A prototype of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, registration RA95001, has logged more than 30 flying hours in 12 sorties, with a record single-flight duration of 4h 10min. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of just over 9,800ft (3,000m) and a top speed of 370kt (680km/h).
Although no major failures were encountered in the air, the crew reported a malfunction of its PowerJet SaM146 turbofan on the ground during preparations for the third mission planned for 28 May. It was discovered that "some small part in the engine" was malfunctioning and needed replacing.
A PowerJet team replaced the part, but the aircraft remained in its hangar to receive other systems and airframe changes until late June, when it began factory trials.
PowerJet says it has five SaM146s working, including two on RA95001, one on an Ilyushin Il-76 testbed and two on benches undergoing ground trials. Having passed the 700h mark, the company is now targeting 1,100h, when the lead engine will be disassembled for a thorough inspection.
Since the engine failure was on the ground, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft president Victor Subbotin has been able to say that "no critical system failures have been observed in flight since the beginning of the flight-test programme". However, if the failure had happened in flight it would have forced an emergency landing on one engine.
At Farnborough, Subbotin said the SSJ100 type certification will begin in late August or early September, when RA95001 is expected to fly from Komsomolsk-upon-Amur (where it was built) to Ramenskoye airfield in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, for assessment by CIS civil aviation certification authority ARMAK.
At roughly the same time, the Il-76 testbed will leave Ramenskoye for southern France to resume SaM146 testing.
Three more prototypes and one airframe for ground testing will be completed by year-end. Sukhoi is continuing structural testing on the first SSJ100 airframe, RA95002.
RA95003 has been undergoing power-on tests, RA95004 has had its wing mated to its fuselage, RA95005 is taking in piping and RA95006 - the airframe for ground testing - is taking shape at the fuselage assembly rig.
The SSJ100 is now scheduled to win type certification in the middle of next year, with its first delivery due in the third quarter of 2009. Subbotin says the first customer is most likely to be Finance Leasing, which signed for 10 aircraft in 2005.
Source: Flight International
