On February 9, Russian civil aviation celebrates its 100th anniversary.

On this day in 1923, the Council of Labor and Defense of the RSFSR adopted a resolution "On the imposition of technical supervision of overhead lines."

It is believed that this document marked the beginning of the civil air fleet in our country, although aircraft for passenger transportation were also created in the Russian Empire.

The first civilian domestic machine was the four-engine all-wood biplane C-21 "Grand" designed by Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky.

The plane was made in 1913.

He received a comfortable interior for his time, was electrified and heated.

Nevertheless, the car was not used for regular passenger traffic, and with the outbreak of World War I, the brainchild of Sikorsky was converted into the Ilya Muromets bomber.

Under the Bolsheviks, the development of civil aviation received a great impetus due to the establishment in 1923 of the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, which promoted aviation and provided practical assistance to the state in the creation of aircraft factories.

The first route available to passengers was the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod airline with a length of 420 km.

In 1925, the Soviet industry launched the production of K-1 passenger aircraft designed by Konstantin Kalinin.

A few years later, Andrei Tupolev's Design Bureau developed the PS-9 Wings of the Soviets aircraft, and Alexander Putilov's Design Bureau developed the Steel line of aircraft with an all-metal fuselage.

In the second half of the 1930s, PS-89 and PS-35 aircraft appeared on the airlines of the USSR.

Also during this period, the production of PS-84 / Li-2 was launched - licensed copies of the American Douglas DC-3 aircraft.

heyday

One of the significant results of the post-war development of civil aviation was the appearance of the first Soviet civilian jet-powered aircraft Tu-104.

A team led by Andrei Tupolev developed it on the basis of the Tu-16 strategic bomber.

Tu-104 in various modifications accommodated from 50 to 115 passengers.

The practical flight range was 2750 km, cruising speed - about 850 km / h.

The car was widely used by Aeroflot for both regional and international flights.

  • Liner Tu-104

  • © tupolev.ru

According to experts, the heyday of Soviet civil aviation fell on the 1950-1980s.

During this period, such famous machines as Il-18, An-24, Tu-134, Tu-154, Yak-40, Il-62, Il-86 were created and massively operated.

The Tu-144 became a landmark project for the USSR.

It was the world's first supersonic civil aviation aircraft.

Its test flight took place on December 31, 1968, a few months ahead of the British-French Concorde counterpart.

To ensure previously inaccessible speeds, the NK-144 bypass turbofan engine was developed, equipped with afterburners.

Also, the unique machine received advanced avionics for its time, including an autopilot and an on-board computer, which provided automatic takeoff and landing at any time of the day.

The operation of the aircraft began in 1975, but did not last long.

In 1978, during a test flight, due to a malfunction of the fuel system, the Tu-144 made a hard landing.

Two pilots died, and Aeroflot decided to withdraw supersonic aircraft from the fleet.

In the 2000s, the fate of the Soviet liner was repeated by the European Concorde.

As Alexander Efremov, head of department 106 "Dynamics and control of aircraft" at the Moscow Aviation Institute and head of one of the laboratories of the NTsMU "Supersvuk" stated in a commentary on RT, the Tu-144 had a short but bright history.

“Tu-144 combined many innovative solutions.

Suffice it to say that he did not have a tail empennage traditional for our aviation.

In general, in terms of aerodynamics, the Soviet liner was superior to the Concorde.

Its appearance can definitely be considered proof of the high competencies of the Soviet aviation industry, ”said Yefremov.

New page

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, industrial cooperation in the aviation industry was broken.

At the same time, 214 aircraft industrial enterprises were located on the territory of Russia, including 28 research institutes, 72 design bureaus and 114 serial plants.

As Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the AviaPort industry agency, said in an interview with RT, due to the loss of previous economic ties and the cessation of state funding, a deep crisis was observed in the domestic aviation industry during the 1990s.

According to the expert, a new page in the history of the domestic civil aviation industry opened in the early 2000s with the launch of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) short-haul aircraft project, capable of carrying up to 98 and 108 passengers depending on the modification.

The machine was created in cooperation with a wide range of foreign partners and was certified according to the standards of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which allowed it to be massively operated abroad.

However, plans to export SSJ never came to fruition.

One of the reasons was Western sanctions.

“SSJ was created at a time when Russia did not have the ability to produce the necessary high-quality components, but could use the results of the international division of labor.

Restrictions deprived us of this, forced us to start import substitution.

And I must say that it has become an important incentive for the development of the domestic aviation industry,” Panteleev explained.

The development of the updated aircraft under the name SSJ-NEW will be completed during 2023.

It is assumed that in the mid-2020s, Aeroflot will receive 34 imported aircraft.

In total, by 2030, the country's main air carrier should receive 89 SSJ-NEWs with domestic on-board equipment and PD-8 engines.

  • Liner Sukhoi Superjet 100

  • RIA News

  • © Alexey Maishev

Along with this aircraft, the Russian aviation industry is preparing for mass production of another new import-substituting airliner, the MS-21.

It is planned that by 2030 Aeroflot will receive 210 of these medium-haul aircraft with a capacity of 163 to 211 passengers.

According to the manufacturing company Irkut Corporation, the MS-21 is adapted for operation "in all climatic zones without seasonal breaks."

In addition, in terms of comfort, this airliner meets the standards of long-haul aircraft.

In the coming years, the fleet of carriers operating on local and regional airlines should be updated through the supply of a light multi-purpose aircraft LMS-901 "Baikal" (designed for nine passengers), a turboprop TVRS-44 "Ladoga" (40-50 seats), Il -114-300 (up to 68 passengers).

As Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal, said in an interview with RT, these aircraft must meet the following requirements: unpretentiousness in operation, maintainability, the ability to take off and land from unpaved airfields, and operate in any natural and climatic conditions.

“These aircraft will have domestic engines.

Baikal has a VK-800, Ladoga has TV7-117ST-02, Il-114-300 has TV7-117ST-01.

At the moment, it is necessary that all tests of these engines, including with their carriers, be completed.

This will allow launching mass production in a short time, ”Gusarov emphasized.

Intensive work is also being carried out in another segment of civil aviation - long-haul.

This niche should be occupied by the improved wide-body airliner Il-96.

Production at the aircraft manufacturing plant in Voronezh will begin in 2024.

It is planned to release two modifications: the upgraded Il-96-300 (up to 300 seats) and the larger Il-96-400M (presumably up to 435 seats).

Against the backdrop of recent Western sanctions, the Russian government revived another project with a Soviet ancestry - the Tu-214 narrow-body airliner with a passenger capacity of 210 people.

The aircraft consists entirely of Russian components.

The first delivery of these aircraft to Aeroflot will take place in 2023.

In total, by 2030, the company will receive 40 Tupolev machines.

  • Liner Tu-214

  • © Maxim Bogodvid

Alexander Efremov considers it justified to launch the production of the Tu-214.

According to the expert, the saturation of the responsible aircraft fleet with these machines will make a great contribution to the achievement of the sovereignty of the Russian Federation in the field of civil aviation.

In addition, the Tu-214 program will give time to increase the mass production of a new generation of liners - MS-21 and SSJ-New.

“Now we cannot follow the path of widespread use of foreign experience and cooperation with foreign firms.

Therefore, the decision to re-release domestic cars is inevitable.

Over the next few years, it is necessary to carry out large-scale work on import substitution of a number of units and systems so that our aviation develops and becomes a leader in the world market,” Efremov concluded.