Who Had Arthur Duplicated

It is quite difficult to reach you, you are on the road nearly all the time. It has also taken us many arrangements that we can sit down and talk today.

I had an errand in the capital. It turned out in the morning that I have to ’pop in’ to Budapest. It is a good thing that there is a motorway, which makes it possible to drive to Budapest in only an hour, even if you adhere to the rules.

Are you not bored with commuting?

You can get used to it, and it is also a must. Basically because everything in this country is Budapest-centered. And it cannot be expected that the national headquarters of a party moved to Kecskemét for my sake.

When we arranged this meeting, I already mentioned that I would ask you about your military history, rather than your present political carreer, but of course, the topic cannot be fully ignored. The question arises automatically: why does a Hungarian military officer, with a worldwide reputation, choose to start a career in politics upon retirement?

Retirement and politics are two different things, but naturally, they are related to a certain extent. I would start from the fact that I did not want to retire, but unfortunately, I had no other choice. When one is 34 years old – mainly if one is a professional soldier –, he does not plan to become a pensioner. What I was planning for specifically, was that I had at least twenty years left in the Hungarian Defence Forces. Unfortunately, things have turned out differently.

What was the reason for that?

In the second half of 2001, the thought evoked in me that I should try myself in politics as well, in which I saw great challenges and opportunities at the time. I never denied or kept it a secret that I wanted to be a candidate the 2002 parliamentary elections in the colours of the Hungarian Socialist Party. Nevertheless, I was also aware that the code of service discipline of the Hungarian Defence Forces does not allow active soldiers to participate in political activities. Therefore I was planning to submit a request to have my legal status as a professional soldier suspended for a four year term – for which I had the legal right –, in order that I would not violate the code of service. But the minister of defence at the time refused it. What is more, he had a message for me: since I had attended a political event, violating the code of service, they want to dismiss me from the armed forces and take disciplinary action against me.

Which political event are we talking about?

A press conference. This could have been a warning for me, reminding me to ignore the whole thing, but I was not listening to the voice inside me. Even because of spite, I decided that once I had started it, I would go all the way. The consequence was that I had no choice but to ask for retirement. ’Voluntarily and happily’. If I look back to that period, I believe that from two wrong options, I chose the minor one. But I’m not proud of it at all. Because as I have already mentioned, at the age of 34, with 17 years of service behind by back, I did not want to be a pensioner.

Am I right if I say I’m sensing a tone of disappointment in your voice?

Today I regret it a bit that I started this whole thing. And I’m telling you why. I have given up the life I had been leading before. We can say that I was a pilot who was relatively well-known, and loved by the whole country. From the moment I had announced the name of the party I am sympathizing with, only half the country loved me. And this is a very big problem, because in Hungary, people are not judged by their professional achievements but by their political affiliation. But if I’m looking at the past from the other side, I have to say that I have not regretted my decision, since I got many new acquanitances and learned about many new opinions. Before that, my thinking as a soldier was quite Hungarian Defence Forces-centered, naturally, and had a ’narrow’ view of the Air Force and flying. I couldn’t have imagined that there could be more important things in the world than that. Now I have a bigger overlook of the things.

As you have mentioned, back then the whole country knew you, owing to the three victories of 1998, 1999, and 2001 in the UK.

For the sake of keeping a true record of history, we have to begin the story in 1996. As a young fighter pilot holding the rank of 1st lieutenant, I was given an opportunity. My commanders believed I could make a good demonstration pilot. I was reluctant in the beginning, for I did not consider myself a good candidate. On the other hand, I liked fighting air battles very much, because this is the activity when your rank does not make any difference – the better will triumph. But my superiors convinced me, so I became the new demonstration pilot. In the same year, we flew to the Netherlands to see an air show. This was the first show in my life, even though back then the Hungarian Defence Forces participated in the event only as a ’static component’. I remember we were not allowed to let the Dutch near our MiG-29s, because they did everything to get hold of a ’souvenjir’ and would have even taken down those parts of the two-tailed iron birds which were sticking out.

Which was the first air show where you could also fly?

This historical moment arrived in 1997, when we had the opportunity to go to Fairford in the UK, to the Royal International Air Tattoo. Until the very moment, I didn’t even know that there are such competitions. Anyway, we put together a program, and I demonstrated it. Retrospectively, and honestly: it wasn’t a good program. When I’m watching the video today, I only laugh. We did not win a prize either.

But a year later…

Yes, after the 1997 display we were preparing for the next year consciously. Based on what we saw in the videos, we analysed the venue to the tiniest detail. Where the panel was sitting and where the audience was. Relying on that information, we spent long weeks with deciding on what kind of maneuvers to include in the program. Of course it is not a secret either that we were stealing the figures after having seen the program of other demonstration pilots, just like others learned a thing or two from us by watching. Then it was time for the demonstration, and we won. Owing to the highly prepared technical crew in the first place, and because everyone wanted this victory. Naturally, and I don’t even have to say that, all of us were very happy.

This victory couldn’t have been a coincidence, for a year later, you managed to repeat it.

Yes, in 1999 we won again, but we prepared an absolutely new program by then. Back home, during the training flights we invited the audience to join us in the Kecskemét barracks more than once, and our colleagues were watching when, and at which figures were they roaring. This is how we tested the spectacular maneuvers. Fortunately, we managed to win that year, too. By that time I already felt that I had to discontinue my activities as a demonstration pilot, for I had been doing it since 1996. It means four seasons. My opinion was that in 2000, not me, but somebody else had to enter. Luckily enough, by that time my friend Péter Kovács was already a trained demonstration pilot, he knew the profession. So this is how it happened that in 2000, he was sitting in the MiG-29 in Fairford.

In 2001, however, the demonstration pilot was Gyula Vári again. What was the reason behind that?

In 2000, there was a huge demobilization wave, with which Péter also left the Hungarian Defence Forces, and I was given an opportunity, or more specifically, I got a request that I should fly again in 2001, and at the Fairford show, because Zoltán ’Topi’ Szabó and Gábor ’Bagheera’ Molnár were not fully trained at the time. I accepted it, of course, but together with the whole team we had to do a lot of thinking about what kind of program to put together, for as a two-time winner, I had to demonstrate something the others had not done before. After thinking, planning, and training for a long time, the program was up and ready. Its special feature was that we also incorporated the use of the infrared trap, which turned out to be an extremely spectacular component in the program. Fortunately, this demonstration astonished the jury and the visitors as well. We won another prize, I mean the team.

Is there anything from this prize that has remained to you?

The prize, or Arthur – as I call it – is nothing else but a statuette of a pilot’s head. I’ve had it duplicated, and this has remained to me. And I also have the certificates which were given personally to me. To tell the truth, they are still on the wall, in frames.

When was the last time you took off in a MiG-29?

This is an interesting question because I took off in a MiG-29 fighter plane of the Hungarian Defence Forces in November 2001 for the last time officially. It was a demonstration flight for the German Chief of the Defence Staff who paid a visit to Kecskemét. But the truth is that I have flown a MiG-29 since then, but not in Hungary. In Russia. For I have managed to establish a very good relationship with the MiG factory, and I could go to them and fly almost every quarter. And not only the 29, but even the newer MiG versions. But as a Member of Parliament, I have been there only twice because I felt that it doesn’t seem advantageous in the eye of many if I am in regular contact with a Russian firm. Although it is true that I don’t speak Russian, only very little, but I could make myself understood in English as well. For me it was a great honour that I had the chance to sit down with the chief constructor of MiG-29. I could ask a number of questions which were relevant to me. It is a very rare thing to happen to a pilot that he can have a conversation with the person who designed the aircraft flown by the former.

We have got used to it that active pilots have nicknames. What was your ‘nick‘?

It is another interesting story, for my nickname was given to me by a fellow pilot. The nametag on my flying uniform said: Vári ’Coca’ Gyula. Well, this had to be pronounced in Hungarian, naturally, and not in English. Of course, the foreigners could have thought that I just love Coca-Cola, hence the name, but this wasn’t the case. And where did it come from? When in 1993, we were at the Russians on a MiG-29 training we used to play cards a lot in our free time. And I was very lucky then, or as my colleagues put it: ’I had pig (coca) of a luck’. After each round I won, I was given the order: ’coca, deal!’. So this is where it comes from, and somehow it got stuck on me. Later there were some who tried to explain the origins of my nickname saying that I have always been lucky in flying, but ’coca’ comes from Russia.

This nickname is not as well-known as Zoltán Szabó’s ’Topi’ or Gábor Molnár’s ’Bagheera’, perhaps István Petõ’s ’Pinyó’.

Yes, they are mainly known by their nicknames, but I have always been Gyula Vári.

I have read it in your curriculum vitae that you earned a commercial pilot’s licence in 1997. How come that you don’t work for Malév as a pilot?

That year we had the opportunity to earn the civil pilot’s licence as well, which was followed by my commercial pilot’s licence. And there was a period in my life when I was thinking about joining Malév. The CEO at the time would have welcomed me, but due to various reasons, nothing turned out of it eventually.

How much time did you spend in the air while in the military?

I don’t know! Perhaps I should have counted the hours, but I have always been a bit careless as regards this. Moreover, the number of hours spent in the air on a military or a civil aircraft just become indistinct. What I would say is that I have flown a lot, but unfortunately not as much as I would have liked. Because you can never have enough flying!

What kind of aircraft do you fly the most often these days?

Whatever I can, but generally Jak-52. The civil version. I fly abroad a lot, mainly in the Czech Republic, but I often rise in the air in Hungary as well.