Aircraft
Sum of Superjet’s parts more than an airplane
The simulator for the PowerJet SaM146 engine destined to power the Superjet 100 regional airliner had recently arrived at the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC)

The simulator for the PowerJet SaM146 engine destined to power the Superjet 100 regional airliner had recently arrived at the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) headquarters in suburban Moscow when, early last month, engineers incorporated the device into the so-called electronic bird, a systems integration rig complete with cockpit simulator and wrap-around visual system.

Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 miles to the east, the first airframe takes shape at the Komsomolsk-na-Amur Aircraft Production Organization (Knaapo) facility in the remote vastness of the Russian Far East. There, 400 engineers and IT experts convert the digital designs from SCAC into the 3-D used to drive newly installed automated production machinery elsewhere on the airfield.