The prototype of the Russian short-haul aircraft SJ-100, manufactured by the Production Center of PJSC Yakovlev of the United Aircraft Corporation in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, made its first flight. During the tests, the stable operation of all domestic systems, controllability and stability of the aircraft in the air were confirmed.
The aircraft was piloted by a crew consisting of test pilots Leonid Chikunov and Dmitry Demenev, as well as test engineer Denis Velizhanin. The duration of the flight was 54 minutes, it took place at altitudes up to 3 thousand meters. m and speeds up to 343 km/h. In accordance with the flight task, the crew checked the stability and controllability characteristics of the aircraft in the air, checked the automatic pressure control system in the cabin, and also made a "landing on a cloud" and a landing approach with a departure for the second round.
"The first flight of the Superjet, created under the program of import substitution of systems and components, is the success of thousands of collectives of aircraft and radio–electronic industries that are part of the management circuit of the Rostec State Corporation. Russian developers and manufacturers managed to implement and supply their own design solutions and technologies to the aircraft, including avionics, landing gear, auxiliary power plant, integrated control system, as well as power supply systems, air conditioning, fire protection and many others," said Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
In total, about 40 systems and units were replaced on the import-independent Superjet.
"Today's flight of the Superjet with Russian systems is the result of a great joint work of the design team and the factory team, who developed, assembled and raised a virtually new aircraft in a short time, including for the global aviation industry," said Yuri Slyusar, General Director of the United Aircraft Corporation. – This is the best demonstration of our country's technological independence. We have proved, first of all to ourselves, that we can develop and produce modern civil aircraft independently, without the involvement of imported technologies. The next ambitious tasks are to certify the aircraft in a completely Russian appearance and begin serial deliveries to the airline."
In order to accelerate the test program, French-Russian SaM146 engines are used on the first prototype of the aircraft. The second prototype will soon begin a flight test program already with domestic PD-8 engines, which are currently undergoing a series of bench tests and flight tests as part of the Il-76LL flying laboratory.
"The import substitution program started in 2019, and today we understand how correct and far-sighted this decision was. This aircraft has become the embodiment of the advanced developments of the domestic aviation industry, taking into account the experience of developing, certifying and operating more than 200 Superjet aircraft over the past years. Four years have passed from the start of the preliminary design to the first flight – given the amount of design work, this is close to a record time, at the level of the world's leading manufacturers. The same amount of time, for example, was spent on the creation of the A320neo, and even more on the Boeing 737max," said Andrei Boginsky, Deputy General Director of PJSC UAC for Civil Aviation, General Director of PJSC Yakovlev.
