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Hero of the USSR, Honored Test Pilot and Flight Safety Advisor to the General Director of the Russian Helicopters holding company, Gurgen Karapetyan, died at the age of 85, TASS news agency reported. 

Gurgen Karapetyan, an Armenian by nationality, was born in 1936 in Sverdlovsk (currently Yekaterinburg). In 1961 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, studied at the helicopter department of the Test Pilot School. From 1962 to 1993, he worked at the flight test complex of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. Karapetyan tested the Mi-26 and Mi-28 helicopters, also took part in the tests of the Mi-2, Mi-6, Mi-10, Mi-14, Mi-24 helicopters and their modifications, set ten world aviation records for speed and carrying capacity.

In total, Karapetyan has mastered several dozen types of helicopters, gliders and airplanes. He spent more than 5.5 thousand hours in the air, flew all types of Mi helicopters.

In May 1986, Karapetyan took part in the elimination of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal was awarded to Karapetyan in 1991.