From a dream of parachuting to aerobatic mastery: the story of pilot Svetlana Kapanina

      07 October 2025 17:04 Sport NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" - Polina Zubova

      The world's most decorated female pilot, seven-time women's world aerobatics champion Svetlana Kapanina met with schoolchildren from Nizhny Novgorod as part of the "Cheering for Our Own" project, organized by the House of National Unity with the support of the Ministry of Sports of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. A correspondent from NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" attended the event.

      Dmitry Kabaylo, Minister of Sports of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, highly praised the significance of the project. "It's very important when children can talk with renowned athletes like Svetlana Kapanina. Children are very interested in how one can even get into this. We are now doing a lot of work to involve children in sports, to motivate children and to motivate parents so that they can choose which sport to pursue," he said.

      At the meeting Svetlana shared memories of the start of her career, spoke about difficulties and victories, and answered many questions from the children. Her path into aviation began by chance — she came to the aeroclub to make a parachute jump, as she had long wanted, but ended up in the cockpit of a plane. "It was a ridiculous coincidence. Already after graduating from university, when I was assigned to Kurgan, I decided to sign up for parachuting. An instructor passed by me in the corridor and said, 'Why do you need that parachute? Let's do airplanes!' because I had told him that I had done artistic gymnastics for seven years and had strong physical conditioning. As a result, when I went to sign up, I signed up not for parachuting but for the aircraft section. That's how I still fly," Svetlana said.

      The decisive moment was her first flight with an instructor who demonstrated aerobatics to her. Aviation sport indeed involves enormous loads, so physical training plays an important role, especially under G-forces when body weight increases tenfold.

      The pilot spoke about the most difficult moments of her career. There were cases when she had to land a plane with an engine failure or with a torn propeller. "At such moments time stretches so much that it feels like seven to ten minutes have passed, when in fact it was just fractions of a second." Kapanina emphasized that despite all the risks, aerobatics is not only a sport but also an art. Athletes demonstrate not only technical skill but also a creative approach, including flying to music and performing the most complex figures.

      Competitions are divided into compulsory and "unknown" programs. In free programs the pilot composes the sequence of figures themselves, while in the "unknown" program they receive the assignment just before takeoff and must perform it from scratch in the air.

      Now Svetlana trains several students and continues her sporting career, although Russian athletes are not currently competing at international events. Kapanina noted that she passes on to her athletes her "masculine style" of piloting, formed thanks to strength training in gymnastics. "Right now more than anything I want my children to be happy. I want our country to once again begin participating in international competitions and always occupy the top spots on every podium," she said.

      Earlier, two-time Olympic fencing champion Yana Egorian spoke about balancing a sports career and motherhood, motivation and ways to cope with nerves.

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