On the 12th and 14th of March the MS-21 prototype aircraft b/n 73051 carried out flights to determine the altitude and speed characteristics of the PD-14 engine after updating the software of the engine control system.
On 12 March, the aircraft was in the air for 5 hours and 16 minutes, flying at altitudes between 9750 and 12200 metres, in the FL350-FL400 range. On 14 March the same aircraft continued software testing at altitudes not exceeding 3000 metres, the flight lasted more than three hours.
As told the site Aviation of Russia in the flight research institute named after M. Gromov in Zhukov. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, the flights on 12 and 14 March assessed the thrust of PD-14 engines at different speeds and altitudes after installing new software in the electronic controllers (FADEC).
“The first flight took place at high altitudes, while the second assessed thrust surpluses near the ground: acceleration and braking were performed in different configurations during take-off at maximum mass,” our interlocutor explained.
The performance of the new version of the UAS was also tested on the ground in Moscow. “The tests have been generally positive. This month we plan to start testing the new algorithms in flight,” he added.
