RuAviation

Specialists of the Central Institute of Aviation Motors named after P.I. Baranov (CIAM) took part in the round table “Initial Training Airplanes”, where they spoke about the progress of development and testing of an advanced piston aerobatic engine-demonstrator APD-A.

The event was organised by the Flight Operations Directorate of the Federal Air Transport Agency and FGUP GosNII GA. Representatives of several industry organizations and enterprises, including the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Ilyushin Aviation Complex, Yakovlev Design Bureau and aviation schools were the speakers and attendees, the CIAM press service reported.

Participants discussed current issues in the development and operation of aviation equipment for initial flight training.

The head of CIAM told about the progress of pilot research work, within the framework of which the Institute team is conducting research on the development of an advanced engine APD-A for acrobatic category aerobatic aircraft. He noted that this work was a development of CIAM’s research on creation of a 500 hp APD-500 piston aircraft engine, which aims to form and experimentally test systems and technologies as part of creation of an aircraft piston engine on the basis of a serial automobile engine. The experimentally confirmed results of the R&D will form the basis for the future development of a whole line of engines for multi-purpose light aircraft.

“As part of the R&D work on the ADF-500, we were able to confirm the possibility of creating an aircraft piston engine based on a production car engine. The APD-A is a logical continuation of work aimed at reviving the fleet of initial training aircraft in Russia,” says the CIAM sector chief. – The wide range of capabilities in manoeuvring the aircraft, flight safety, but also the simplicity in operation and maintenance of the engine are some of the main accents in the implementation of this project. And, of course, the main thing is that the APD-A engine, like the APD-500, is completely domestic. It’s the kind of engine our light-engine aviation needs for the initial training of pilots in aerobatics.

To achieve the declared characteristics, CIAM specialists conducted a complex of studies and tests of the engine under development. In addition to the standard bench tests, the ‘acrobat’ engine was also tested upside down, as well as jogging and flying in the flying laboratory based on the Yak-52. Based on the results of the tests and issued comments, the engine design was further developed. At the beginning of this year, a new propeller engine stand was commissioned at the TsIAM test facility in Turaevo to test the future range of piston engines. The APD-A engine was the first to be tested on it and showed compliance with the specified characteristics.