Сада је већ тешко изненадити некога са женом у „мушкој“ професији. Али немогуће је не изненадити таленат Светлане Капанине, седмоструке апсолутне светске шампионке у акробатици у авионским спортовима. Истовремено, њена женственост и мекоћа изненађују и фасцинирају, што уопште не очекујете када упознате такву особу. Авиони, акробатика, мајчинство, породица... Разговарајући са Светланом о свим овим темама, нисам могао да се ослободим ниједног питања у глави: „Да ли је то заиста могуће?“
Право је задовољство гледати летове Светлане Капанине, најбољег пилота века (по оцени Међународне ваздухопловне федерације) и најтитулиранијег пилота у свету спортске авијације. Оно што авион под њеном контролом ради на небу изгледа једноставно невероватно, нешто што „обични смртници“ не могу да ураде. Док сам стајао у гомили и задивљено посматрао Светланин јарко наранџасти авион, са свих страна су се чули коментари колега, углавном мушкараца. А сви ови коментари су се свели на једно: „Погледајте је само, она ће бити сваког мушког пилота!“
“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.
Светлана прича невероватну ствар: у региону Вороњеж вас позивају да бесплатно научите да летите једрилицама, а већина оних који желе да науче да лете су девојке. Истовремено, сама Светлана у том погледу не прави разлику између својих ученика: „Овде нема говора о женској солидарности. И момци и девојке треба да лете, главно је да имају жељу, тежњу и могућности. Схватите да нема неталентованих људи. Има људи који на различите начине иду до свог циља. За неке то долази лако и природно, док други могу ићи дуго, али тврдоглаво, и ипак ће доћи до свог циља. Дакле, у ствари, сви су талентовани. И то заправо не зависи од пола.
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!»
Али Светлана уопште не одаје утисак особе која уопште лети. Делује меко и женствено, а лако је могу замислити како грли децу, или како пече торту (не у облику авиона, не), или кити јелку са целом породицом. Како је то могуће комбиновати? И да ли треба да бирате шта је важније?
“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.
„Авијација је будућност“, каже Светлана са уверењем. — Наравно, треба да развијамо мале авионе, да мењамо законодавни оквир. Сада су, срећом, министар спорта, министар индустрије и Федерална агенција за ваздушни саобраћај скренули у нашем правцу. Надам се да ћемо заједно успети да дођемо до заједничког имениоца, креирамо и реализујемо програм развоја ваздухопловног спорта у нашој земљи.
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.