Irkut Corp. completes construction of third MC-21 test aircraft

Irkut Corp. (Moscow, Russia) has completed construction of the third MC-21-300, intended for flight tests. On December 25, the aircraft was reportedly transferred from the final assembly shop to the flight test unit of Irkutsk Aviation Plant (Irkutsk, Russia) — a branch of Irkut Corp. Tes results of the first MC-21-300 aircraft were taken into account in the production of the new aircraft.

“In 2018 flight and ground certification tests of aircraft prototype confirmed the main design solutions,” says President of UAC and Irkut Corporation Yuri Slusar, “UAC enterprises have begun to manufacture parts and units of MC-21-300 aircraft intended for customer delivery. Joining to the flight tests of new aircraft and production intensification of mass-produced airplanes are the main tasks of 2019. ”

The single-aisle aircraft employs an infused carbon fiber composite wing that is created entirely out-of-autoclave (OOA). The composite structures for the wing were fabricated by sister company AeroComposit (Moscow).

Currently, two MC-21-300 aircraft are taking part in flight certification tests at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (Zhukovsky, Russia) and the components and units of the fourth flight test aircraft are being assembled at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant.

“We can confidently say that 2018 turned out to be productive for the aircraft industry. Construction of the new aircraft and certification tests of the first aircraft confirm that the MC-21 program is developing steadily,” says Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, “As part of the program, a deep modernization of aircraft manufacturing enterprises was carried out, new high-tech companies were created, an environment for development of perspective civil aviation projects was formed.”