RuAviation

Yakovlev’s Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAZ) is running ground tests on MC-21-310 serial number MC.0015, the second production aircraft for launch operator Aeroflot. The tests are the last manufacturing step before the aircraft’s first flight.

The aircraft rolled out of final assembly on 31 August. Like all MC-21s now on the Irkutsk line, it uses Russian-sourced materials, systems and components. This is central to the programme’s effort to replace Western content that became unavailable after sanctions.

The current campaign centres on the Aviadvigatel PD-14 turbofans. Vladislav Mogilev, deputy head of the plant’s flight-test unit, said engine reliability and the power supply to aircraft systems are the main priorities. Engines are run across the full range of power settings, up to maximum thrust and beyond the regimes used in normal operations. They must run smoothly, with no excessive vibration and no fault messages.

Ground crews watch the engines for vibration from outside, and the flight crew monitors it through the standard cockpit displays. Some engine parameters are recorded but not shown to the crew, because they are not needed for operational monitoring. After each run, engineers decode the flight-data recordings and analyse them alongside wider engine and airframe data to decide whether the test point can be signed off.

The flight-test station follows unfuelled systems checks on test rigs in the final assembly hall. It covers fuel systems, powerplant and avionics before the aircraft moves to flight testing. Once engine runs are complete, MC.0015 will carry out high-speed taxi trials on the runway, followed by its first flight and a series of acceptance test flights.

Engine supply appears to be keeping pace with airframe production. United Engine Corporation (UEC), a Rostec subsidiary like Yakovlev’s parent United Aircraft Corporation, has delivered PD-14s from Perm for the fourth production MC-21-310. A UEC team is permanently based at Irkutsk to handle incoming engine inspection and support engines through ground testing.