Today, the large KhAI family sincerely congratulates the 85th anniversary of the outstanding scientist, teacher and true patriarch of the KhAI Aviation School - Professor Oleksandr Grebenikov.
Oleksandr was born on March 30, 1941 in the village of Zymovenka, Shebekinsky District. His childhood passed in difficult post-war years, but it was then that the dream of the sky appeared. Near his home was the Volchansky airfield, and the boy spent hours watching the planes flying over the village, trying to understand how they stay in the sky and how these amazing machines are created.
It was this dream that led him to aviation. In 1959, he entered the Higher Military Aviation School. Here he first took to the sky, mastered the Yak-18A aircraft, studied on the Il-28 and made several parachute jumps. But fate decreed otherwise: after three years of study, he continued his education at the Kharkiv Aviation Institute at the Faculty of Aircraft Engineering.
At Kharkiv Aviation Institute, he not only studied, but also actively engaged in science and community service. While still a student, he worked in the student design bureau, participated in real scientific projects, and quickly proved himself as a talented researcher. After defending his diploma as a mechanical engineer in 1966, he remained to work at the institute — first as an engineer, and later as an assistant at the department.
Thus began a long-term scientific and pedagogical path inextricably linked with Kharkiv Aviation Institute. Over the years, Oleksandr Grigorovich became one of the leading specialists in the field of aircraft design. His research is devoted to increasing the durability and reliability of aircraft structures — the results of this work were implemented at aviation enterprises and used in the creation of new aircraft.
In 2004, he defended his doctoral dissertation, and the following year he received the title of professor and the honorary title of “Honored Worker of Education of Ukraine”. Today, his achievements include hundreds of scientific papers, dozens of inventions and textbooks, which have taught generations of engineers.
Under the leadership of Professor Grebenikov, a scientific school of integrated design of aviation equipment was formed. His students work in design bureaus, at aviation enterprises and at universities, continuing the traditions of the KhAI Engineering School.
But for colleagues and students, Oleksandr is not only a scientist and a leader. He is a man of great energy, principle and sincere devotion to the university.
This is especially felt today. Despite the difficult times of the war, daily shelling and repeated hits near his home, Oleksandr remained in Kharkiv - the city with which his whole life is connected, at the university to which he devoted more than 60 years.
There is another important detail that characterizes the hero of the day. Everyone at KhAI knows: Professor Grebenikov is always a smile, goodwill, sincere greetings, friendly and at the same time very wise advice. And also - necessarily small tasty souvenirs, which Oleksandr gladly hands out to women of the university and children.
Someone once jokingly called him "our Saint Nicholas" - and there is probably a lot of truth in this joke.
Dear Oleksandr!
Please accept sincere congratulations and deep gratitude for your many years of work, for the scientific school you have created, for the generation of engineers you have raised for Ukrainian aviation.
May every day fill you with pride for the cause of your whole life - aviation and KhAI!