Russian Civil Aviation: News #4

https://aviation21.ru/a-inozemcev-rasskazal-o-sovremennyx-aviacionnyx-dvigatelyax-i-ix-perspektivax/

A. Inozemtsev - on the prospects for engines for aircraft from Tu-214 to MS-21-400
18.08.2022

Alexander Inozemtsev, Deputy General Director of JSC UEC for the management of NPK Perm Motors, Managing Director - General Designer of JSC UEC-Aviadvigatel, spoke on the sidelines of the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum about the prospects for the production and modernization of the PD-14 engine , the required number of PS-90A, on the development of the PD-35 engine and on the opportunities that open up for designers after its appearance.

“We have just signed a four billion ruble loan with Novikombank for the production of a very large batch of PD-14s for the next years,” informed Alexander Inozemtsev to the journalist of the TV channel Zvezda Alexei Samoletov during a conversation.

He explained that the required production volumes of PD-14 are currently so large that this engine is not planned to be used anywhere except for the MS-21 liner. “God forbid to swallow what will now be on MS-21-310. [...] The government instructed us to reach 160 engines a year by the thirtieth year, this is with a reserve. There will be 72 aircraft [per year], plus a reserve,” said the deputy head of the UEC.

Regarding the line of promising engines and the modernization potential of the PD-14, Alexander Inozemtsev noted that so far this is the first member of the family. But there will be others with a thrust of 8 to 18 tons.

“Irkut Corporation is simultaneously making a smaller aircraft for an engine with a capacity of 12.5 tons instead of fourteen, and is now actively engaged in the “four hundred” - MS-21-400 . This is 16.5 tons and an aircraft with a larger capacity,” said A. Inozemtsev.

Regarding the PD-8 engine, he said that the UEC-Saturn enterprise is developing it, and the UEC-Perm Motors is an "accomplice" in this project, explaining that the required number of these engines is about 100 units per year. "The Superjet needs to fly."

Answering a question about the succession of the PD-8 and PD-14 gas generators, Alexander Inozemtsev said that it was a mistake to consider the PD-8 gas generator as one of the PD-14 variants. “This is a completely new gas generator. It is smaller, more optimal for this small engine than the PD-14 gas generator and therefore a more technically risky project. The timing of its creation is very tough,” he explained.

Alexander Inozemtsev also noted that in addition to the PD-14 and PD-8, there will be a sharp increase in the production of PS-90A engines.

“Because the magnificent Tu-214 aircraft, ruined in the zero years ... the “leader” made a decision: to urgently make 70 aircraft before the 30th year. We start producing 120 PS-90A engines a year. This is along with military orders. This is also a huge volume. This is an engine that got into trouble... We received a type certificate on April 3, 1992... And thank God that it comes to life and will be made in the same quantities as the PD-14,” said the general designer of JSC UEC-Aviadvigatel.

And depending on the engine, the undeservedly ruined Tu-214 car comes to life - a medium-haul airliner capable of flying non-stop for 6-7 thousand km, for example, from Moscow to Khabarovsk. Also, this liner is used for special purposes as a reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. “The equipment has been preserved, the technologies have been preserved. Now you just need to remove the military cabin and put in beautiful seats, and there will be a magnificent passenger plane,” said A. Inozemtsev.

And the most important question that Alexey Samoletov asked the deputy general director of the UEC: "What is the fate of the PD-35?"

According to Alexander Inozemtsev, in conditions of limited resources, unfortunately, the project will develop more slowly than previously planned. The PD-35 demonstrator engine will be assembled and tested by 2024.

“The PD-35 project will go a little slower, with a shift to the right for two or three years, because gigantic money is needed. Without a doubt, we will assemble and test a demonstrator engine by 2024, no matter how hard it is. And then let's move on to the situation. But we will understand for sure, having assembled the engine, where we are in terms of technology, we are creating technologies for the long-haul aircraft market,” said A. Inozemtsev. He added that the main forces will now be applied to replicate the PD-14 and PS-90A engines.

At the same time, the General Designer of UEC-Aviadvigatel noted that the PD-35 has great potential. “This is the most innovative project. The latest technology is absolute. This is a market niche for long-haul twin-engine aircraft, a colossal scientific and technical potential, which we must enter with the help of the PD-35 and further develop the family from 25 tons to 50 tons. This is what we are aiming for,” said Alexander Inozemtsev.

He added that China is very interested in the PD-35 engine project. “Now it will be easier with the pandemic, we will revive.”

https://aviation21.ru/ms-21-dajdzhest-za-sentyabr-2022/

MS-21 - digest for September-2022
02.10.2022

At the beginning of September 2022, the VIIth Eastern Economic Forum was held in Vladivostok, during which, on September 7, UAC and Aeroflot signed an agreement of intent to purchase 339 aircraft. The first firm contracts are planned to be concluded by the end of this year. The agreement provides that out of these 339 aircraft, 210 will be MC-21 airliners, which must be delivered to Aeroflot Group on a lease basis by 2030. It is planned to start transferring the first six aircraft to the Rossiya airline from 2024.

Before the start of the WEF-2022, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to increase budget funding by more than 5 billion rubles in 2022 to expand production capacities for the production of MS-21 and SSJ100 aircraft. This is stated in the list of proposals by the main administrators of federal budget funds to amend the consolidated budget schedule for 2022 and for the planning period of 2023 and 2024.

“The proposal to increase budget allocation in 2022 is 5,139,600,000 rubles. Name of the line item - subsidies in the form of a property contribution of the Russian Federation to the state corporation for promoting the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products "Rostec", including for making a subsequent contribution to the authorized capital of the public joint-stock company "United Aircraft Corporation" in order to implement civil aircraft construction projects ", the document says. The funds will be directed to "expanding the production capacity for the production of MS-21 and SSJ100 as part of the civil aircraft industry project."

* * *

September 12, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at a meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers informed that this year the Government of the Russian Federation will allocate 15 billion rubles to expand the production of MS-21 aircraft.

* * *

In Balashikha, near Moscow, the production building of the Rubin Aviation Corporation was launched to produce composite products for domestic civil aircraft, including MS-21 and SSJ-New. Investments in the creation of new production amounted to 1 billion rubles, of which 661 million rubles were provided by the Industrial Development Fund in the form of a soft loan. It will produce products from carbon composite materials for takeoff and landing devices for mainline civil aircraft.

The plant supplies composite brakes, bearings and seals for hydraulic units for Tupolev, Ilyushin and Yakovlev Design Bureau aircraft. Using the new equipment, the enterprise has started production of composite brakes for MS-21 and SSJ-New aircraft, which were previously assembled using foreign analogues.

* * *

At the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, SibNIA specialists conducted frequency tests of the MS-21 with tail number 73361 (s/n MS.0013). During the tests, natural frequencies, shapes and decrements of oscillations of the aircraft airframe units were determined. Research was necessary to correct the mathematical models used in calculations to confirm the safety of the MS-21 aircraft from aeroelastic instability phenomena. The received materials will be used to form a set of evidentiary documentation for the approval of the Main Change to the type certificate of the MS-21 aircraft with a wing made of domestic composite materials.

* * *

Remotorization of aircraft number 73051 into PD-14 engines has been completed. Now this is the MS-21-310 version. In addition to the engines, the imported on-board cable network was replaced with the Russian one, new pylons were installed, the software was updated, since other engines require different software for all systems interacting with them. The fairing was also improved, and finally, the fuselage was pressure tested and tightness tests were carried out.

In October, after the completion of the acceptance of the liner with the participation of specialists from the LIiDK OKB im. S.A. Yakovlev, the aircraft will perform several test flights and then fly to Zhukovsky, where it will join the certification tests to receive the Main change in the type design - the replacement of PW1400G engines with PD-14 engines.

By the end of September, an experimental aircraft MS-21-310 b / n 73055 completed more than 140 flights. According to Alexander Inozemtsev, Deputy General Director of UEC JSC for Management of NPK Perm Motors, planned out 130 test flights, of which 70 have already flown to date. Another 80 flights will be performed on the second aircraft.

He also informed that a decision was made to remotorize the third aircraft. In 2023, UEC-Perm Motors will manufacture two PD-14 engines for it, and three MS-21-310 aircraft will fly by the end of the year

In 2022, the former partners put UAC in front of the need to almost completely replace foreign units and aircraft systems on two types of domestic aircraft. At the same time, the Superjet (RRJ-95B and RRJ-95LR-100) is being mass-produced and has been performing commercial transportation for more than ten years. MS-21 in 2021 was ready to start carrying passengers. At the time, the UAC said that from the fall of 2022, the aircraft would begin to be operated by the Rossiya airline. However, now both types: both SSJ100 and MS-21 face the fact of a complete ban on the supply of foreign components, which are now being replaced by Russian ones. Hence the need to have three MS-21-310 aircraft, on which certification is and will continue to be carried out.

In order to reduce the cost of certification testing, changes are made gradually as additions. The two main changes to the standard design are the PD-14 engines and the wing made of Russian composites. But in addition to these elements, for safety it is necessary to check the operation of all replaced systems, and it is almost impossible to do “all at once” due to the high cost and significant duration of the work. Therefore, each experimental aircraft will "work" on a specific section of the flight program for certification.

Since mid-September, the intensity of flights of the prototype aircraft number 73055 has decreased, 13 flights have been completed with a total duration of 48 hours 23 minutes. In Zhukovsky, this was explained by the fact that the weather often does not meet the conditions for certification: temperature inversion, precipitation, fog, gusty wind.

At the same time, aircraft number 73054 performed two flights. As explained in the Design Bureau. A.S. Yakovleva, the aircraft flies to eliminate comments during certification. In addition, LIiDK specialists are preparing the necessary supporting documents for the extension of the type certificate for vehicles with PD-14.

https://iz.ru/1405363/anastasiia-lvova-maksim-talavrinov/letnym-putem-aviakompanii-rf-narastili-pul-chistykh-importnykh-samoletov

By air: Russian airlines have increased the pool of "clean" imported aircraft

Which carriers managed to negotiate with lessors

Russian airlines withdrew 87 imported aircraft from foreign registers, follows from a letter from the Ministry of Transport to carriers and data from Izvestia sources. This is twice as much as it was in March - then the Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev spoke about the presence of 44 "clean" foreign aircraft. Most of the fleet withdrawn from foreign registers (31%, 27 units) belongs to Utair, 22 aircraft belong to the Aeroflot group, six Boeing 737-8 belong to S7. Pobeda and Ural Airlines failed to deregister a single aircraft in Bermuda. The withdrawal of aircraft from foreign registries means that these machines can be used on flights abroad. International air traffic for January-August exceeded the forecast of the Ministry of Transport, but experts talk about the need to increase the "clean" fleet.

Russian passenger airlines have already deregistered 87 aircraft from the Bermuda registry. This follows from a letter from Dmitry Stepanko, Acting Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport, to carriers dated September 8 (Izvestia has a copy) and these editorial sources in leasing companies.

According to the ministry, Utair bought 27 aircraft (Boeing 737 and Boeing 767) from foreign lessors and the European subsidiary of SberLeasing and deregistered in Bermuda. Aeroflot deregistered 17 aircraft (Boeing 777, Airbus A320 and A-330). The latter were purchased in May from financial leasing, the rest of the models belong to the structures of the Russian State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) and are “considered” deregistered from the Bermuda register, Dmitry Stepanko wrote in a letter.

Five more Boeings were deregistered in Bermuda by Aeroflot's subsidiary Rossiya Airlines. Three Airbus A321s were “debermuidized” by Yamal, one Boeing by NordStar, and three Boeing 777s by Red Wings. Two more Boeings were removed from the Bermuda registry by the charter airline Azur Air (according to the registry itself, 14 aircraft of this carrier were removed from registration), one Boeing was Gazpromavia. The local carrier from Tatarstan, UVT Aero, managed to remove seven aircraft from foreign registration, the Rusjet business operator - three aircraft.

Also, as of October 3, six more Boeing 737-8 S7 Airlines (owned by STLC) were "debermudised", Izvestia was convinced. This was confirmed by a source in STLC.

The aircraft withdrawn from foreign registers is only 12% of the foreign aircraft fleet of the Russian Federation, which has 738 aircraft (according to the aviation development program until 2030). All aircraft deregistered abroad are registered in the Russian registry.

At the end of March, Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev reported that airlines had formed a pool of 193 aircraft that could and continue to fly abroad. These are 148 Russian Superjet 100s, one Tu-204 and 44 Boeing and Airbus, the official said. Thus, the “clean” import fleet of the Russian Federation grew by 43 aircraft in six months.

The press service of the Ministry of Transport did not respond to Izvestia's request. The S7 representative confirmed that the carrier's fleet has several aircraft that have exclusively Russian registration and are leased from domestic companies, which allow expanding the international flight program. The press service of Azur Air confirmed to Izvestia that today 14 of their aircraft can fly abroad. Representatives of other airlines did not respond to editorial inquiries.

After the introduction of Western sanctions against the Russian aviation industry, carriers began to hastily re-register their aircraft in the Russian register. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Transport (as of September), 1,218 out of 1,288 flying vessels, including those of domestic production, were registered there. At the same time, the lion's share of these aircraft is taken into account both in the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) and in the Russian registry, that is, it has a double registration. But according to the rules of the international Chicago Convention, the registration of a vessel in several registers is prohibited.

In September, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is part of the UN structure, already pointed out to Russia this violation, which prevents flights abroad.

Even in the spring carriers themselves faced difficulties when flying on dual-registration ships. iFly at the end of May could not operate flights to China on such an Airbus. In June, an Aeroflot aircraft (owned by the Irish company Celestial Aviation Trading) was arrested in Colombo. At the same time, the Sri Lankan authorities later apologized for the incident, calling it a "monstrous mistake." At the end of September, difficulties arose on other Aeroflot aircraft: two aircraft failed to fly Moscow-Yerevan and were redirected to Minvody. The company did not comment on this situation. Two sources of "Izvestia" confirmed that the problem arose due to the double registration of the liners. Later, Aeroflot put on these flights one of the purchased Airbus A330 and Airbus, owned by STLC, follows from the FlightRadar service data.

Aircraft deregistered in foreign registers are used by carriers to launch newly opened international destinations. S7 from the end of September, six months later, restarted flights to Antalya from Moscow; From the end of October, flights to Turkey will resume from Novosibirsk. Since spring, the carrier has operated international flights only to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Aeroflot recently announced the launch of flights to Phuket, Bangkok, Dubai and Colombo.

Red Wings, which provided its Boeing 777 for charter programs to Egypt and Turkey in the spring, will launch regular flights from Moscow to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh in the fall. ATK "Yamal" in September began to operate flights from Domodedovo to Antalya and Istanbul (most of the seats on them were purchased by tour operators).

In the first eight months of this year, airlines carried a little more than 11 million passengers on international flights, according to updated statistics from the Federal Air Transport Agency, which Izvestia has read. This is 8.5% lower than the same period in 2021 and already higher than the forecast of the Ministry of Transport for this segment of flights for January-August (9.2 million people) and for the whole of 2022 (10 million). Traffic on flights within Russia has declined the most in eight months, by 12.6% by 2021.

Analyst of the My Investments Telegram channel, Elena Sakhnova, explained that only planes bought into the ownership of airlines, as well as those aircraft that are leased from Russian companies and banks, can be deregistered from the Bermuda registry.

- The last group of aircraft began to be gradually used for international flights starting from June-July. Theoretically, about 150 more foreign aircraft that are leased from Russian companies can be removed from the Bermuda registry, the expert noted.

So far, the “clean” import fleet is not enough to carry out international flights, she is sure.

- It's not even the number of aircraft, but the range of their flights. The combination of the closed skies of Europe and the need to fly around the south of the Russian Federation requires medium and long haul, and we have the basis of the fleet that can fly abroad, still the regional Russian Superjet. For the international traffic that was in 2021, approximately 250–300 more aircraft are needed,” Elena Sakhnova added.

Some countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, do not pay attention to the dual registration of Russian aircraft, added Ilya Shatilin, Editor-in-Chief of FrequentFlyers.ru. According to his calculations, about 500 aircraft flew abroad before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Today, when opening new international destinations, carriers are guided by effective demand and the distance of the route. In almost any direction, it is now possible to use the most capacious vessels, and they will be filled. And who has nothing to fly on, can use exotic methods - launching affiliated companies in foreign jurisdictions or leasing Soviet equipment, the expert concluded.

According to Vladislav Rikov, head of the aviation and asset financing practice at BGP Litigation, many foreign lessors refuse to cooperate with Russian airlines due to sanctions, and the deregistration negotiation process is slow. They adhere to the position that the carriers of the Russian Federation violated the operating lease agreements for the vessels by registering the aircraft in the Russian register without the consent of the owner. At the same time, the aviation authorities and airports of foreign countries (including friendly countries) are guided by the ICAO recommendations when servicing Russian airlines, so it will be difficult for domestic carriers to further expand international flight programs.

https://aviation21.ru/vtoroj-ms-21-310-vypolnil-pervyj-polyot/

The second MS-21-310 completed its first flight
07.10.2022

The prototype MS-21 aircraft no. 73051, which was remotorized for PD-14 engines, made its first flight in Irkutsk, the UAC press service reported. The aircraft was piloted by a crew of test pilots from OKB im. Yakovlev Andrey Voropaev and Roman Taskaev. This aircraft became the second MS-21 equipped with Russian engines.

“Since this is not the first aircraft with Russian engines, we have something to compare with. They are basically the same. Consistency is a sign of excellence. So we are satisfied. The entire flight went smoothly, everything is fine, ”said Roman Taskaev, commander of the crew, after landing.

“All assignments have been completed. We reached the heights of 11 km, to the maximum speeds. Everything is great, ”added Andrey Voropaev.

In addition to installing the PD-14 on the machine, the systems were finalized based on the results of past flight tests. Also, in order to integrate the domestic power plant, a number of imported aircraft equipment components were replaced with Russian counterparts.

The accession of the second aircraft to certification tests will allow by the end of this year to receive approval of the main change in the type design - the replacement of PW1400G engines with PD-14 engines, said Andrey Boginsky, UAC Deputy General Director for Civil Aviation - General Director of the Irkut Corporation.

“We plan to complete the certification of the aircraft with the Russian engine by the end of 2022. Connecting the second aircraft to testing will allow us to increase the density of flights and continue, together with our colleagues from the UEC, work on tuning the engine and on-board systems for the most efficient operation as part of the MS-21,” he stressed.

After completing three flights, the MS-21 prototype will fly to Zhukovsky to continue certification work on the basis of the Flight Test and Development Complex of the OKB im. A.S. Yakovlev.

Earlier, Alexander Inozemtsev, Deputy General Director of JSC UEC for the management of NPK Perm Motors, said that a decision had been made to remotorize the third aircraft. UEC-Perm Motors will manufacture two PD-14 engines for it, and by the end of 2023 three MS-21-310 aircraft will fly.

Second MC-21 prototype with PD-14 engine arrived at Zhukovsky. They did not repaint it, so it still says MC-21-300, when it is in fact now the second MC-21-310 aircraft. This is aircraft tail number 73051 which used to have PW1400G engines. The cable network was replaced, foreign cables were replaced with Russian ones, and the avionics were reconfigured for the new engines.

This second aircraft is supposed to help the company finish the tests for Russian certification of the PD-14 engine modification of MC-21 this year.