Jubail: Faisal Al-Atwi has the distinction of being the first Saudi pilot to graduate from the Russian Air Force Academy. prof. Faisal graduated as a pilot from the Russian Air Force Academy Zhukovsky and Yuri Gagarin. 11 graduates received the honors diploma and gold medal while 55 graduates received the honors diploma and 400 pilots completed their training.
The Air Force Academy is a Russian military institution of higher education run by the Russian Defense Ministry. The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Sergey Dronov and Lieutenant General Alexander Maksimtsev. Al-Atwi’s father expressed his happiness and pride at his son’s graduation. He thanked King Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Amir Mohammed bin Salman and Defense Minister Amir Khalid bin Salman for giving Saudi youth the opportunity to continue their studies.
These are the first groups of pilots to graduate from this institute after joining the course in 2017. The academy was founded in 2008 after the merger of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and the Gagarin Air Force Academy. While the Gagarin Academy excelled at training high-ranking commanding officers, the Zhukovsky Academy focused on aeronautical engineering.
