Russia Grounds Sukhoi Superjet 100 Over Safety Concerns
Russia Grounds Its Newest Airliner Over Safety Concerns
Russia Grounds Its Newest Airliner Over Safety Concerns By ANDREW E. KRAMER DEC. 24, 2016 MOSCOW — Russian aviation authorities have grounded the country’s fleet of its newest model of civilian airliner, the Sukhoi Superjet 100. Metal fatigue, a problem usually associated with older airplanes, was discovered in the tail section of a new Sukhoi plane, the Russian regulator Rosaviatsia said Friday. After the latest announcement, the Russian national airline Aeroflot, a major Sukhoi customer, on Saturday canceled 21 flights scheduled on domestic routes during the busy holiday season. Rosaviatsia ordered the planes grounded pending inspections after a regional carrier, IrAero, reported finding metal fatigue in a component in the tail wings of one plane, according to Regnum, a nongovernmental Russian news agency. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/bu...ref=world&_r=0 |
Grounds? 21 plane from >100 produced? Isn't this report a bit overinflated?
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If look close to the source, Rosaviatsia "grounds" SIX Aeroflot SSJ and ONE IrAero because of "possible defect in one of the HS attachments". Aeroflot, which is not quite happy with service contract with Sukhoi, "grounded" all his fleet with demand for warranty repair.
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If look close to the source, Rosaviatsia I wonder how Mexico's DGAC will react with the second largest fleet being operated by Interjet. |
I can only speculate, but IrAiro airframes are from the very first built and "defect" was found in one of them. Aeroflot known for their tendency to have any opportunity for cancelling "nonprofitable" flights. I can't give any more information until official papers leaks into internet.
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Originally Posted by Kulverstukas
(Post 9620307)
Aeroflot known for their tendency to have any opportunity for cancelling "nonprofitable" flights
You should know that SSJs were pushed onto the Aeroflot and if I remember correctly, a large portion of their ssj fleet spent a majority of time on the ground, instead of in the air. Of course, an airplane becomes unprofitable, when it sits on the ground. |
Stabilizer mounts problem
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Originally Posted by Sunamer
(Post 9620441)
that's is because it is a business and not a charity.
You should know that SSJs were pushed onto the Aeroflot and if I remember correctly, a large portion of their ssj fleet spent a majority of time on the ground, instead of in the air. Of course, an airplane becomes unprofitable, when it sits on the ground. |
"and if I remember correctly, a large portion of their ssj fleet spent a majority of time on the ground, instead of in the air." Wrong As sources in the industry state, level of readiness of the russian airplane is 50-60%. But even this is not the main problem. Companies complain they have to wait sometimes for several months for necessary spare parts to arrive, during which airframes are grounded and don't make any money. Как утверждают источники в отрасли, степень исправности российских самолетов колеблется на уровне 50-60%. Но даже не это является основной проблемой эксплуатантов. Больше всего представители авиакомпаний жалуются на то, что иногда необходимые запчасти приходится ждать по несколько месяцев, в течение которых лайнеры простаивают и не приносят прибыль. http://samolety.org/rossijskie-ekspl...-superjet-100/ In total, the number of failures for 1000 hr period of ops is 150-200% higher than the numbers for analogues western types of A/C. В целом, если фиксировать все отказы в работе систем за 1000 часов полета, то у SSJ-100 данный показатель будет выше на 150-200%, чем у аналогичных серийных машин западных производителей. http://samolety.org/rossijskie-ekspl...-superjet-100/ They are quite happy with 757s, 767s and 777s or 320/330s that they use .... If SSJ was on par with those: 1) why would SSJ be forced onto Aeroflot, in the first place? 2) why would Aeroflot start complaining about SSJs, if the type is no different in terms of time-on-the-ground from the B or A types of A/C? If it is a profitable, cheap and reliable A/C type, why would Aeroflot start throwing a meaningless tantrum about profitability, if no such problem exists? :ugh: It makes no sense. If Aeroflot complains, that means, the business perceives it as a larger problem, comparing to what they have with western types, don't you think? |
Originally Posted by Sunamer
(Post 9620454)
Not really. If it is a profitable, cheap and reliable A/C type, why would Aeroflot start throwing meaningless tantrums about profitability, if no such problem exists?
:ugh: |
is there a source from the Russian CAA about this? All I can find is references in the American presss.
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If Aeroflot complains, that means, the business perceives it as a larger problem, comparing to what they have with western types, don't you think? |
Here's the AD.
http://i.imgur.com/XDSQIY1.png Interjet's press release. No mention of grounding the fleet. https://scontent.fcul1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...8e&oe=58D736CC |
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A little known detail on the differences in design philosophies of Soviet era Russian aircraft and contemporary western aircraft was in the degree of prescribed overload limits for individual components and assemblies. In western aircraft design each individual component must be able to demonstrate withstanding of loads at least 50% higher than the maximum design load limit before failure, and assembled load bearing structures must also demonstrate the same. The old soviet aviation manufacturing standards prescribed 100% over design load limit before failure. This was because Soviet industry was not able to supply metals meeting required specificatios with a consistency that western industry was able to do. This resulted in generally much stronger, but correspondingly heavier airframes.
The SSJ was the first russian civilian airliner that was designed according to western specifications. My suspicion is that while the aircraft design may have been sound, the component manufacturers have not quite grown up to the challenge. |
The SSJ was the first russian civilian airliner that was designed according to western specifications |
Ever think about difference between local and international flights? :rolleyes: I am quite tired of that attitude of old and not so old people in Russia that name everything that is positive - a local success, and everything that is negative - a western spy plot (or, alternatively, put blame for SSJ failure, onto B or A shoulders). That reminds me of believers that praise the Lord for everything good that happened, while blaming Satan for everything bad. These two groups of people have a lot in common. Namely, they deny facts and make up ridiculous stories to support their weird world views. Since that attitude requires olympic-game-levels of logical gymnastics, facts and actual inconvenient truths are removed from the picture (as they disturbing to that picture), and are replaced with easy to digest explanations that do fit an imaginary world quite well. One thing they don't do quite well, is finding and fixing real problems, though, since the connections those explanations are providing, are IMAGINARY and couldn't possible suggest any real-world fix. Yeah, those B or A corrupt incentive package is what got SSJ.... /s (sigh) How about actually looking into why western countries don't want to buy SSJs and then MAKING SSJ competitive? Nah, that would require actual work done and, potentially, a lot of it. |
Originally Posted by AN2 Driver
(Post 9620496)
is there a source from the Russian CAA about this? All I can find is references in the American presss.
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Originally Posted by porterhouse
This isn't actually true. The design was totally Russian
The design was indeed entirely Russian, never said it wasn't. It was the +50% overengineering on component level (instead of +100%) that I was referring to, Russia adopted the western certification standards prior to building the SSJ, and this was the first design where they were applied (as opposed to the old Soviet era certification standards). |
Dos anyone knows it the 3 City Jet SSJs that are right now flying for between Ireland and France are affected ?
Saw one last week in CDG terminal 2G . The airline is reported to have 12 more on order to replace their RJs .( plus 16 more options) They must have done their maths. |
Its a storm in a teacup. There is an AD to examine and replace a bracket.
There is multiple redundancy so even if the bracket failed it would still be safe. See post #14 above. |
They must have done their maths. Sukhoi used very agressive pricing to win the first western customers, including serious paybacks in case performance guarantees were not met (they weren't...). With the right figures, the maths are indeed probably good... |
Originally Posted by ATC Watcher
(Post 9620876)
Dos anyone knows it the 3 City Jet SSJs that are right now flying for between Ireland and France are affected ?
Saw one last week in CDG terminal 2G . |
Originally Posted by andrasz
(Post 9620702)
The old soviet aviation manufacturing standards prescribed 100% over design load limit before failure. This was because Soviet industry was not able to supply metals meeting required specifications with consistency.
So yes, most USSR aircraft were designed to be bullet proof, as is witnessed by the number of Tu154 fuselages that survived a crash. |
Interjet Su-100 are flying
Interjet Su-100s are flying today, December 26......
Of course no one will mention that Interjet is quite happy with theirs and ordered more after receiving its initial batch....... https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad...-aviones-mejor |
Originally Posted by Gilles Hudicourt
(Post 9621018)
Interjet Su-100s are flying today, December 26......
Interjet anuncia posibles demoras por revisión rusa - La Jornada Of course that only affects aircraft until such time as the AD has been actioned. |
Great journalism indeed!
Mexico City. Interjet announced that its customers could suffer cancellations or delays, because part of its Superjet 100 fleet will be grounded to be inspected at the request of the Russian Aeronautical Authority, following the crash of a Russian aircraft that was traveling to Syria, an accident in which 92 people were killed. |
Namely, they deny facts and make up ridiculous stories to support their weird world views. And if you read a bit into Russian economic of domestic and international flights you will understand why Aeroflot is not happy with short range jets and constantly cancels flights (not SSJ performed only). |
Originally Posted by Kulverstukas
(Post 9621121)
So where is your proof that whole SSJ fleet is grounded?.
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Originally Posted by Kulverstukas
(Post 9621121)
So where is your proof that whole SSJ fleet is grounded? Or CityJet and InterJet papers are communist propaganda too?
And if you read a bit into Russian economic of domestic and international flights you will understand why Aeroflot is not happy with short range jets and constantly cancels flights (not SSJ performed only). |
The whole fleet's certainly not grounded...
Cityjet's EI-FWA seen today, flying... |
And if you read a bit into Russian economic of domestic and international flights you will understand why Aeroflot is not happy with short range jets and constantly cancels flights (not SSJ performed only). The Russian market has been suffering severe retrenchment/downsizing since the beginning of the international crisis over Ukraine, and the halving of the value of the Rouble and Hryvnia. Some went under, some like EJ > MOW, stopped altogether. AFL are looking by all means to keep market share & flying full, which helped them with the disappearance of their competitors Transaero and near disappearance of UTAIR. Now you have a near monopoly/cartel between just 2 carriers, S7 & AFL. (via Rossiya & their horrible lo-cost Pobeda). It has ending up turning to a turf war over, hub and feeder networks, based at opposite ends of Moscow, fuelled by more speculation and politics. If anyone has the unlucky experience of having to go from SVO to DME in the middle of winter, one can easily see the low priority accorded to service quality & customer interests in Russia. The government strategy to try to strangle DME & create one giant government owned cartel with VKO, SVO, DME hasn't worked,- So the next target has got to be a/c. The first easy target would be SSJ100, which although it can fly full at 88 easy, & is cheap, has like most new jets had a troubled start. AFL, never people to be particularly discrete, is mostly government owned. SSJ is mostly government financed. Anyone who has followed the catastrophic mess over Baikonur v Vostochny will understand. high media interest/bad news = politics again, = behind the scenes "turf wars" in Kremlin circles. Of course, nobody is taking risks so TU204 is an a/c nobody wants, and nearly all those who bought went under. All S7 could reply with is, A319 which carry minimum 125+, so fly half full and you're losing a lot of money. They planned to downsize with Embraer, E170 E series in 2016 but it won't be flying for a while. SSJ at under 100 in use (prod 2004), is a clear FAIL compared with Embraer 1000+ (prod 2002). It really doesn't look good for the "revival" of the fortunes of the Russian aircraft industry. Too much "krym nash", wasting time, and precious resources, flying people to places that are black holes for political reasons. A good read,- https://jamestown.org/programs/rd/ SSJ was supposed to be the flag bearer, but as most things in Russia these days, - the vodka, cheese, you name it, 50-75% of it like the news is fake. The only thing you can pray for, nobody puts formol in your fish or methanol in your vodka. TASS: Business & Economy - Inspection finds no critical faults in SSJ-100 planes |
Originally Posted by Morrihell
(Post 9622262)
The whole fleet's certainly not grounded...
Cityjet's EI-FWA seen today, flying... The grounding, which did affect the whole fleet, only applies until the inspection is carried out (assuming no cracks are found). It's all there in the AD (see post #14). |
Well, the SSJ is flying (again). I am about to board and Aeroflot flight to Moscow. RA89061 is the registration.
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Well, the SSJ is flying (again). I am about to board and Aeroflot flight to Moscow. RA89061 is the registration. |
it's one of my favourite aircraft to fly on It "feels" a lot bigger than it is, and is more comfortable than any other I can think of. The only criticism, you may have is under adverse weather, as it's a good deal more skittish than larger aircraft, but hey, it's NOT a large aircraft. :rolleyes: |
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Russia Grounds Sukhoi Superjet 100 Over Safety Concerns The AD issued by the manufacturer seems very clear to me - its a one-off inspection before further flight, followed by daily visual inspections followed up with a weekly NDT inspection. This would not generally call for any press comment, except an item in an aircraft maintenance digest. No wonder the Russians are paranoid about how their communications are misrepresented in the Western press. The BS on this supposedly professional forum is shocking, to say the least. |
No wonder the Russians are paranoid about how their communications are misrepresented in the Western press. |
The Russian market has been suffering severe retrenchment/downsizing since the beginning of the international crisis over Ukraine, and the halving of the value of the Rouble and Hryvnia. Some went under, some like EJ > MOW, stopped altogether. ~10% decrease in international flights, mostly due to Turkey/Egypt ban http://cdn.vedomosti.ru/image/2016/9...creen-1udo.png |
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