Aircraft
Thinning crop of new jet designs taking shape

Antonov


An-148
–The first Ukrainian airplane built with CAD-CAM technology continues to defy the odds, and not only in a technical sense. The only aircraft built in the former Soviet Union without direct public funding, the 70-seat An-148 flew for the first time on December 17 in the midst of the Orange Revolution, raising a symbol of stability in a country rocked by political unrest.

While criticism at both home and abroad followed the program from its start in March 2002, Antonov designers confounded skeptics by consistently reaching program milestones, if not on schedule, in time to put the ever-languid Tupolev Tu-334 program to shame. Plans call for a pair of An-148 prototypes to log 600 flights over the course of a year, in time to win CIS AP-25 certification during next year’s first quarter.