One of the leading test pilots of his era, Aleksandr Fedotov was a Major General in the Russian Airforce, he graduated from Flight School Stalingrad in 1950. He was a pilot in the airforce from 1950 to 1957,graduating from the Aravmir School for Military Pilots in 1952 and worked then as an instructor pilot.
In 1958 he graduated from testpilot school and worked for the OKB Mikoyan. In 1965 he worked for the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). Between 1961 and 1977 he achieved 18 world records, including three absolute records on E-166 and MiG-25-jets. He held since August 31, 1977 the world altitude record for planes that take off under their own power (123,524 feet).
Between 1976 and 1978 he was involved in the EPOS "Spiral"-Program. In 1977 he performed the maiden flight of the MiG-29. He died in a crash of a MiG-31 (together with V. S. Zaytsev) in 1984.
