JON LAKE
Antonov's one-off An-225 visited Paris during the 1990s, once carrying the orbiter Buran on its back, and looks set to entertain the Le Bourget crowds again. Its spectacular presence makes up for the non-attendance of the company's An-70 propfan airlifter. The prototype suffered a serious landing accident at the beginning of this year during low-temperature flight tests. Two of the four engines failed and the aircraft broke in two during the ensuing forced landing. The aircraft was fully restored at the Omsk Polet Aviakor aerospace enterprise, however, and made its first flight after repair on 5 June.
Success
Repair costs are put at $2-3 million and some reports suggest that the success of the repairs swung the decision to allocate An-70 series assembly to the Aviakor plant. Cost of preparing for production are estimated at $100-120 million. Under current plans the first three production aircraft are expected to emerge from Aviakor in 2002-2005. Following the post-repair flight the aircraft was displayed at the VTTV-Omsk-2001 exhibition and then returned home to Kiev. Remaining cold-climate testing is to be completed at Yakutiya, with trials at Arkhangelsk Oblast, and hot-and-high work is provisionally scheduled for the Lebanon or the United Arab Emirates. Antonov is eager to point out that the An-70 programme is still far more advanced than the rival Airbus A400M, despite having lost several years as a result of two major crashes.
Source: Flight Daily News
