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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 1352.PDF
The Yak-46 seats 150-162 passengers and has a range with a maximum 17.5t payload of up to 2,850km (l,540nm). It cruises at Mach 0.75 (445-460kt or 800-850km/h). Predicted fuel burn is just 13.8g per passenger- kilometre. The Yak-46 is generally similar to the Yak- 42M, but the centre turbofan and its fin-root intake are removed and the fuselage-mount ed engine pick-ups carry pusher versions of the D-27 contra-rotating propfan engine de signed by the Lotarev team in Zaporozhye. (The D-27 will also be used by a follow-up version of Tupolev's new Tu-334 medium- range 102- to 126-seat airliner to be fitted initially with turbofans.) The D-27 has an eight-bladed front propul- sor and a six-bladed rear propulsor each 3.8m in diamete'r. The engine's thrust is 11.2t, equivalent to 9,700kW, and its fuel burn is 0.44kg/kg-thrust/h. The D-27 prototype engine ran for the "first time last month and, according to Yakovlev officials, is to enter production. It is not based on the D-236 experimental propfan the Sovi ets have been flight-testing for some time in an Ilyushin 11-76 testbed but it has the same blade configuration. The Yak-46 also differs from the first Yak- 42 derivative in dispensing with the rear boarding staircase under the fuselage. The auxiliary power unit is moved to the tailcone from the fin. Non-COMECON airlines will increas ingly turn to Soviet aircraft but may lease rather than buy. That is the view of Alexander Pavlov, deputy general director of Aviaexport, the Soviet export organisation which shipped 120 helicopters and 70 aero planes along with equipment and services worth Rbl.5 billion ($2.5 billion) to 46 countries last year. A pragmatist, Pavlov accepts that many Western operators will stick with their traditional Western suppliers. He is look ing, therefore, mainly to the emerging South-East Asian market to fuel a growth in exports. Leasing talks are .already under way with operators in the region. The new Ilyushin 11-96-300 long- range, four-engined widebody and the Tupolev Tu-204 medium-range, single- aisle twin will be available for lease from 1993, says Pavlov. Neither aircraft has yet entered service with launch customer Aeroflot, which explains the delay in export availability. As a guide to the cost of leasing these fly-by-wire airliners, Pavlov says that if the U-96-300 were available today it would cost around $30,000/h on dry lease. Negotiations with Dutch company Heavy Transport Helicopters to offer the The intermediate Yak-42 derivative with contra-rotating integrated shrouded propfan (CRISP) engines calls for more radical air frame modifications because it has wing- mounted engines, and Dmitriev sounds less confident that it will be built. Its fuel efficien cy would be 14.5g per passenger-kilometre. Lotarev is also designing the CRISP engine. These three derivatives use composite ma terials widely in secondary airframe struc- Mil Mi-26 cargo helicopter on charter have recently been completed, says the official. The helicopter is the biggest in the world, able to lift 21t, and costs $8,000- $9,000/h on a wet lease. Wet leasing would seem to be Aviaexport's best hope, given the un- familiarity of Soviet aircraft and the lack of type-rated pilots in the West for many of the aircraft. Efforts to sell continue, and Pavlov re ports that airlines in Czechoslovakia, Hun gary, East Germany and Poland have signed letters of intent for around ten 11-96-300 widebodies. Interest in the Tu-204 is being registered by Jugoslavia, Iran, Syria and COMECON countries, says Pavlov. Some of these airlines, Czechoslovakia's CSA in particular, acquired Western aircraft only because the two new Soviet airliners were not available in time. Further down the airliner market, Yak-42 tri-jets are now being delivered to China, while among sport aircraft the aerobatic Sukhoi Su-26M is being offered in the West for the first time by Florida-based Pompano Air Center. Six aircraft costing $200,000 apiece are to be delivered initially. This is good news for Aviaexport perhaps, but while it is trying to break further into the export market, Western firms are chip- ture, although not in the more-critical prima ry structure. Yakovlev will be hoping that the mixture of high technology does not unexpectedly delay development, as Western firms are ready to step in with their airliners as they did when the Ilyushin 11-96-300 ran into problems and forced Aeroflot and other East European airlines to acquire Airbus Industrie and Boeing aircraft. Q ping away at the Soviet industry's home market. Airlines in every COMECON country except Bulgaria have, in the space of a short time, agreed to acquire Western aircraft—and in Bulgaria there are negotiations under way with Boeing and Fokker. Moreover, Aviaexport is in: volved in talks between Soviet aircraft builders and Allison, Rolls-Royce and Snecma on Western engines being used on Soviet aircraft. They would be op erated in the Soviet Union as well as offered for export. One common way business is done between the Soviet Union and the West is via the joint venture. Pavlov expresses disappointment, however, that many Western firms view the arrangement principally as a means of penetrating the Soviet home market, and fail to consider broader possibilities. "Western partners are not active in finding [third] markets," he laments. The economic impact of these various developments is unclear. Aviaexport chief Vasily Studenikin recently said that defections by COMECON airlines would cost up to Rb450 million ($750 million) in lost business, but he expected that this could be compensated for by increased exports of equipment and technology. Soviets in expanded leasing talks FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9-15 May 1990
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