“Our Swallow has learned to fly”: Russia returns to the global aviation market

On Sunday, the new Russian short-medium-haul aircraft MC-21-300 made its first flight. The airliner took off from the test airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a branch of the Irkut Corporation.

On its first flight, the MS-21 was accompanied by two new Yak-130 combat training aircraft. If the Russians seem to have become accustomed to the new products of Russian military aviation, then the first flight of the MC-21 is, without exaggeration, an epoch-making event, testifying to the revival of our civil aviation after many years of oblivion and devastation.

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“Our Swallow has learned to fly,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has already received congratulations from President Vladimir Putin, commented on the first flight.

The flight took place at an altitude of 1000 meters at a speed of 300 km/h, its duration was 30 minutes. The flight mission included checking the aircraft for stability and controllability, as well as engine controllability. A simulated approach was performed, followed by a pass over the runway, a climb and a turn. This technique is standard for the first flight of new types of aircraft.

The aircraft was piloted by a crew consisting of test pilot, Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko and test pilot, Hero of Russia Roman Maskaev.

The flight went as usual. No comments were identified that would prevent the continuation of testing.

MS-21-300 is a new generation passenger aircraft with a capacity of 163 to 211 passengers, aimed at the most popular segment of the air transportation market. The MC-21 airliner guarantees passengers a qualitatively new level of comfort thanks to the largest fuselage diameter among aircraft of this class.

MS-21 was created in broad cooperation with other enterprises included in the United Aircraft Corporation: AeroComposite, Ulyanovsk and Voronezh aircraft factories, UAC Integration Center.

Not only Russian but also foreign air carriers are showing interest in the new product in advance. Global demand for medium-haul airliners in the next 20 years is estimated at 15 thousand aircraft, and the MC-21 has every chance to displace Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and other competitors in this niche.

However, foreign air carriers will have to wait in line for a bit. The Russian Aeroflot was the first to apply for the operation of the MS-21. It is planned that it will receive the first airliner with 175 seats for passengers in the fourth quarter of 2018.

For the first time in the history of domestic aircraft manufacturing, the airliner is offered to customers with two types of engines – the PW1400G of the American company Pratt & Whitney and the domestic PD-14 of the United Engine Corporation. New generation engines have reduced fuel consumption and low noise levels and emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. The MC-21 aircraft meets the most stringent global environmental protection requirements.

Unfortunately, the MS-21 made its first flight using American engines, but a representative of the United Propulsion Corporation firmly promises to transfer the PD-14 into mass production at the end of this year. It is also reported that 14% of the PD-95 will consist of Russian components.

All major systems of the new aircraft will be built in Russia and from Russian materials and components. During the implementation of the MS-21 program, scientific centers in the field of development and production of products from composite materials were created in Russia. In order to introduce new technologies, a radical modernization of the production facilities of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a number of aircraft manufacturing enterprises and related industries was carried out.

Starting from 2020, Irkut plans to produce 20 MS-21s annually, and from 2023, increase the rate to 70 vehicles per year.

Now the matter remains with such “trifles” as saturating Russia’s domestic aircraft fleet with modern airliners of its own production, and stopping purchasing and leasing imported junk.

The next step should be the creation of a domestic long-range aircraft. Once upon a time, Soviet civil aviation aircraft made up 40% of the world's aircraft fleet, and they could be found almost all over the world. And, therefore, the Russian aviation industry has room to grow and something to strive for.