RuAviation

In Zhukovsky, as part of the flight certification tests, the MS-21 aircraft b/n 73051 performed a fully automatic landing under ICAO Category IIIA. Earlier such work was performed on MS-21-300 aircraft with PW1400G engines, now the software version of the automatic control system is fully adapted for PD-14 engines. This was told to the site “Aviation of Russia” by a source in the Flight Research Institute named after Gromov in Zhukovsky. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky.

According to him, the automatic landing mode was engaged before touching the runway. The crew included PJSC Yakovlev test pilot, Hero of Russia Roman Taskaev and GosNIIGA test pilot Igor Chernov, as well as flight operators Oleg Berezin and Pavel Sokut.

Certification of instrument approach and landing is required to confirm the aircraft’s ability to perform all-weather flights. ICAO Category IIIc is the highest category and allows landing in all visibility conditions without restrictions up to its complete absence horizontally and vertically. An aircraft equipped in accordance with category IIIc must provide automatic descent, levelling, landing and runway guidance using the autopilot and instruments installed at the aerodrome.

Category IIIa means that landing is allowed when the range of visibility on the runway is at least 200 metres and the decision height is at least 30 metres. An aircraft qualifying for Category IIIA must provide automatic descent and pre-landing levelling.

Automatic landing is ensured by the algorithms of the Integrated Control System (ICS) and Automatic Control System (ACS) regardless of what kind of avionics is installed on the aircraft, Flight 73051 is equipped with imported avionics. The algorithms were developed jointly by the Automatic Control Systems Department of Yakovlev PJSC and the Moscow Institute of Electromechanics and Automation (MIEA). The hardware was developed by KRET and MIEA.