SSJ100 launches operations PAK FA two prototypes flying already ...

Sergey Popsuyevich
Andrey Fomin
An-158 gearing up for new orders
The Interstate Aviation Committee
(IAC) of the CIS has completed the
certification of the modified Antonov
An-158 regional airliner by having
issued Supplement to Type Certificate
ST264-An-148 that had been issued
for the An-148-100 on 26 February
2007. IAC Chairwoman Tatyana
Anodina handed the document to
Antonov President and Designer
General Dmitry Kiva in a ceremony
in Kiev on 28 February. At the same
time, Ukrainian deputy Transport and
Communication Minister Anatoly
Kolesnik gave Antonov’s boss a similar
certificate issued by the Ukrainian
State Aviation Administration.
The An-158 is a 1.74-m-stretched
version of the An-148-100 in production
Andrey Fomin
by the aircraft plants in Voronezh and
Kiev. In the single-class configuration, it
carries 99 passengers out to 2,500 km,
while the two-class configuration
version seats 86 passengers on
services out to 3,100 km (compare that
to the An-148-100B that flies economyclass
75 passengers to a distance of
3,500 km).
The An-158 prototype (UR-NTN)
derived from An-148-100 c/n 01-02
first flew in Kiev on 28 April 2010.
The An-158 logged 79 test sorties
with their total duration of 147 flying
hours under the certification test
programme that included high-alpha,
Category III landing and takeoff/landing
performance tests, external and
internal noise measurements, stability
and controllability tests, emergency
passenger disembarkation, etc. In
addition to the flight test programme,
a sizeable part of the certification
efforts was made as part of ground
tests, which included the use of the
Engineering Flight Test Bench.
Antonov production plant in Kiev
will handle the manufacturing of the
An-158, with a considerable part of the
components to be supplied by Russia’s
VASO Voronezh Aircraft Production
Association.
Russian leasing company Ilyushin
Finance Co. (IFC) became the An-158’s
launch customer in July last year,
having awarded Antonov 10 firm
orders with 10 options. IFC has
declined to name the end user of the
An-158s the company has ordered yet.
Last autumn, Antonov’s head, Dmitry
Kiva, said that Russia had ordered 20
An-158s, and there were 87 options,
including 12 for Russia, five for
Ukraine, six for Cuba and 64 for Iran.
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Actually, Iran could become a major
customer for the Ukrainian An-148 and
An-158 regional jets. A memorandum
to that effect was signed with the
Iranians as far back as 31 October
2008. It provides for delivery of up to
80 aircraft, with 60 may be licenceproduced
by Iranian company HESA
in Isfahan. The afore-said number may
include 16 standard An-148-100s and
64 An-158 stretches.
However, only Ilyushin Finance Co.
has made firm orders for the An-158
so far, the company that has made
the decisive contribution to the launch
of the An-148’s production in Russia
and that is the launch customer for
the plane of VASO’s assembly. Despite
its plans to diversify its business
(IFC plans to start leasing foreignmade
aircraft), the company remains
committed to pursuing its programme
of acquisition of the An-148 and
An-158 to lease them to Russian
carriers and for export.
www.take-off.ru take-off june 2011 39
Sergey Popsuyevich
Antonov