One of the flight-test Irkut MC-21-300s has been involved in a runway excursion at Moscow Zhukovsky during an exercise simulating single-engine failure.
Images from the scene show that aircraft 73051 – the first example of the aircraft to fly – has come to a halt on snow-covered ground.
The depth of snow is sufficient to bury the wheels and brush against the underside of the twinjet’s Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines, although none seems to have been ingested.
One of the engines, the left-hand powerplant, appears to have its thrust-reverser deployed.
Irkut says the aircraft had been conducting tests involving emergency braking after a simulated failure of one engine, when it rolled off the runway.
“The crew was not injured,” it says. “No visible damage has been found.”
It says no system failures were registered during the incident, the circumstances of which are being investigated.
Five aircraft comprise the MC-21 flight-test fleet. Aircraft 73051 first flew towards the end of May 2017. Four of the twinjets are PW1400G-powered while the fifth has the Russian-built Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine.
