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Legendary MiG Test Pilot to Visit Embry-Riddle

Col. Georgy MosolovDaytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 14, 2007 -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will host a visit Sept. 25 by a Hero of the Soviet Union: Colonel Georgy Mosolov, chief test pilot for MiG fighter jets in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His stop at the university’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus precedes Mosolov’s induction Sept. 29 into the Society of Experimental Test Pilots in Los Angeles.

The first man to fly the world-famous MiG-21, Mosolov at one time held two world speed records and one world altitude record. Like his close friend Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, he received the Hero of the Soviet Union Gold Star, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Medal of Honor.

Mosolov’s popularity as a pilot was wide-ranging – children’s homes, schools, gold mines, and frontier posts were named after him – and he personified courage and progress in the Soviet Union, particularly after his near-fatal supersonic ejection from a MiG prototype in 1961.

Mosolov is being hosted at Embry-Riddle by Rodney Rogers, professor of aeronautical science, and Shirley Waterhouse, director of the university’s Centers for Teaching and Learning Excellence, who met him during a trip to Moscow in 2002.

From 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Mosolov will take a tour of the College of Aviation Building, the flight department, and flight simulators, led by Waterhouse and aeronautical science students Ryan Larosh and Kavita Patel. From 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., he will be the guest at a luncheon hosted by Cass Howell, chair of the aeronautical science department. Richard Heist, provost, will present Mosolov with a gift from Embry-Riddle.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through its Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.