Russian Civil Aviation: News

PD-14 Engine

The PD-14 gas turbine just achieved its first bench test. It is a long way from becoming a working jet engine. The Russians are looking at making the SaM146 the engine of choice for civil airliners.

KRON1 wrote:The PD-14 gas turbine just achieved its first bench test. It is a long way from becoming a working jet engine. The Russians are looking at making the SaM146 the engine of choice for civil airliners.

The PD-14 are next gen of Russian engine ( follow up to PS-90 series ) which will power next gen of civil aircraft like MS-21,MTA.

The SaM146 are designed to power the SSJ100 and SSJ130

Bad News for MS-21 , Airbus is coming up with A320NEO which will raise the competition bar for MS-21

"The window of opportunity" for MS-21 closes

United Engine Corporation for the first time in 20 years began to break even


MOSCOW, December 1. (ITAR-TASS). For the first time in the past 20 years, Russian companies, members of the Association Engine Corporation (JDC), ceased to be unprofitable, said Tuesday at the International Conference "Aero Engines of XXI Century" Deputy Director General of JDC Alexander Willows.

"The pace of output growth corporations ranging from 20 to 30 percent. Per year. Breakeven level of work with such a high rate suggests that the state can invest in this structure without the risk of a negative result," - says Willows.

According to him, the main products of APC are now the engines for civil aircraft. The basis of their engines are a family of PS-90, in which "there is sufficient potential for development." In particular, the expert said engine PS-90A2, designed to equip the new passenger aircraft Tu-204SM.

The most important events of the year JDC representative highlighted the establishment of the company, "Saturn" together with the French company Snecma "SaM146 engine for the aircraft Sukhoi Superjet-100, which in July for the first time in history has received European Certificate of engines on a typical design.

The first production models SaM146 engine company has already delivered Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. " "The government made great efforts to organize its production, and we can say that this problem is solved", - stressed Alexander Willows.

KRON1 wrote:The PD-14 gas turbine just achieved its first bench test. It is a long way from becoming a working jet engine. The Russians are looking at making the SaM146 the engine of choice for civil airliners.

Sam146 is the only Russian airliner engine to achieve EASA certification. You have to have it to sell to Europe. It has been discussed putting it on all domestic made An-148. The engine is too small for aircraft like MS-21 or Il-96.

Why doesn't Russia have something equivelent to EASA certification.

They should carefully formulate a certificate to make it hard for western airliners to operate in Russia.

Manditory cloak bay areas for passengers to put coats.

APUs to operate in austere airfields etc etc.

Russians do have their own certification but EASA certification would ensure wider accessibility to global market to export their product and competitive prices.

Russian aviation market is not as large as European,US or Asian market and since Russians are the exporter they need to ensure complaince with the certification process if they have to stand a chance for export

Tu-154 plane crash lands , 2 dead 83 injured

"According to the latest information, 83 people were sent to hospitals after the Tu-154 plane accident," a spokesperson for the Health Ministry said.

The aircraft departed for the southern Russian city of Makhachkala from Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 2.07 pm Moscow Time (11.07 GMT). Several minutes after the take-off all three engines of the plane had failed and the jet made an emergency landing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, said that along with the engines, Tu-154 also had its power sources and navigation equipment failed.

So with all 3 engine failure they managed to glide the jet ?

From "International Conference "Aero Engines of the 21 st century" in Moscow gives some insight on 5th and 6th gen engine requirement and technologies link

According to the head of CIAM, given the high competition, continuous improvement of aircraft engines, also taking into account the overall development of science and technology, there are very bold decisions for the coming years, new demands are put forward to a promising engines. In particular, the requirements on noise in 2015 will be reduced by 32% with respect to the requirements of Annex 16, Chapter 4 of ICAO in 2020 - by 42% in 2025 - up 71%. Regarding fuel consumption - engines must consumes less fuel: up to 33% in 2015, up to 50% in 2020 and up to 70% in 2025

When creating engines 4-th generation of the total funding for the project on advanced areas of technological advance (NPOV) accounted for about 14-15%% - this was the methodology in the 70's and 80's. When you create the fifth-generation engine for about 60% of the total funding went to advanced research. "Our forecast for the sixth-generation engines - more than 70%

According to him, when considering solutions to reduce fuel consumption discusses various options for improving the parameters of the cycle - higher efficiency units, the growth of the degree of bypass to 20, the use of open-rotor, bringing the total degree of pressure increase to over 50, as well as increasing the aerodynamic and weight to improve himself flying apparatus - the aerodynamic quality instead of 17 will increase to 24."For those professionals who deal with the prospect, search and research, these data should be as a reference", - stressed Skibin.

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Italy to buy 'large numbers' of Russia's Superjet airliners - Putin

"This is our first civil aircraft... which corresponds with the most recent civil aviation requirements, and our Italian partners are now ready to buy them in quite large numbers," Putin said during a United Russia party congress in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, accompanied by Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, inspected a Superjet aircraft in Sochi last Friday. The plane arrived in the southern Russian city on a test flight from northern Siberia's Yakutsk.

The Superjet 100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.

RIP to those two that died in that air crash.

The way the aircraft broke up I thought more would have died.

Regarding the Italian purchase of Russian aircraft, perhaps this is a benefit of Russian interest in Italian vehicles?

Even if it is not it is a good healthy thing.

GarryB wrote:RIP to those two that died in that air crash.

The way the aircraft broke up I thought more would have died.

Indeed the aircraft was just running in single engine or no engine at all thats like just gliding , the pilot did a very good job of landing the aircraft , the pilot himself was seriously injured but survived.

Looking at the previous crashes of Tu-204 almost crashed into the pine tree and broke up but all 6 crews were safe and the current crash where most people are safe it just makes me believe that the Russian aircraft are structurally strong or designed to take the crash impact better then most western aircraft.

Regarding the Italian purchase of Russian aircraft, perhaps this is a benefit of Russian interest in Italian vehicles?

Even if it is not it is a good healthy thing.

Not really , SuperJet International is a joint venture between Italian Alenia Aeronautica with 51% stake and Russian Sukhoi Holding with 49% , so any sales that superjet does benefits Italy.

AlItalia is right now at final stages of selecting 20 odd 100 seater for which Superjet is a strong contender.

So Iveco and Superjet deal are not related though Italy and Russia are nice playing Tango

Some info on Superjet Logistics logistics

Tu-214 upset the president - subquality

According to RBC daily, the Attorney General's Office began checking the KLA and the Kazan aviation plant (CAPO), a manufacturer of Tu-214, for product quality and timing of its production. Reason for the inspection came after the transfer in October of this year, Tu-214PU managing the affairs of the president: during its operation have been identified technical problems.

Until recently, the timing of the CAPO complained only private customers. For example, the plant still can not execute a contract concluded in 1999 with the airline Transaero. To date, the carrier has received only three of the five ordered Tu-214, although Transaero interested in continuing the shipments. As previously said Alexei Fyodorov, UAC president, because of the high cost of the platform Tu-214, the company decided to no longer build commercial aircraft at the base, leaving only spetsmodifikatsii, one of which became the Tu-214PU.

At one of these Tu-214PU, put into operation special summer squad (SLO), "Russia" in October this year, President Dmitry Medvedev has made its first flight. The aircraft is based on long-haul passenger Tu-214, but differs significantly from the production model. It has a special technique, but the interior is made to the original design. However, as the source of RBC daily, after the first flight on the aircraft revealed a minor problem in several systems, including the entertainment system.

In the KLA yesterday declined comment.

Traditionally, vendors are taking the time to refine the aircraft, taking into account the claims of the customer, but CAPO could no longer delay the delivery side of the Arctic Ocean. According to the sources of RBC daily, long-range Il-96, which now flies the president, at the end of this year will pass on the "fifth form of service: long-term inspection and maintenance. At the same time, with President Dmitry Medvedev appointed a lot of trips planned that the new Tu-214 will be the replacement of IL-96.

In addition to issues of timing and quality of work, according to a source of RBC daily, close to the KLA, the prosecutor's office wondering why the contract with the administration of the president is not the developer of aircraft - Tupolev Design Bureau, and the factory cap. Board number 1 - a unique product that requires a lot of developments and solutions, the plant alone above it does not work.

Sergei Starikov

Possible inspection CAPO does not mean that its fleet of the first persons abandon Tu-214. In late November the administration of the president once again decided to buy Tu-214. The corresponding order is placed online procurement. According to the information value of the order is not more than 1.33 billion rubles.

Aircraft engine developed by PD-14 will exceed all indicators being introduced into service SaM146

Developed in Russia, the engine 5-th generation of civil aviation DD-14 will all parameters exceed SaM146 joint Russian-French production, which is equipped with a plane Superjet-100. This was announced today during a video conference at the ITAR-Tass reporters managing director and chief designer of the Permian Aviadvigatel Alexander Inozemtsev.

"PD-14 - a huge step forward in the theory, techniques, technologies, compared with SaM146", - said Inozemtsev. According to him, the new engine will surpass the previous generation of product reliability, resource, have a lower cost to operate, safer from the standpoint of ecology.

A major difference lies in the fact that the PD-14 is created on the basis of uniform gas generator (GG) - a key element of the engine."The main idea is to develop a unified gas generator in a class of 7-20 tons of traction, on the basis of which you can create the appropriate technology for use in the air, on land, on water - airplanes, helicopters, gas turbines," - said Inozemtsev.

Austin wrote:Aircraft engine developed by PD-14 will exceed all indicators being introduced into service SaM146

Of course it will. They are two different classes of engines. Whether PD-14 can attain EASA certification is another matter. SaM146 already has it.

Confirming news , Sukhoi is building 130 - 145 seater Superjet ( Superjet NG ) as a follow on to 100 Superjet. It will have all composite wing and a new engine.

via Air International

Superjet-NG Part-1
Superjet-NG Part-2

Vladimir79 wrote:Of course it will. They are two different classes of engines. Whether PD-14 can attain EASA certification is another matter. SaM146 already has it.

From what I have been reading on PD-14 , this engine will revolutionise the civil engine industry for Russia and will bring it on par with all the western manufacturer of modern engine like P&W ,RR , CFM etc.

The MS-21 is to be powered by PW1400G Geared Turbo Fan engine and PD-14 is offered as an alternative to P&W with its capability equal to PW in all parameters and the Russian PD-14 will cost 15 % less then PW1400G.

Its not a trivial task to match PW1400G engine and the fact that PD-14 is being offered as alternative to PW engine for civil airline user of MS-21 speaks for itself.

Recently the designer of PD-14 engine mentioned that the total development cost of PD-14 will be $2.2 billion.

PD-14 in various version will power all future civil and military aircraft of Russia namely MS-21 ,MTA , Superjet-NG and perhaps the new ones under development.

ofcourse it will be a good replacement for PS-90 variants.

Superjet lost an all important Alitalia deal for 20 aircraft against ERJ-190 group of Brazilian Embraer,an estimated deal worth $500 million.

This is a big setback to Superjet , considering Italy was a partner and was favoured to win.

link

Embraer Wins Alitalia Bidding

Alitalia has opted to buy Embraer regional jets in the competition to modernize and consolidate the airline’s RJ fleet, industry officials say.

The airline’s board of directors has authorized management to sign a preliminary agreement covering the lease of a combination of 14 Embraer 170 and 190 regional jets.

Alitalia already operates six 170s, which first entered the fleet in 2004 and appears to have bolstered the aircraft maker’s position in competition over Bombardier and Sukhoi since the airline has a medium-term target to grow its fleet to 20 aircraft. Later expansion to 27 units is possible.

The ten Bombardier CRJ900s also currently in service at the carrier are to be gradually retired as the new E-Jets arrive.

According to industrial sources, the airline’s management rated the Embraer proposal as the best one, with the Sukhoi Superjet 100 coming second. The Russian bid came with aggressive financial terms to secure Alitalia as the first big-name European costumer. But management shied away in part because the Superjet 100 remains to be certified; Embraer also benefitted from the positive experience the airline has had with the 170s now in service. Bombardier, offering the CRJ900NG/1000, came last.

Aitalia CEO Rocco Sabelli says the airline was leaning toward the Sukhoi Superjet 100, but that the repeated delays to the aircraft’s certification where an issue. “We delayed our choice by 6-12 months waiting for the Superjet and we considered the involvement in the program of an Italian company [Alenia Aeronauita] but we were still not sure about the European certification date and we were also concerned about the prospect of being, in effect, the western launch customer for the type,” he says.

The Embraer choice also provides commonality between Alitalia and SkyTeam partner and major Alitalia shareholder Air France.

Air France Industries will provide maintenance of the regional jet.

Focus: The evolving Russian market

Good Details on PD-14/18 engine in latest AW&ST (pg 82 )

http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416150032&e=true

SSJ flew past Italy
Alitalia has decided not to buy Russian planes

Alitalia has decided not to buy Russian regional planes Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ), in development and promotion of which involved the Italian Alenia Aeronautica, instead of them taking 20 Brazilian Embraer. The main reason was the failure of the timing of the operation of SSJ. The refusal has drawn sharp criticism in Italy. But in the JSC "Sukhoi Civil Aircraft" promise in early 2011 to compensate for the loss of a similar contract with another airline.

On Friday, the head of Alitalia Rocco Sabelli said the company has abandoned plans to acquire Russian SSJ 100. Instead, it will lease 20 new aircraft Brazilian concern Embraer. "The main problem is that the Sukhoi is not flying," - said Rocco Sabelli, who was quoted by Reuters. He added that the airline could not postpone a decision on the choice of the provider of aircraft. "Certainly, we would like to choose SSJ, since its creation involved the Italian manufacturers, but it seems to us that his delivery is not consistent with those we have time" - added a top manager, noting that the delivery of Embraer is scheduled for 2011-2012. The cost of lost Russia contract valued at $ 500 million

Start of commercial operation of SSJ, indeed, have often tolerated. But in the UAB GSS surprised by Alitalia, arguing that the "willing to put these aircraft into the company possible." In the GSS was assured that the type certificate SSJ get to the end of the year and first customer - "Aeroflot" and "Armavia" - put the aircraft in operation in the first quarter of 2011.

SSJ - regional aircraft with a capacity of 75-95 people. Developer and manufacturer of a company GEO. Assembly of aircraft is carried out in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Promoting the aircraft to overseas markets and after-sales service the company does SuperJet International (51% owned by Alenia Aeronautica, 49% - Concern Sukhoi). Now signed contracts to supply solid 150 aircraft.

The fact that Alitalia holds a tender to upgrade the regional aircraft fleet, it became known in October. In addition to the tender SSJ participated Canadian concern Bombardier aircraft with CRJ900/1000 and Brazilian Embraer with the E190. A source in the GCC states that the SSJ were good chances - the plane flew at a presentation in Rome, where he received positive feedback from company representatives. In early December, President Dmitry Medvedev, along with Russian and Italian prime ministers examined at the Sochi airport is one of the SSJ, after which Vladimir Putin has said that Italy was ready to buy from Russia, "a sufficiently large number SSJ". In addition, almost 10% of components for the SSJ is made in Italy, which, according to the representative of GSS, was supposed to be an added advantage. "But in the end no SSJ, not Bombardier, of components for aircraft which is also produced in Italy, did not win," - emphasizes the interlocutor of Kommersant.

Alitalia denial of SSJ drew criticism in the country itself. President of the Italian certification agency ENAC Vittorio Ridge said that Alitalia has missed a "huge opportunity to reach out to the Italian industry, the agency ASCA. In Alenia Aeronautica also said that industry and socio-economic system of the country would only benefit from the choice of SSJ. "This would provide a good return on investment and growth in the number of regions affected by the economic crisis", - explained in the company.

Program SSJ defeat in the Italian bid would cause substantial damage, says the editor of Air Transport Review "Alex Sinitsky. "Certainly it is unpleasant, but also major manufacturers customers come and go, breaking even hard contracts," - says the expert. A source in the GCC adds that in mid-January 2011 the company will receive a firm order, a comparable volume to that which would conclude with Alitalia.

Alexander Panchenko

Russia's Superjet 100 moves closer to final certification

Russia's Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger aircraft has completed two tests vital for its final international certification, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company said Tuesday.

The emergency evacuation and interrupted takeoff tests were carried out at an airfield in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, under the supervision of the Interstate Aviation Committee Aviation Register (AR IAC) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The first test required 98 volunteers of different age groups and five crew members to evacuate the plane in 90 seconds during an emergency landing. They made it in 73 seconds.

The interrupted takeoff test probed the wheels, tires and brakes at maximum possible braking speed. In full compliance with the certification requirements the test was performed without a thrust reverser.

The aircraft loaded to its maximum takeoff weight (45,880 kg) performed emergency braking at a speed of over 300km/h and came to a stop after running 700 meters, within the required parameters.

The results of the tests showed full compliance of the plane with the EASA and AR IAC certification requirements, the company said.

Tu-204SM Completes First Flight ( aviationweek )

Aviastar-SP has completed the first flight of the Tupolev Tu-204SM, an upgraded version of the twin-engined aircraft aimed at giving the product a new lease on life.

The flight, on Dec. 29., took place at Aviastar’s Ulyanovsk facility.

The Tu-204 has been in production since 1989, but Russia’s aerospace industry is hoping that the enhancement being introduced now will help bridge the gap until the single-aisle MS-21 is fielded in significant numbers.

The aircraft, featuring 174-seats in a two-class layout, features slightly decreased airframe weight, more modern avionics package, a two-pilot cockpit, new auxiliary power unit and improved Perm PS-90A2 engines, designed by Russian Aviadvigatel in cooperation with Pratt & Whitney.

Next year, Aviastar-SP plans to produce another prototype, with a goal of completing type certification by 2012.

But whether the venture can really stave off the large inroads Airbus and Boeing are making in the Russian market is questionable. So far, only Red Wings, a Russian charter operator, is considering buying the aircraft, with a potential order of up to 44 aircraft under discussion. The airline is looking for more price discounts and commitments from the government to become the launch customer. Red Wings already is the largest single operator of the Tu-204.

This year, Aviastar has rolled out three Tu-204s (in cargo and passenger configurations) and now has more orders in its backlog.