Flight testing of the first Irkut MC-21 narrowbody airliner continues at the Gromov Research Institute in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, where since November 2 Irkut has tested stability and controllability characteristics at altitudes ranging from 3,000 to 12,000 m/9,843 to 39,370 feet. According to program leaders, all aircraft systems have operated normally.
Flight testing at Zhukovsky follows a direct ferry flight last month from the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP) in Russia’s Far East, where the MC-21 had performed 20 test sorties since its maiden mission on May 28. During the six-hour 12-minute ferry flight to Zhukovsky, the airplane traveled more than 4,000 km/2,158 nm and reached an altitude of 10,000 m/32,808 feet.
During its initial testing at IAP, program teams recorded and checked flight characteristics in cruise, takeoff and landing configurations, determined corrections to the system for measuring airspeed parameters, assessed stability and control, checked systems performance and measured one-engine-out takeoff and landing characteristics.
Now preparing for imminent first flight of the second MC-21, Irkut is preparing the third airplane in the final assembly shop for transfer to the flight test unit in 2018, while suppliers manufacture components and fuselage sections for the fourth airplane.
Irkut plans the program to accrue a total of 1,000 flights, followed by Russian certification in mid-2019 and EASA certification in mid-2020.
Powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1400G geared turbofans, the MC-21 features the widest fuselage of any narrowbody on the market, promising cabin comfort for full-service airlines and cost advantages for low-fare carriers, according to Irkut and parent company United Aircraft (UAC). The MC-21’s list price of $91 million suggests a 15-percent lower acquisition cost than that of the current A320.
Irkut claims that either the PW1400G or a Russian engine alternative—namely, the Aviadvigatel PD-14 undergoing testing aboard an Ilyushin Il-76 flying testbed—will produce a 15-percent operating cost advantage over the current Airbus A320. Apart from the engines, the MC-21’s most radical advance centers on its carbon-fiber wings, which take the airplane’s composite content to 30 percent. AeroComposit in Ulyanovsk, Russia, builds the wings using an out-of-autoclave resin transfer infusion process never before tried on a commercial aircraft. Both Airbus and Boeing use a more expensive process that requires an autoclave to cure their composite wings on the A350 and 787, respectively. Both of the MC-21’s chief competitors—the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus A320–use metal wings. Bombardier uses an in-autoclave resin transfer infusion process to manufacture CSeries wings.
