Soviet An-2 biplanes are indeed necessary for Russia, but certainly not in the volume of 700 units. There are territories in the country where there are absolutely no roads or infrastructure, and light aviation remains a key mode of transportation, explained "First Technical" aviation expert and editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal, Roman Gusarov.
He cited Yakutia as an example, which is the size of India, but has a population of less than a million people.
People are scattered across villages throughout the territory: a difficult climate, huge distances of hundreds of kilometers between settlements. You can't build any roads there. There are swamps, permafrost, mountains, rivers. It is simply impossible to build or maintain a road in such conditions.
Therefore, there is no way without aviation. Most often, two or three people fly with suitcases or boxes.
An aircraft of the An-2 class is extremely necessary there. And this is only Yakutia, but there is also Sakhalin, Kamchatka, and many other places where there is no way without such equipment. So, such an aircraft is needed in itself. But 700 units — of course not, that many are not required.
Earlier, the developer of the famous biplanes, SibNIA named after Chaplygin, proposed restoring the airworthiness of up to 700 An-2s stored by private owners.
The project involves modernization — replacing the ASH-62IR engine and updating the instruments and cabin. The cost of restoring one aircraft is estimated at 17–25 million rubles, the entire fleet — up to 21 billion.
Read more materials on the topic:
- An-2 Has Not Been Replaced: There Is Simply Nothing to Fly in the Arctic
- LMS-901 "Baikal" is Already Better Than An-2: Kerosene Can Be Found in Any Corner of Russia
- Small Aircraft Construction in Russia Can Still Be Revived
