Импортозамещённый российский лайнер МС-21 почти готов к сертификационным испытаниям

This was revealed in a recent interview with RIA Novosti by Roman Taskaev, test pilot, Director of Flight Tests of PJSC Yakovlev (part of PJSC UAC of the Rostec State Corporation).

Taskaev, together with test pilot and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, first raised the MC-21 into the air, and he also conducted MC-21 flights with a composite wing and with Russian PD-14 engines.

[...] Currently, I can say that we are waiting for the completion of import substitution on the MC-21 aircraft at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant in order to begin its certification tests in a fully import-substituted form. Currently, individual aircraft systems are being certified.

Roman Taskaev, test pilot, Director of Flight Tests of PJSC Yakovlev

According to Taskaev, in addition to organizing flights and flight tests, he is responsible for checking flight personnel and monitoring their training. Foreign pilots are also trained for customers of Yak-130 abroad, and there is already "a program for the MC-21 to train pilots of airlines that plan to purchase the aircraft".

In the interview, Taskaev also spoke about the idea of developing a Russian passenger drone aircraft, or an optionally piloted drone. This has often been discussed in recent years by both ordinary people and representatives of the aviation industry.

This thesis is usually justified by the fact that with the advent of a passenger unmanned aircraft, there is no danger of hijacking the aircraft. However, attackers can take control of the control point on the ground. And then what? It seems to me that the presence of a pilot in the cockpit will be indispensable for a long time. The subjective factor of decision-making in the event of an emergency is still important. Artificial intelligence is not capable of self-sacrifice, but only of self-destruction. The larger the drone, the greater the responsibility placed on it. After all, like it or not, any equipment is prone to failure sooner or later.

Roman Taskaev, test pilot, Director of Flight Tests of PJSC Yakovlev

In his opinion, there is also a romantic factor, "celebrated in all genres of art: man has always strived for the sky, no matter what". Taskaev is confident that fully unmanned vehicles will never replace the flight crew.