12 June] 1904 – 7 January 1985) was a test pilot in the Soviet Union, notable for setting twenty-two world records and serving as president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

In April 1931, after a period of service in the 11th Fighter Squadron in the Moscow military district, he was transferred back to the Leningrad Military-Theoretical School as an instructor because of his pilot skills.

[11] On 27–28 June 1938, on board a modified TsKB-30 named "Moskva", with A.M. Bryandinskiy as his navigator, Kokkinaki flew from Moscow to Spassk-Dalny in the Soviet Far East, covering a distance of 7,580 km in 24 h 36 min, mostly at an altitude of 7000 meters, with an average speed of 307 km/h.

Gordienko as co-pilot, he tried to surpass this feat by performing a non-stop east–west transatlantic flight from Moscow to New York City, to coincide with the opening of the "Land of Tomorrow" World Fair.

[10] However, due to encountering bad weather, the airplane was forced to come down on Miscou Island in New Brunswick, Canada (TIME magazine account).

Coming not long after the death of Valery Chkalov, and with the approaching war, this well-publicized debacle spelled the end of the Soviet Arctic aviation exploits of the 1930s.

Despite failing to reach his original destination, he still covered a distance of 8,000 km in 22 h 56 min, at an average speed of 348 km/h,[12] and since 1959, the route he used (Moscow- Novgorod – Helsinki – Trondheim – Iceland – Cape Farewell – Miscou Island) is used for the regular flights between New York and Moscow.

In 1965, he was honored by the International Air Transport Association with the diamond "wind rose" necklace for his finding the "shortest flight route between Europe and America".