RuAviation

Additional certification flight tests of the MC-21 (tail number 73057), SJ-100 (97023) and Il-114-300 (54115) in natural icing conditions have been completed in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region. The campaign ran from March 12 to March 30, with flights conducted from Talagi airfield. Following completion, all test aircraft returned to the Ramenskoye flight test base in Zhukovsky (operated by Yakovlev PJSC), except for the Il-114-300, which remained in Arkhangelsk at the time of writing.

The Arkhangelsk region was selected due to its stable icing-prone meteorological environment. Warm, moisture-laden air masses advecting from the North Atlantic interact with cold Arctic air over the Norwegian and White Seas, creating consistent and well-characterized natural icing conditions.

The test program relied on meteorological data analysis to identify cloud formations meeting certification requirements. Flight crews intentionally entered icing clouds and monitored ice accretion using onboard instrumentation. Once target conditions were achieved, the aircraft transitioned to handling qualities and systems performance evaluations, including stability, controllability and onboard system operation.

Test flights were conducted over the White Sea coastline, the Kola Peninsula and the Naryan-Mar area. Representatives from authorized certification centers and the Aviation Register of Russia participated in post-flight data processing. Flight durations ranged from four to seven hours. The SJ-100 completed nine flights, the MC-21 six, and the Il-114-300 eight. In addition, the SJ-100 performed three dedicated flights to evaluate approach-and-go-around performance and stall warning system behavior.

According to Nikolay Fonurin, Deputy Head of Yakovlev’s Flight Test and Development Center, this marks the second natural icing campaign for the MC-21. Earlier tests involved the MC-21-300 variant with foreign-supplied systems, while the current campaign uses the MC-21-310 equipped with domestically produced systems.

Fonurin noted that the test matrix covered a wide range of icing scenarios, including ice accretion on the airframe, wing, landing gear, antennas and other exposed surfaces. Flights were conducted at temperatures down to −26 to −28°C (−15 to −18°F). Low-temperature ice formation was recorded, with no measurable impact on aircraft performance.

Leonid Chikunov, Honored Test Pilot of Russia and head of the flight unit at Yakovlev’s Regional Aircraft branch, stated that under severe icing conditions with accretions up to 70 mm (2.8 in.), the aircraft demonstrated stable behavior and predictable handling characteristics.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) reported that the flight test program has been completed in full. The results confirm that the MC-21, SJ-100 and Il-114-300 comply with applicable Russian and international airworthiness standards for operations in natural icing conditions.

The next phase will focus on flight data decoding, analysis of flight regimes and anti-icing system performance. Engineers will correlate flight-test data with analytical models and prepare certification documentation for submission to the relevant authorities.