 Preparations began for the aircraft 's maiden flight immediately following the air show . Particular efforts were made to debug the flight @-@ control system and test the engine . By mid @-@ February 2008 , Su @-@ 35 @-@ 1 had been rolled out to conduct taxiing tests . On 19 February , Sukhoi test pilot Sergey Bogdan took the aircraft aloft for its first flight from Zhukovsky , accompanied by an Su @-@ <unk> acting as a chase plane . During the 55 @-@ minute flight , the Su @-@ 35 reached a height of 5 @,@ 000 metres ( 16 @,@ 000 ft ) , and tests were carried out on its stability , controllability and engines . The prototype was put on static display for President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the following day . 
