Jurgis Kairys

Jurgis Kairys, born on 6 May 1952, is a Lithuanian aerobatic pilot and aeronautical engineer. He was born in Sharipovo in Krasnoyarsk Krai, where his family had been deported during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, and he returned to Lithuania and finished Kaltineniai Secondary School in 1970. He studied at the Vyborg Aviation Technical School from 1970 to 1973 and graduated from the Leningrad Civil Aviation Academy in 1984. He worked as an engineer-mechanic at the Kaunas Airport aviation workshops from 1973 to 1977, then as an engineer and flight instructor at the Vilnius Aeroclub until 1989. From 1989 to 1996 he was a test pilot at the Sukhoi aircraft plant, helping develop and test the Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31 aerobatic aircraft. In 1994 he founded the aviation company Kairys Flights, and he has served as president of the Darius and Girenas Aeroclub of Vilnius.