fighters. Five years later, he was forced to switch to civilian planes, having been decommissioned after he suffered partial hearing loss in his left ear due to a sudden depressurization in the cockpit at 7,000 meters.
Melnik moved to Aeroflot, where he got his first taste of flying helicopters. He flew various types of craft, including the workhorse Mi-8 and superheavy transport Mi-26, starting at Kamov in 1982.
In 1993, Melnik and a Bulgarian partner set up the airline in Ukraine, shipping cargo for DHL and UPS on Antonov 24s and Kamov helicopters. The business did well enough for the Spanish company Helicopteros Del Sureste to approach him in 1995 about obtaining some helicopters.
Melnik and his family moved to Spain, where he became a pilot and instructor for Helicopteros Del Sureste, one of the country's largest helicopter operators, and a link to Kamov, which supplies Ka-32 helicopters to the Spanish company. Business between the two firms has taken off.
Melnik has 13,400 recorded flight hours, 3,000 of them in Spain. He has trained 25 Spanish pilots, and in 1998 he received his award from Spain's King Juan Carlos for firefighting but shies away when asked about it.
[edit] Chernobyl Crisis
IN 1986 while working for Kamov helicopters as a test pilot, he was assigned to place radiation sensors on the damaged reactor. Melnik made about 40 sorties to the area, and was hit by radiation 10 times above the permitted level. For his work he was given the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He has had two operations since being exposed to the radiation. His doctors have told him to quit drinking, smoking and live a normal life; however "A month later, I decided I would live the way I like, not limiting myself in anything."[1]
