The weight of the MC-21-310 aircraft became known after the flight range was reduced

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of the Rostec Group) announced the updated characteristics of the MC-21-310 aircraft in an import-substituted version. However, contrary to fears, the increase in weight did not worsen the characteristics, but even gave room for growth in range and load, explained Frequent Flyers.

As a reminder, immediately after the news about the reduction in the flight range of the MC-21 from 5100 to 3830 km, rumors appeared that the Russian airliner had "gained" 6 tons. These figures spread through the media, but, as it turned out, were incorrect: journalists confused the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) with the empty aircraft weight (OEW).

In reality, only the take-off weight increased - from 79,250 to 85,000 kg, that is, by 5.75 tons. The aircraft itself became heavier by only about 3 tons, from 43,400 to 46,500 kg, according to new calculations.

However, the increase in weight is not scary. After all, when designing any aircraft, designers balance between the weight of the empty aircraft, the load and the amount of fuel.

The greater the weight, the more fuel you can take if the MTOW is increased. In the case of the MC-21-310, this is exactly what happened: the addition of 5.7 tons to the upper limit made it possible to maintain the fuel supply without losing passenger capacity.

In fact, the higher MTOW compensated for the increase in empty weight - and the range of 3830 km corresponds to the optimal load for 175 seats. It turns out that with a full load, the range will be about 3160 km, and with a lighter configuration - up to 4000 km.

It will no longer be possible to reduce the weight back: domestic materials and systems are inevitably slightly heavier than Western counterparts. Now the key to range is not in composites, but in refining the PD-14 engines to reduce specific fuel consumption.

Earlier www1.ru reported that the legendary Tu-134 will receive an unexpected purpose in the Moscow region.

Read more materials:

•   ODK has patented thousands of inventions: PD-8, PD-14 and PD-35 have a great future

•   The manufacturer of the Tu-160 is considering switching to aviation biofuel

•   Rostec has begun training engineers for 3D printing of PD-8 and PD-14 engines