The Russian military transport aircraft An-22 "Antei" still performs combat missions, but its operation is associated with a number of problems. Alexey Zakharov, an expert in the aviation industry, spoke about them.
According to him, there have been problems with repairs for at least the last 30 years. The fact is that the machine is not mass-produced, so there are no new units and spare parts for the "Antei". For some time, the problem of airworthiness was solved by "cannibalizing" aircraft in storage, Zakharov noted.
An-22 still has a unique combination of characteristics in terms of loads and range. I will not go into details, but there are tasks that only the "Antei" can perform - neither Il-76 nor An-124 can handle them.
Zakharov added that due to the failure of onboard systems, the accident rate of the An-22 was generally low. For example, one car was lost due to a propeller blade breaking off, and another due to "thermal runaway" of batteries. Everything else is the fault of the crew and technical staff.
Earlier this week, on December 9, a transport aircraft An-22 crashed in the Furmanovsky district of the Ivanovo region. There were seven crew members on board.
