Mykola Melnyk

Nikolai Melnik
Melnyk in 2006
Born	(1953-12-17)December 17, 1953 Stavysche, Kyiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died	July 26, 2013(2013-07-26) (aged 59) Alicante, Spain
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Ukraine
Battles/wars	Chernobyl disaster relief operation
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin Igor I. Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service
Other work	Test pilot, aerial firefighting pilot

Mykola Mykolayovych Melnyk (Ukrainian: Микола Миколайович Мельник; 17 December 1953 – 26 July 2013), also known as Nikolai Melnik, was a Soviet-Ukrainian pilot and liquidator hero renowned for his high-risk helicopter mission on the dangerously-radioactive Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant building immediately after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

For this operation, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union,^[1] and the Igor I. Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service.