Tu-324: takeoff attempt No. 2
A full-size wooden model of the Tu-324 aircraft in one of the Moscow Tupolev workshops. Source: uacrussia.ru
Business jet made in Russia
In Moscow, in one of the workshops of Tupolev PJSC, a full-size wooden model of the Tu-324 aircraft is still stored. More than twenty years have passed since the construction of this aircraft, and it is time to forget about it. But the sanctions story modern Russia forces us to collect from scraps the remnants of former luxury.
After a couple of Il-96-400M and Tu-214, which at least managed to get into the air, it was the turn of the regional kids. First of all, we are talking about Tu-324 aircraft, direct successors to the once popular Yak-40/42. The intrigue is that Tupolev PJSC has a very indirect relationship to the possible revival of aircraft production.
A full-size wooden model of the Tu-324 aircraft in one of the Moscow Tupolev workshops. Source: uacrussia.ru
It’s worth starting with the idea of realizing the need to build the first domestic business jet, which came to aircraft manufacturers at the very beginning of the 90s. At that time, the term “business jet” hardly existed in Soviet terminology, so it would be more accurate to call the car an administrative aircraft. The first-born was the uniform baby Tu-20, capable of taking on board, depending on the version, up to 19 passengers.
The luxury model comfortably accommodated eight high-ranking passengers, while the business version accommodated three more. A special feature of the design is a pair of turboprop engines on pylons in the tail. This arrangement has undeniable advantages - first of all, low noise levels during flight for passengers.
In addition, the Tupolevs turned the engines backwards, turning them into pushers. Thus, further reducing the considerable sound pressure from the propellers on the sensitive ears of high-ranking and wealthy passengers. The advantages of the design with engines in the tail also include the relatively low landing gear of the aircraft - there is no need to choose the height of the engine nacelles suspended under the wings. The vast majority of business jets are built with engines in the tail.
In addition to a noticeable reduction in noise during flight, the layout allows the use of onboard passenger stairs. But tail engines also have a couple of fundamental disadvantages.
The first is that it is not easy for ground services to maintain high-mounted engines. If on short-haul airliners this is more or less offset by the small height of the aircraft itself, then on large aircraft it becomes a critical drawback.
Let's fast forward a few years and look at the Tu-334, being developed to counter the SSJ-100 from the Sukhoi Design Bureau. One of the reasons why a good medium-haul airliner lost the competition to Sukhoi was the high-mounted engines on the tail. Not all airport services were able to service such equipment.
The second important disadvantage of the design with motors on the tail boom is the specific weight distribution, which changes significantly as fuel is used up. Simply put, the plane lands and handles very differently with full and empty tanks. And this means specific retraining of crews. It is hardly possible to call this feature critical - somehow pilots fly on Embraer and Bombardier. This means that we would fly on the Tu-20, as well as on other “tail-engined” airliners.
The Tu-20 project gradually evolved into the Tu-1990 and Tu-400x4 in the 4s. Fundamentally, nothing changed in the pair; they were the same “low-wing aircraft with a slightly swept wing with two engines located on the sides of the rear fuselage.” Only turboprop engines were replaced with noticeably faster turbojet engines, and on paper the products could accelerate to a cruising speed of 800 km/h.
The Tu-400 was intended for ten passengers, and the Tu-4x4 was intended for only 4–7 VIP clients.
Even at the stage of mock-up design, it became clear that such specific aircraft in young Russia, even if they were in demand, would be in only a few units. Rich people were present in those days, but there were very few such people.
To replace the Yak-40 and An-26
After evaluating the Tu-20, Tu-400 and Tu-4x4 projects, it was decided to build a 50-seat aircraft for regional airlines. This is how the Tu-324 appeared, designed to replace the Yak-40 and An-26 at the turn of the XNUMXth and XNUMXst centuries.
By the end of the 1990s, the total number of aircraft of both brands in the Russian aircraft fleet was approaching a thousand. Most of them were supposed to go to waste by the end of the 2010s. Everything, as they say now, came together “in a herringbone pattern” - the larger Tu-324 was engaged in regional transportation, and the shortened version with the letter “A” was equipped with a business class cabin.
A further development was the Tu-414, extended by six meters relative to the 324th car and accommodating up to 76 passengers. Ukrainian engineers from the Zaporozhye MKB Progress and JSC Motor Sich were responsible for the engines. They designed the AI-22 product with a thrust of 3 kgf and were waiting for a large series of Tu-820.
Here it is necessary to make a digression and talk about the origin of the airliner.
The fact is that the Tu-324 aircraft is an independent project of the Republic of Tatarstan. In the best sense of the word, of course. To the credit of local managers, in the dashing 90s they were able to maintain the lion's share of the military-industrial complex's capacity. At the same time, state defense orders consistently decreased. For example, since 1993, the Kazan Aircraft Plant stopped receiving orders from the Russian Ministry of Defense altogether. Something had to be done urgently, otherwise the unique production could die.
Tu-324 as presented by graphic designers
This is how the Tu-324 project appeared, for which the center did not have money. Private investors also refused to pay; in those days, long-term programs were not financed at all.
Mintimer Shaimiev managed to convince the Moscow leadership to transfer part of the oil revenues from the Tatarstan raw material pipeline to the development of the Tu-324. Only they managed to find only 100 million dollars out of the three hundred required. With this money, three experimental AI-22s were built in Zaporozhye, and in Kazan they thoroughly rebuilt production lines and developed a lot of new components and assemblies. In Zhukovsky they created unique avionics, which later found application in the Be-200 amphibian.
In the magazine "Aviation and Cosmonautics" at the beginning of 2000 did not skimp on praise about the car:
“The Tu-324 was the first Tupolev aircraft on which a partially electronic mock-up was created, providing an error-free linkage of airframe elements, power plant, aircraft systems and equipment. The passenger cabin of the aircraft is made taking into account modern requirements for comfort.
The design of the seats was developed with the help of the Italian company Testori; their pitch in the tourist class cabin is 810 mm, while the best analogues have only 787 mm, the central aisle is 100 mm wider, and the cabin ceiling is 50 mm higher. All this gives passengers a new level of comfort, previously unavailable on regional aircraft.”
The design of the seats was developed with the help of the Italian company Testori; their pitch in the tourist class cabin is 810 mm, while the best analogues have only 787 mm, the central aisle is 100 mm wider, and the cabin ceiling is 50 mm higher. All this gives passengers a new level of comfort, previously unavailable on regional aircraft.”
However, the Tu-324 was never even developed into a technology demonstrator, let alone a flying prototype. Evil tongues say that the reason was Superjet, which was competing with an airliner of similar capacity and flight range.
At the beginning of 2024, they once again started talking about reviving the Tu-324 project. The ideological inspirer, apparently, is the head of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov. Only the approach to the matter is surprising.
The fact is that the Aurus project is slowly being promoted in the local Yelabuga. After the start of the special operation, they hastened to bury him, but the import-substituted assembly did not stop completely. The cars have risen in price to 40–45 million per copy, but have not lost their customer base. The brand's management plans to create a whole line of luxury vehicles, ranging from limousines with SUVs to helicopters and airplanes.
This appears to be the first time this concept has been used in the world. In 2019, the representative Ansat Aurus was presented to the public, which, however, never went into production. These are, to put it mildly, not times for luxury helicopters. But for a business jet, the Tu-324, according to the leadership of Tatarstan, is just right. At the same time, in recent history there is already a precedent for unsuccessful experiences with domestic luxury aircraft. We are talking about the 2021 Aurus Business Jet based on the SSJ-100. The liner turned out to be of no use to anyone.
It is interesting that Gazprom was involved in the development of the Tu-324 - in the future, the top managers of the office should become the main users of the business jet. The company is ready to create a special unit designed to build a production aircraft based on the developments of twenty years ago.
Layout of Tu-324
In the situation with the revival of the Tu-324, everything is beautiful. The car was not included in the state program for the revival of the aviation industry until 2030, and enthusiasts decided to raise the project on their own. Gazprom even decided to experiment with an independent design bureau.
Only questions remain.
The first is where to get the AI-22 aircraft engine?
In metal, the Ukrainians completed only three prototypes, and it is not a fact that they are still intact. It is unlikely that it will be possible to replace it with the PD-8 - it has almost twice as much thrust. It is known that if an airplane does not have an engine, then the airplane itself does not exist.
The second question is that the Tu-324 aircraft is too crude even for a promising prototype, not to mention flying models. The fuselage, apparently, can only be touched in the form of a wooden model in the Moscow workshop of Tupolev PJSC.
Therefore, there is more than enough healthy skepticism here. It’s time to stop indulging yourself with unrealistic dreams and creating high-profile occasions out of nowhere.
It's time to work - in the second year of the special operation, the Russian civilian fleet was replenished with a few aircraft. What were your plans?
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