Russia’s Irkut MS-21 Takes First Flight

Russia took a step towards competing with Airbus and Boeing in short- to medium-haul airliners with the first flight of the Irkut MS-21 on Sunday.

The MC-21-300 took off for its 30-minute flight from the Irkutsk Aviation Plant and flew at a height of 1,000 metres and a speed of 300 km/hr.

Irkut said the flight included checking in-flight stability and controllability, and also the controllability of the Pratt & Whitney PW1400G power plant.

Test pilot Oleg Kononenko said the “flight mission is accomplished. The flight went in the normal mode. There are no obstacles revealed preventing the tests continuation.”

The MC-21 is offered in two sizes, the -300 which flew on Sunday and the smaller -200. The -300 will seat 163 in a two class layout, and up to 211 in single class configuration. The shorter -200 will have a two-class capacity of 132, and 165 for single class.

The MC-21 is powered by either Pratt & Whitney PW1400G, or Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines. Pratt’s geared turbofans are currently flying in the Airbus A320neo, Bombardier CSeries, and Embraer E2 family. The Aviadvigatel power plant is yet to be certified.