Aircraft
Sukhoi’s Superjet might fly this month
Sukhoi’s new Superjet 100 could be ready to make its long-awaited first flight by the end of this month.

Sukhoi’s new Superjet 100 could be ready to make its long-awaited first flight by the end of this month. Powerjet–the joint venture between France’s Snecma and Russia’s NPO Saturn that is developing the regional airliner’s SaM146 engine–has said that it has applied for a flight permit, having completed more than 30 hours during 14 flights with the turbofan mounted on an Ilyushin Il-76LL testbed. More than 800 hours have been run on ground test stands.

According to Yuri Basyuk, Powerjet’s flight test director, his team has logged enough flight time on the Il-76 to assess the engine in different operating modes to be ready to start flying the actual Superjet. Earlier this month, the engine maker was still flying the Il-76 testbed from the Istres test flight facility in the south of France.