United Aircraft Corporation’s first serial MC-21-310 powered by Russian PD-14 engines completed a non-stop delivery flight from Irkutsk to the Gromov Flight Research Institute airfield near Zhukovsky on 13 August. The aircraft covered more than 4,000 km in about five hours 50 minutes, reaching 12,100 metres and 850 km/h before landing for post-flight checks and preparation for painting and customer work.
The jet had previously made its first local flight in Irkutsk on 3 August. Crew comments indicated that all onboard systems operated normally during the long-range transfer, which was flown by a team led by Roman Taskaev. The aircraft is the first serial example of the import-substituted MC-21-310 and represents the latest stage in Russia’s effort to field a domestically equipped narrowbody.
The flight also highlighted the programme’s remaining performance gap against Western rivals, with the MC-21 family’s range still short of the Airbus A320neo in standard commercial configuration. Even so, the move to Zhukovsky places the aircraft into a new phase of inspection and ground work ahead of further test activity and eventual customer preparation.