The only female commander of the Tu-134 in the USSR, pilot Galina Smagina, died.

Pilot Galina Smagina, the only woman in the USSR who commanded a Tu-134 passenger aircraft, died in the Perm Region at the age of 84. This was announced on March 9 by Nadezhda Agisheva, a member of the Public Chamber of the Kama Region and a former deputy of the Perm Duma.

"Last night, Galina Olegovna Smagina, an honorary citizen of Perm, a pilot, a teacher and a wonderful woman, died. A happy memory," she wrote in her Telegram channel.

Smagina was born on October 31, 1942 in Molotov (Perm). After graduating as an instructor pilot, she worked at the Kaluga Training Center, where she flew supersonic MiG-15 and MiG-17 military aircraft and trained several dozen military pilots. She also took part in a record non–stop flight on the Sofia- Vladivostok route on an IL-62M aircraft, which took place in 1977.

In 1971, Smagina became the commander of the Yak-40 aircraft, after which she worked as a pilot training instructor. She performed flights in Central Asia and over the Pamirs along difficult mountain routes, delivering personnel and military supplies to border posts. For this work, the pilot was awarded the badge "Excellent border guard" II degree.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.