Eight years ago, on May 28, 2017, the prototype of the MC-21 medium-range passenger aircraft first took to the skies from the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant.
The flight lasted 30 minutes at an altitude of 1000 meters and a speed of 300 km/h under the control of test pilots, Heroes of Russia Oleg Kononenko and Roman Taskaev.
Eight years have passed. Despite all the challenges, Russian aviation was able to certify the MC-21, equip it with domestic wings, engines, systems, and units. Today, five experimental machines spend hundreds of hours in the air, successfully passing dozens of complex tests.
The import-substituted MC-21 aircraft has become a symbol of overcoming sanctions pressure; the departure of Western partners has made adjustments to the project, but has not frozen it, Rostec said.
The MC-21 is the first mainline passenger aircraft developed in Russia in the post-Soviet period. Its typical capacity is from 163 to 211 passengers. Production is handled by the Irkut Corporation.
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