Aerobatic statistics.
Gentlemen,
The young lady in that video is Russia's equivalent of America's Patty Wagstaff. Her name is Svetlana Kapanina and she is five-time world women's champion. Her highest finish overall at the world contest (including men) was fourth place. She is the only individual to be a five-time world aerobatic champion. Svetlana is flying a Soviet built Sukhoi SU-31, built by the same company that makes the majority of Russia's jet fighters. I don't know who the guy is but he is flying a West German built Extra 300S powered by an American-made Lycoming AEIO-540 engine. I have flown both types and as capable as they both are, neither is still competitive at the world level. There are thousands of aerobatic competitors scattered across the globe, but at any given time there are only about 100 "Unlimited" Aerobatic Competitors in the world. Of those 100 pilots only about 20 are women. Unfortunately for me, there are normally "50 or more of those 100 Unlimited competitors that live here in the United States. And only the top five men and top five women get to represent our country at the world championships. My highest finish at the United States National Championships in the Unlimited category came in 1988 when I finished 10th. So I never got to compete against Svetlana Kapanina although I did meet her at the World Championships in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada in 1988. She is every bit as beautiful in person as she is in this video, but the total package is somewhat spoiled by the abysmal state of dentistry in the former Soviet Union. When I get a chance, I will put together a montage of video taken at air shows across the country during my days flying both with the Firebirds Aerobatic Team and as the Airshow Demonstration Pilot for the Stoddard-Hamilton aircraft company flying the Glasair III.
I flew my last airshow at Luke Air Force Base in December 1999, but even today, if you google "Chip Beck Aerobatics" quite a bit of information still pops up. Cheers :cheers
Chip