As the Vedomosti newspaper reported in the material of Herman Kostrinsky, "Rosaviation initiates the development of a Russian light training aircraft. Half of the fleet of foreign cars has been stopped due to difficulties with engine maintenance," Russia may begin developing a new light aircraft for pilot training. The urgent need for such machines is experienced by the training centers of the Federal Air Transport Agency throughout Russia, said on April 26, 2023, at the annual meeting of the Union of Aircraft Manufacturers, the head of the Flight operations Department of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Vladimir Israelev (Vedomosti got acquainted with the audio recording of the speech).
Cessna 172 Skyhawk light training aircraft of Krasnokutsky Flight School of Civil Aviation in Krasniy Kut (Saratov region) (c) kkluga.ruAccording to Vladimir Israelev, today all nine flight schools of the department use foreign-made aircraft for pilot training:
Cessna 172, Diamond 40/42, L-410, Bell and Eurocopter light helicopters. Israelev noted that now about half of these machines are "faulty." The problem is in the supply of foreign components for these aircraft and helicopters, the situation is especially difficult with engines. "Engines are imported for a very long time, expensive, and sometimes they are not imported," he noted.
General difficulties arise in all nine flight schools of the department. For example, students of the Omsk Flight Technical College graduate with a huge delay. According to Israelev, he does not see any solution now, but if it is not found, then soon there will simply be no one to fly on the mainline aircraft that the Russian industry is developing to replace Western-made airliners. He said that the Federal Air Transport Agency sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to create a Russian aircraft with the characteristics necessary for training.
In turn, Deputy General Director of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Andrey Boginsky, who also participated in the meeting, recalled that the Federal Air Transport Agency had not purchased new equipment for several years due to lack of funds. At the same time, the UAC not so long ago developed a light six-seat single-engine Yak-118 aircraft, a modification of the Soviet Yak-18T. Boginsky indicated that the company is ready to start developing the aircraft if there are resources for it.
A representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the development of the Yak-118 is at an initial stage, the project was not sent to the department. If this happens, the financing will be considered when forming the budget.
Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of Aviport, noted that it would be extremely difficult to train pilots without their own training aircraft and helicopters in the conditions of sanctions. The expert called the presence of a Russian engine a key condition, its development is underway, but so far there is nothing to put on airplanes.
Earlier it was reported that due to engine repair problems, the fleet of SSJ 100 aircraft in Russian airlines may be reduced by more than five times by 2030 - from 150 units to 28. Such a forecast was presented by Irkut Corporation (the manufacturer of the liner) and the United Engine Corporation (UEC), which are members of Rostec.
On the part of bmpd, we recall that the project of the Yak-118 aircraft was worked out by the Yakovlev Design Bureau and the Irkut Corporation in the 2000s, and then it was planned to equip the aircraft with the Raichlin RED A03 aviation diesel engine.
