RuAviation

The first prototype of the SJ-100 aircraft with flight number 97021 took to the air for the first time after flying from Komsomolsk-on-Amur and undergoing ground checks and tests. The flights will be performed as part of flight certification tests under the import substitution programme.

The aircraft was flown by a crew consisting of Commander Vadim Shirokikh, test pilots Leonid Chikunov, certification centre expert Mikhail Trubnikov, as well as Denis Velizhanin, leading flight test engineer, flight operator, and Gevorg Matsakyan, leading flight test engineer, flight operator, certification centre expert. The first flight included testing of the aircraft’s new domestic fuel system, UAC’s press service said.

“The duration of the flight was 2.5 hours, during which 15 test modes were conducted,” a UAC spokesman said. – The equipment functioned without failures. To accelerate the programme, the first prototype aircraft is flying on French-Russian SaM146 engines.”

Earlier, Yakovlev specialists successfully conducted ground tests of the landing gear, confirmed the functioning of the aircraft’s doors and hatches, checked the cockpit display and the mobility of the aircraft’s control surfaces.

According to Andrey Boginsky, UAC Deputy Director General for Civil Aviation and General Director of Yakovlev, about 200 flights are to be performed by the end of 2025. The intensity of flight tests will increase as two more prototypes join the certification, which are currently awaiting the installation of PD-8 engines in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

He added that Yakovlev currently has contracts signed for more than 150 aircraft, including agreements with Aeroflot Group and more than 60 orders from other airlines.

In December 2023, UAC head Yuri Slyusar said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel that the first flight of the SJ-100 with a domestic PD-8 engine is expected in early 2024. At the end of February, it became known about the postponement of the start of aircraft deliveries to 2026. The press service of Rostec reported that in 2026 companies intend to transfer 30 new Superjets.

On 6 June, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Industry and Trade Ministry head Anton Alikhanov told reporters that the first flight of the fully import-substituted SJ-100 aircraft is scheduled for 2025. “There are a number of reasons… It is clear that certification requires quite a lot of time, tests, and there cannot be any indulgences, accelerations or exceptions here, because, as my colleagues from the transport block say, these rules are often written in blood, and they must necessarily be observed,” Anton Alikhanov commented.

Three SJ-100 prototype aircraft will be involved in certification tests in the next two years:

1. Flight 97021 (s/n 97001) – SaM146 engines, partially imported equipment replaced by Russian. On 27 April performed a flight from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Zhukovsky with an intermediate landing in Tolmachevo. Performs flights under the certification test programme in Zhukovsky;
2. Flight 97012 (s/n 95157) – PD-8 engines, partial replacement of imported components. Located in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, awaiting certification of PD-8 engines;
3. Aircraft 97023 (licence plate 97003) – PD-8 engines, complete replacement of imported components. Located in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, awaiting certification of PD-8 engines and domestic equipment.