Home / Archive / N3 2009 / ALL FOOLS DAY SHOW OF SUKHOI
ALL FOOLS DAY SHOW OF SUKHOI
On April 1, when the smart people of the world had much fun celebrating the All Fools Day, a certain group of Sukhoi employees, with the company’s general director Mikhail Pogosyan among them, were working hard. They were serving and pleasing media members at the long-expected ceremony of meeting Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100)
operable prototypes in Zhukovsky.
The SSJ100 is the main hope of the Russian aviation industry as it searches for ways to regain its once-lost status as a major producer of passenger jets. Some believe that the Superjet is the very last chance. The respective program is meant to give the Russian industry a truly competitive product able to generate sales both in the domestic market and world-wide, in
competition with aviation majors.
That memorable day both prototypes able to fly, sides 97001 and 97003, were ferried from the factory aerodrome of Komsomolsk-upon-Amur (belonging to KnAAPO plant where the SSJ100 assembly line is set), to the Ramenskoye airfield of Mikhail Gromov’s Flight Test and Research Institute (LII). The airfield is located between the towns of Zhukovsky and Ramenskoye, a dozen miles off the southern arc of the Moscow’s Ring Road encircling the city. The ferry was done with a road show in Novosibirsk, Russia’s largest Siberian city. Landing in Novosibirsk was inevitable, since a fuel stop was necessary any way. Besides, Novosibirsk houses Sukhoi’s NAPO plant that makes forward and cone sections of the fuselage for KnAAPO. Furthermore, Novosibirsk is a major hub for the S7 (former Sibir). The airline once considered itself a launch customer for Russian Regional Jet (RRJ), as the project was called before being re-branded into SSJ100.
Sadly for Sukhoi, few people in Novosibirsk were interested in seeing the bird; what was meant a road show went quite uneventful.
The final stretch of the ferry was completed on 1 April. It could have been the last day of March, though, if not for the Side 97001. The airplane did takeoff as earlier planned on the last day of March, but the crew had to return back to Novosibirsk after 1.5 hours of flying due to worsening weather conditions. It seems certain supernatural forces wanted something great to
happen on the All Fool Day.
The ferry was necessary from the viewpoint of flight test engineers: Komsomolsk does not have anything comparable to the superb testing equipment and experienced team available in Zhukovsky. The ferry was planned a long ago, but repeatedly postponed. Maiden SSJ100 flight occurred on 19 May 2008. It was performed by first operable aircraft that at the time carried registration RA-95001. To make it happen, Sukhoi team did a lot of work on the airframe after rollout ceremony in September 2007, busily installing numerous items of onboard systems and testing them. Second operable SSJ100 prototype went airborne in the beginning of 2009.
To withstand such a long journey, the prototypes had to be tested thoroughly enough at the manufacturing plant, in order to guarantee safety of the crews. But not all of the onboard systems performed as they should, according to specification. SaM146s were blamed for surge (at least one case is rumored to have taken place) and other troubles. But time and hard work help overcome any obstacle. Finally, the engines and onboard systems were rectified to such a state when they were rendered safe enough for the ferry.
Those who gathered at the Ramenskoye airfield on 1 April 2009 were surprised to see some changes in registration numbers of the SSJ prototypes. At the time of the rollout (26 September 2007), the first operable example was RA-95001; on the memorable All Fools Days (1 April 2009) it appeared without “RA” letters and with “7” replacing “5”. The second prototype was no longer RA-95003, but side 97003. The 97003 appeared over the Ramenskoye at 13:30, an hour after arrival of the 97001. The crew was not in a hurry, - their airplane came to a complete stop at 14:05. Trying to please photographers, the captain kept the nose gear long in the air after touchdown. Thank you, sir, we appreciate that!
Speaking to journalists after arrival, Sukhoi general director Mikhail Pogosyan said these ferry flights were no. 142 and no. 143 done so far, “with approximately 450 flights hours of flying time”. The first operable SSJ100 went airborne for the first time in April 2007, but the initial testing phase progressed slow, affected by poor reliability of half-experimental PowerJet SaM146 turbofans, missing of certain avionics items and other negative factors. By March 2009 Sukhoi seemed to have overcome most of the early technical glitches and cured some of the teething problems of the new design. The ferry all the way from Komsomolsk to Zhukovsky, was a good test in itself. Speaking to journalists upon landing, the crews of side 97003 said they spent “four flight hours on the dot”, making their way from Novosibirsk to Zhukovsky. The cruise stretch was at altitude of 11,600m, at Mach number M=0.8. “We got airborne with 12 tons of fuel in, and landed having some 4 tons remaining”, the crews revealed. Simple calculations give the real figure of fuel burn at 2 tons per hour. The advertized figure for cruise fuel burn is 1,600-1,700 kg, but it is likely for Mach number M=0.78. Besides, takeoff and landing operations need some fuel to be burnt. So, average fuel burn at two tons per hour is “no-fools” an achievement.
“We are quite competitive, in both military and civil markets”, Sukhoi general director Mikhai Pogosayn told the media. “In the foreseeable future our competitiveness will stay. It is provided by the SSJ100 and the fighters that were escorting the first prototype as it was overflying the Ramenskoye airfield”, Pogosyan said. He was referring to the Su-35 operable prototypes, Sides 901 and 902. These were summoned from Ramenskoye to meet the arriving Side 97001.
To make it look like an air show, Sukhoi sent to the air the Side 76454. This airplane is a LII test-bed employed on SaM146 flight test program. The aircraft is, in fact, a heavily instrumented Il-76 four engine transport with one of its standard D-30KP replaced by an experimental SaM146. The engine flight-testing program commenced in late 2007.
The SaM146 program is 50/50 risk sharing effort between NPO Saturn of Russia and Snecma of France, founders of PowerJet joint venture. On the eve of Le Bourget 2009 Saturn general director Yuri Lastochkin said that the new certification date for the engine is set for the fourth quarter of 2009. The timing coincides with the new promise of Sukhoi to the airline customers, that of first delivery of fully certified SSJ100.
In addition to the engine test-bed, Sukhoi demonstrated two prototypes of the heavy multirole fighters attributed to “Generation 4++”, side numbers 901 and 902. These aircraft escorted the SSJ side 97001 to the Ramenskoye airfield. Then, after the honorable guest had landed, they made a fly-past in close pair formation along the runway, to allow cameramen make some good shots. Speaking to journalists at Ramenskoye, Pogosayn formulated his strategy: “I put faith into the professionals of our team, modern technologies and a wide international cooperation. We have got all preconditions to reach our goals”.
He stated that the SSJ100 is, currently, the best of “flying” aircraft in the 100-seat category available elsewhere. “This airplane is optimized for the hundred seater market. It offers the best flight control system available anywhere in the world, lowest noise and emission levels, and lowest operational costs”. He claimed a 10% advantage over “closest Embraer product” in fuel efficiency and a 15% in operating costs. “Besides, we have a wider margin in noise and emission levels. This shall allow us to stay with the current engine for a very long time, since there should be no need to replace it even though stricter ecological regulations come into force”.
Pogosyan is confident in the new product: “The SSJ100 is a game-changer. It has most modern flight control system, and superior health-monitoring system. The latter allows short time to allocate a trouble and fix it. The modern module system architecture allows easy and quick replacement of a malfunctioning item”, he stated. Head of Sukhoi company added that a broad commonality with the Airbus designs by means of similarity of the flight control and other systems (including use of the side stick) shall allow shorter times for pilots to undergo in-type training.
He further stated the SSJ100 order book “is now close to one hundred units”. Pogosayn made a rider, though, that orders placed by bankrupt DalAvia and KrasAir airlines are yet to be confirmed by Rosavia, a start-up carrier that is meant to inherit assets of the bankrupts. Despite repeated shits in the delivery schedule agreed between Aeroflot and Sukhoi in December 2005 (initially it was set for November 2008), the Russian flag-carrier is still being considered the main customer for SSJ100. “Aeroflot stays our main customer, with a firm order for 30 airframes plus 15 options”, Pogosyan said.
With Aeroflot and other airline customers keeping faith in the SSJ100, KnAAPO’s production program for 2009-2011 is “completely supported by the firm orders we have received”. The Superjet is to carry its first revenue passengers “in the beginning of the next year... shortly after delivery to an airline customer that is still planned for the end of 2009”. By that time Sukhoi hopes to win Russian type certification.
The baseline 95 seater will be followed by “a stretched version for 110-115 passengers and then, at a third stage, we will consider a 70-75 seater version”. Pogosyan further said that the stretch will be offered at “about 30 million dollars per unit”, which is “a bit higher that we ask for the baseline version”.
Shortly after arrival in Zhukovsky, the SSJ100 was subjected to icing trials. These commenced later that month, when the side 97001 departed to Archangel area in Russia’s European North. Meantime, the Side 97003 has been operating from Ramenskoye, undergoing flight tests on control ability and flight stability.
There is a lot of work still ahead of Sukhoi team, with the flight test program on the SSJ100 is some half-way through. A total of 600 flights shall be made to achieve type certification, - that figure counts only perfectly made missions in which the crew and the airplane behave completely as expected at flight planning phase.
