Mykola Melnyk was born on December 17, 1953, and grew up in the town of Stavyshche in the Kyiv Oblast in Ukraine (at that time the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic).

[2] Upon his school graduation, Melnyk worked as a sports coach, and later as a telephone station technician in Stavyshche, later moving to Zaporizhia for a construction job.

Lethal levels of radiation created after the Reactor #4 fire prevented ground liquidator teams from most operations on the roof of the power plant building.

They were employed to cover building openings with sandbags and lead slabs, install necessary equipment, commence aerial photography and atmospheric radioactive contamination monitoring.

[3] In independent Ukraine, the facility was reorganized as a separate Feodosiya Kamov Research and Production Enterprise "Vertolit" (Феодосійське науково-виробниче об'єднання "Вертоліт" імені Камова).

Melnyk used the opportunity to move to Alicante (Spain), where he became contracted as a pilot and instructor specializing in Soviet-designed helicopters with the Helicopteros del Sureste.

The Sikorsky award is presented annually to one or more persons "who best demonstrate(s) the value of civil rotorcraft to society by saving lives, protecting property, and aiding those in distress".

The award committee specified that Melnyk was recognized as a representative of "all the valiant aircrews who participated in relief efforts following the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident".