Currently, we, Russians, continue to fly on Boeing and Airbus, which form the basis of the fleet of domestic airlines. And at every step continues advertising "foreign" aircraft. But is it safe to fly them? Let's try to figure it out.
When Russian passengers, going on vacation or a business trip, board the western airliner, the first thought that naturally arises among them is whether the plane is working? Will he be able to fly to his destination?
It must be admitted that passengers' concerns about flight safety are more than justified - the West will never sell new aircraft to Russia! Our competitors will choke the Russian aviation industry! And in this article it is necessary to compare the flight-technical qualities and strength of domestic and foreign aircraft.
The first thing that catches the eye is the low location of the engines under the wings and the low ground clearance from the bottom of the engines to the ground in foreign aircraft. After all, during takeoff and landing, there is a high probability of foreign objects getting into the air intake, and this is fraught with catastrophe. In addition, given our harsh weather conditions, Russian liners are equipped with more reliable and unpretentious engines. There is no need to talk about the maximum speed of airplanes - so, at Tu-154 it is 950 km / h., An-148 - 870 km / h. In turn, the "Boeing" B-737-800 develops speed only up to 850 km / h., "Airbus" A-320neo - to 870 km / h.
Leaves much to be desired and the strength of Western aircraft. As you know, they cannot normally land on unprepared and unpaved airfields, of which there are plenty in Russia, and the safe landing of the Tu-154 in Izhme 7 September 2010, very eloquently shows that domestic aircraft are made conscientiously. Another incident involving the Tu-154M is still stubbornly ignored by the world media. So, on September 26, 2006, at the Manas airport (Kyrgyzstan), faced a Tu-154 taking off and an American tanker KS-135 blocking off a strip. Upon impact, the “American” immediately caught fire and was not subject to recovery after the fire. And the legendary "Tupolev" lost part of the plane of the wing, but managed to safely land on the airfield. And after the repair is still flying !.
In addition, we recall the April 2 catastrophe of the Franco-Italian ATU-2012 turboprop aircraft UTair, under Tyumen. This gentle, capricious machine can only be operated in southern latitudes, and, in fact, is not a competitor not only to the new Russian-Ukrainian An-72, but also to the good old An-140. The disasters that occurred with the participation of АТR-24 (72 machines were lost altogether) confirmed the danger of its operation in adverse weather conditions, since the main causes of accidents were problems with engines and icing of the structure. And after these incidents, ATR-19 is no longer being used abroad in northern latitudes.
A serious disadvantage of Western planes is their limitations in operation due to climate and air humidity. For example, during the tests, the Tu-334 in Iran, in the highlands in rarefied and hot air, and the domestic car took off even on one engine. At the same time, foreign aircraft fly in the heat only at night, as the engines do not have enough power. In addition, at temperatures below -30 degrees Celsius, Boeings, Bombardier and other Western airliners also cannot be used.
Also, the aerodynamics and strength of domestic aircraft allow them to react much less to external sources of disturbance: when they enter the zone of turbulence, there is almost no discomfort in them.
Many write about the "comfort" of foreign cars. For example, the air conditioning system functions so poorly that it is often not possible either to turn it off in flight or to turn on the air conditioning at all. On the cramped interior and can not speak. Here is a passenger review of the Embraer E-195 Brazilian aircraft manufactured by Saratov Airlines, which in August of this year applied to the management of the air carrier with a request to improve the technical condition of the air fleet:
“... We flew from Moscow on the“ 6W-775 ”flight of the company“ Saratov Airlines ”to Saratov. I was late for the plane, the bus arrived for the latecomers, we were four people when we arrived at the plane, it was obvious that they were checking it, but the plane was already very stuffy. So this stuffiness remained throughout the flight, the man in the tail told the flight attendant to turn on the air conditioner, because he got bad because of the climb and descent, he also felt bad, as if there was not enough air, and because of the height differences pressure has risen greatly.
When the takeoff began, we fell into a zone of strong turbulence. The plane began to shake violently. And he was shaking for a long time. I understand that for so long the plane cannot shake. Suddenly, he began to decline. As a result, we flew not in the clouds, but under them. All passengers could see the ground. We were told that we closed all the windows, and did not go through the cabin. We were very shaken. It was clear to us, especially the commander himself announced it to us!
After that, all passengers began to complain about turning on the air conditioner. The stewardess promised to fix it, but in the end no one included anything. The whole flight in the cabin was hot, there was an impossible stuffiness.
We still sat down. I want to thank for the professionalism of the commander of this flight, who very well landed the plane. And say "thanks for flying!". When we landed, no one clapped his hands, as is usually the case, because everyone was probably in a state of shock. Nobody got up and did not turn on the phones until the commander came out - all wet and pale - he said: “you can get up”, when the ladder was already fitted to the plane, and then everyone began to slowly leave. ”
In addition, the western liners have another “Achilles heel” - this is the control of the aircraft using a computer. In this case, it is likely that a malicious program will work for someone’s malicious team, a virus will thereby cut down the vital electronic unit and the aircraft will be doomed. History recalled that as early as 1980, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein bought air defense systems from the French. And before the start of the air phase of the NATO operation “Desert Storm” (1991 year) in Iraq, all these anti-aircraft systems were immediately destroyed by command from the satellite.
However, the fact that domestic An-148 aircraft (operated by Angara and Saratov Airlines), Yak-42D (Izhavia, Saratov Airlines, KrasAvia Airlines) are still being stubbornly ignored. ”And others), Tu-204-100 (Red Wings Airlines). Therefore, Russia must be great aviation power. Otherwise, the country will not be as such. Today we are the largest state with a weak transport infrastructure. Thus, the problems of domestic aviation from the economic plane develop into a problem of national security.
Thus, if Western aviation corporations declare an economic war to Russia, we, of course, will be able to restore the domestic civil aircraft industry. But not so fast paced as this is a high-tech innovation industry. Recall that the destruction of the Russian aviation industry began at the beginning of the 1990-s, Yegor Gaidar. As prime minister, he cynically stated that civilian aircraft manufacturing is supposedly too costly for the Russian economy. The results of this destructive policy are obvious ...
