Tu-214 news

First Tu-214 Completed at Kazan Aircraft Plant


According to the report published at Izvestiya Newspaper, the Kazan Aircraft
Production Association has recently completed construction of its first
Tupolev-214 airliner.

TU-214 is a medium-range passenger aircraft, which design and performance match
all strict international standards. This particular airframe has a long record
of setbacks and troubles. Aeroflot, which initially ordered this aircraft,
refused to buy it, advsing that the airline was changing its plans in favour of
Boeing-made planes.

The plant, therefore, had to look for customers itself. As expected, the first
Tupolev-214 would shortly join airfleet of Dalavia, the Russian Far East-based
airline. The plane was built following the agreement between the Khabarovsk
Territory Administration and Financial Leasing Company, the later would lease
this airframe to Dalavia.

Another airframe for Dalavia will be built already in the first half of this
year, said Vladimir Anyutov, the plant`s deputy director general.

/Izvestiya/
AVIA.RU - Информационное агентство "Российская авиация и космонавтика"

Tu-214 Airplane Continues to Be Improved with First Deliveries

As the Chief Designer of OAO Tupolev, Yuriy Vorobyev, has reported, the Tu-214 medium range passenger airplane produced by the Kazan Aviation Production Association /KAPO/ is being improved at the same time as the start of its first deliveries to the Russian user /the Dalavia airline/.

Yuriy Vorobyev also noted that the creation of the new modifications and variants of the Tu-214 is at the heart of the creation of a family of airplanes of this class. It is planned at the end of 2002 to prepare a new variant of the Tu-214 airplane with an additional fuel tank in the fuselage /in the region of the baggage compartment/ for tests. The new variant of the airplane will have an increased flight range to 8,500 - 9,000 km.

The Tu-214 airplane continues not only to be improved, but also to be tested - in the near future tests of the Tu-214 airplane should begin for broadening of the conditions of its service /for example, use in slush/. The volume of the tests is not large - the airplanes data chart is practically complete.

The Tu-214 produced by KAPO may become one of the most widely sold Russian airplanes of the Tu-204 family. Its catalog price is 25 million dollars, which has not changed for a long time.

Source: 10.01.02, AviaPort.RU

Translated by Roy Cochrun /http://www.toad.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/royfc/today/acft_news.html/

Tu-214 Equipped with Upgraded Avionics

According to the Chief Designer of OAO Tupolev, Yuriy Vorobyev, before the end of this year the replacement of the indicators on the cathode ray tubes for liquid crystal indicators /ZhKI/ /6 ZhKI each to an airplane/ should take place on the Tu-214 medium range passenger airplanes manufactured by the Kazan Aviation Production Association /KAPO/. The ZhKI - of domestic manufacture, are being offered by two domestic developers.

At the same time, Yuriy Vorobyev noted that the airplane`s flight control and navigation equipment complex /KSPNO-204/ is being upgraded /``Digital`` isn`t indicated in its designation now/. NII AO is integrator of all the avionics of the Tu-214 at the experimental design work stage.

As specialists think, it was planned to produce more than 500 airplanes in the Tu-204 family in the program of the development of civil aviation equipment for the period 1992 - 2000. The execution of the program was brought to naught - approximately 20 - 25 airplanes were sold. In connection with the development and increase of a worldwide level of the airplanes` avionics, the upgrade of such equipment for the Tu-204 family of airplanes, which were created more than 15 years ago, will become especially pressing.

Source: 10.01.02, AviaPort.RU

Translated by Roy Cochrun /http://www.toad.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/royfc/today/acft_news.html/

Developers of Tu-214 Waiting for PS-90A2 Engine

According to the Chief Designer of OAO Tupolev, Yuriy Vorobyev, the developers of the Tu-214 medium range passenger airplane are waiting for the appearance of the PS-90A2 aircraft engine, created at the Perm OAO Aviadvigatel together with the American Pratt & Whitney firm, on the marketplace. With the use of this engine with imported components /at the initial stage/, with increased thrust, reliability and life time, the flying and consumer characteristics of the Tu-214 family of airplanes will be improved significantly.

The possibility of the use on the Tu-214 airplane of imported engines and equipment in accordance with the type of modification for the Tu-204-120 is not being excluded as time goes by, but it is noted that at the present time such work is being performed at the stage of study of the demand for the airplanes and the like, the source said.

By the start of 2002, 10 Tu-214 airplanes were in the shops of the Kazan Aviation Production Association in various stages of assembly, including 7 aircraft with a high degree of completeness on the airframes and there have been no changes.

Source: 10.01.02, AviaPort.RU

Translated by Roy Cochrun /http://www.toad.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/royfc/today/acft_news.html/

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