The vast territory, the great distance between regions and cities, the lack of a road network, especially in the north and east of our homeland, require the active restoration and further development of transport infrastructure.
Ecology and progress - we need to make friends
A number of factors and features of our vast country did not allow such aircraft as Superjet and MS-21 to completely close the issue of replacing old Soviet-made aircraft. And, unfortunately, many airports in Russian settlements cannot be called modern and convenient due to the relatively short runways. Overhaul in such “hubs” is not profitable due to the small passenger flow. Thus, the idea of creating a new modern aircraft capable of landing at “obsolete” airports in Russia arose.
Aircraft TU 324. Description. History of creation
Air show MAKS-2017 demonstrated a suitable aircraft. It turned out to be TU-324 of the joint production of Tupolev OJSC and the aircraft building plant in the Republic of Tatarstan (KAZ).
This is what various media write about this plane.
TU-324 was developed in accordance with the technical requirements for the design of aircraft by some Russian regional airlines and the Russian Civil Aviation Research Institute. It should be a worthy replacement for the YAK-40 (34 seats), TU-134 (70 seats). Airlines really need to replace these two models. A good compromise is the 52-seat plane.
Surprisingly, money for the implementation of this project is allocated not from the state budget, but by regional investors of the Republic of Tatarstan. Engineers, aircraft designers and designers work very quickly and provide quality that meets the highest standards and technologies. Also, four more companies (not listed), on their own initiative, developed a new AI-222-25 engine.
Digital development is an indicator of high industrialization
According to a spokesman for the Kazan plant, for the first time in the history of the Russian aviation industry, new aircraft and engines are being developed entirely in digital form. Experts spent at least 2 years on the design and research of a new type of engine. After 1000 hours of testing, the new model showed good results, fully meeting the stated requirements. As a result, the 324th Tupolev model has excellent performance, meets the highest international standards in this subclass. It surpasses the fuel economy of the SSJ-60 (Super jet) by about 28%. The main characteristics of the TU-324 aircraft are pretty good. In the table below they are indicated. After the table with the characteristics of the TU-324 aircraft, the diagram is presented.
KB | PJSC "Tupolev" |
Length | 25.5m |
Tail height | 7.3m |
Wingspan | 23,2m |
Mmax. | 23.7t |
Payload | 6t |
Mpust | 5.5t |
Number of seats | 52-56 |
TU 324. The scheme of the cabin. Modifications Information
The passenger cabin TU-324 is quite wide: width - 2.6 meters, height 1.9 meters. There is a business and an economic class. As an option, an airplane can have a kitchen, Internet, and an entertaining video system for passengers, including the current flight path.
The layout of the cabin is “2-2” (2 rows of seats on each side).
The following modifications are expected:
- elongated Tu-414;
- TU-324 (with business class);
- TU-414 (with business class).
ICAO will have no complaints
It is so customary in this organization that it constantly tightens the requirements for aircraft in terms of noise. Various devices are placed on the runway, take-off and landing trajectories, the so-called special monitors tuned to a certain amount of ICs. TU-324 meets not only modern standards, but also more stringent future ICAO requirements.
This aircraft will be able to carry out not only the NADP1, NADP2, NADP (A) or NADP (B) procedures with ease, but also any other established by the local authorities (good weight-bearing ratio and light weight).
How high will this plane take off
Although this aircraft was designed specifically to solve our intra-regional problems, the countries of the CIS, Africa, Asia, and Latin America became interested in it. It is also planned to try to compete in the Chinese aviation market.
Still, it is objectively necessary to understand that the main goal is the revival of the strategic missile carrier TU-160. The AN-140 coped with regional transportation at the very least, but the Ukrainian crisis and the liquidation of the Russian-Ukrainian program left Russia without a short-haul machine. And since the same TU-214s are produced a couple a year, the loading of aircraft plants remains at a low level. And if everything is left to chance, the day will come when the aircraft factories in general will lose their competencies, and such super-projects as TU-160 (TU-160 M2) and the Advanced Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA) will become inaccessible to our aircraft industry. How could it be otherwise if there is no download? To become an athlete, you need to train every day. That is the essence of such projects, such as the TU-324.
Interesting Facts
They talked a lot about the prototypes of TU-324, but there was never any money from the budget, so they initially looked for investors who would invest in this project.
At the end of 2012, the state program for the development of the aviation industry for the period 2013-2025 was adopted, there was no information about the project.
In April 2015, the interim president of Tatarstan, in an interview with Russian journalists, drew attention to this regional plane.
And here is what the adviser to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Nazir Kireev said:
“Much has been done to promote the TU-324 as necessary for the aircraft industry. We created unique booklets, issued a circulation of about 800 units, and banners. Long before the exhibition, an airplane model was offered for demonstration at the Tupolev Design Bureau exhibition. They refused us, and we were forced to ask Valery Nikolayevich Pobezhimov (chief designer of "ENIKS"). Where he was subsequently introduced. "
Director of the company "ENIX" Pobezhimov V.N .:
“We did this, because Rustam Nurgalievich was very sick for this plane.
A huge preparation for production was carried out in KAZ: there is a developed engine, avionics, everything is certified, in excellent condition, meets European airworthiness standards. In the 99th, glider documentation was handed over, tooling and a tool for creating the liner were made, and new riveting machines were bought for $ 15.6 million. The government of Tatarstan has ordered experimental AI-22 engines for considerable funds. In total, since 2007, a group under the Cabinet of the Republic of Tatarstan was able to attract about $ 330 million into this project. ”
As we can see, the TU-324 short-range passenger plane is simply doomed to take off. Indeed, unlike the Superjet-100, where there are a lot of foreign guts, this aircraft will be completely domestic: it is planned to have tested electronics and avionics, which already perfectly demonstrates itself on the BE-200.
We wish good luck to the TU-324 liner and will wait for it in 2018-2020!