Heroes of the Sky: How Our Helicopter Pilots Work Extremely low altitude, seconds to decide, no room for error. This is how our pilots fly combat missions. Hero of #Russia Denis Chernavin knows this firsthand. In a year in the Air Defense Forces, he flew over 500 combat sorties and destroyed dozens of enemy armored vehicles. What a pilot feels like in combat, what signs helicopter pilots have, and what they always take with them on missions—all these are revealed by the Hero himself.