Piotr Butowski reports on the new Russian airliner that this year conducted its first flight
Certification trials of the Irkut MC21-300 airliner are expected to begin this month (October 2017). These follow the maiden flight on May 28 from the factory’s airfield in Irkutsk near Baikal Lake, Siberia, with Oleg Kononenko and Roman Taskayev at the controls.
The aircraft underwent a two-week analysis before the second lift-off on June 14. Three more flights followed in quick succession. The landing gear was retracted and lowered for the first time during the fourth trial.
A media conference at the Paris Air Show on June 21 heard the head of Irkut, Oleg Demchenko, state the aircraft will make 30 to 40 test flights from the factory airfield.
Upon completion of the initial tests, in around October 2017, it will be flown to Zhukovsky, near Moscow, where certifications trials will start.
By the end of this year, two more flying prototypes 0003 and 0004 should be completed. Aircraft 0005 is due to be ready for fatigue testing by the end of March. Airframe 0002 has been used for strength tests at the TsAGI research centre since last autumn.
The first delivery to Aeroflot is planned for the first quarter of 2019, ju…
