The fastest climb in aviation history. Record of the Sukhoi Su-27 (P-42) to an altitude of 12 km.

March 20, 1987. The height of 12 km was gained in seconds (pilot Nikolai Sadovnikov). The previous record set by the F-15 Streak Eagle (1975, pilot William R. Macfarlane) was broken. The record of the Su-27 has not been broken yet. The P-42 (T-10-15) is a modified Su-27 designed to set records for the rate of climb and altitude of horizontal flight. The design of the aircraft was lightened and almost all unnecessary equipment for record flights was dismantled. The weight of the empty aircraft (without fuel and pilot) was 14,100 kg. The performance of the fuel pumps of the AL-31F engine (the designation for the FAI R-32) was increased, and the engine thrust increased from 12 500 to 13 600 kgf (a similar measure is also applied on the ship’s version Su-33, whose engine thrust is 13 000 kgf). The air intakes of the P-42 were unregulated. From 1986 to 1993, the P-42 set a total of 27 world records. Since the time of movement of the aircraft on the runway is included in the total time of ascent, at the time of the beginning of the movement of the aircraft, the engines should already be running at full afterburner. The landing gear brakes cannot hold the P-42 in place. To do this, the aircraft was attached using a cable equipped with an electric lock to a armoured recovery vehicle BTS-4 weighing more than 30 tons. But he could not hold the plane either. A tractor was attached to the ARV, and the ARV itself was loaded with an additional lead load. In this flight the plane moved along the runway for 2.9 seconds, having overcome a little more than 100 meters during this time.