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Old 7th Aug 2017, 21:43
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FlightTV
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Moscow City
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@RangeRONE That's licensed production... in theory. Practically, only one was built, the license is valid only for Russia and CIS, otherwise you should buy it from Austrians. There were more or less widely advertised plans of training pilots on them at Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation Academy (state-run), but from what I know, that turned to be another corruption scheme... add post-2014 crisis and you'll get the picture.

As for Russian equivalents... well, definitely nothing that uses diesel engines, but there are some twin-PE four-seaters... Chaika L-42M/L-44 (flying boats... L42M RA-1468G is my favorite plane of all, by the way); C-72 Hunter — development of L-42 into conventional airplane, like “flying Jeep” (big STOL-like wheels, for example, and not so long TOL). They use Rotax engines, 912ULS for L-42 and C-72, 914 for L-44. Here they are ÑÊ "×ÀÉÊÀ" - ïðîèçâîäñòâî ñàìîëåòîâ àìôèáèé Ë-42/Ë-44 (in Russian; English page is abandoned but Google will translate that for you and I can help as well, I know the owner... actually, we — I mean Evgeny and myself — know everyone or almost everyone who is involved in Russian GA — manufacturers, pilots, entusiasts...)

Also there is MAI-411, an old project, also Rotax-driven, but since there are one university and one government involved, I don't think that something will grow there. I've seen one in the flesh at the recent MAKS, but I'm not completely sure if that thing even flies... sources say it doesn't, its destiny is unclear, production prospects even less clear and in the whole it's one more money laundering sawmill.

You see, there were no and still are no Russian engines comparable to Rotax 503/582/912/914 and Lycoming 360. There is one project going on at Gavrilov-Yam, sort of a clone of 912ULS, but it isn't likely to enter production. There are also KOVALENT engines (from Smolensk), they technically fit the niche, and the guys claim they sold more than 500 of them, but... to military for their UAVs, and their flaw is very, very low lifetime, about 100 hours or so. That's fine for a military UAV, but won't do for GA plane. Another guy at MAKS boasted with couple of prototypes, but knowing him I wouldn't say that they'll ever fly.
The reason for that is simple: there was no private aviation in the USSR, and DOSAAF was fine with Yakovlev Yak-18 and Yak-52 planes that used old radial designs. Soviet military didn't care for fuel economy, weight and noise levels, so there was no demand... and where is no demand, there is no design school and tradition, and you can't create one from scratch in 25 years of constant political and economic turmoil. Add generally lower production culture (not an issue with modern composite aircraft production in Samara, Perm and Tyumen) and you'll solve the equation.
Another pain is avionics. There is one company that produces something more or less decent (Frontline Avionics and their GLANCE EFIS I), but that is still in experimental stage, and, while it's times cheaper than the cheapest Garmin or MGL kit, as well as has some very elegant solutions inside, I heard complaints... although the guys are good about customer care and input, so there is a chance that they'll get on nicely with the issues. Consider also that Russia isn't at the frontier about electronics, it lost the race in Jurassic era — I mean late 1960s. There are some military chips of course, but that's top secret, and what's not top secret... I'm aware of what's happening there as well, and I'm not optimistic about it.

In short: as long as government officials and special services hold general aviation by the throat, there won't be anything decent and serial in engine and avionics department, and even the most successful designs will use imported engines and electronics.
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