United Aircraft has flown a modified Yakovlev MC-21 to Moscow Zhukovsky airfield to commence flight-testing following installation of Russian-built systems and equipment.
The aircraft is the first of two which will participated in the test programme.
United Aircraft carried out the initial flight with aircraft 73055 – which has been retrofitted with domestically-built systems to replace foreign-supplied ones – on 29 April.
The twinjet has been transferred from Irkutsk to the Gromov flight-research institute near Ramenskoye.
United Aircraft says the 6h 8min flight, with a crew of seven, was conducted at a cruise altitude of 11,000m (36,000ft).
“Everything worked perfectly – we are satisfied with the flight,” says Yakovlev flight-test director Roman Taskaev.
The twinjet is fitted with Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines but previously took part in certification tests with foreign systems.
Several of these – among them avionics, hydraulics, and the auxiliary power unit – have been replaced under an import-substitution programme, as part of the development effort to produce a fully-Russian MC-21.
