20 WWWwww.airinternational.com @ [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/airinternationalmagazine
SCENE
Composite Planes
T
he Siberian Aviation
Science and Research
Institute (SibNIA)
based at Novosibirsk
started to update the
An-2 general-purpose
aircraft several years
ago. The resulting
aircraft, designated
TVS-2-DTS, arrived
at Zhukovsky just a few days after its
maiden flight on July 10 with Vladimir
Barsuk and Igor Mosyeykin at the
controls. To achieve its debut appearance,
the aircraft flew nearly 3,000km (1,
miles) from Novosibirsk to Zhukovsky
without landing.
The awkward-to-pronounce designation
stands for Turbovintovoy Samolyot,
Demonstrator Tekhnologiy Seriynyi
(Turboprop Aircraft, Serial Technology
Demonstrator).Air transport roots
Decades ago in the Soviet Union, local
air transport was serviced primarily
by the very popular Antonov An-
biplane. One could travel several
hundred kilometers between small
towns, without rail or road links, for
a few roubles. After the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, the USSR state
funding for local air transport dwindled.
Today there are various plans to revivelocal air transport, and the TVS-2-
DTS manufacturer hopes to gain state
support for its project.Stages
SibNIA designers gradually achieved
the current configuration having started
the programme by installing an An-
with a Honeywell TPE-331-12 turboprop
engine rated at 1,100hp, a five-blade
Hartzell propeller, additional navigation
equipment, a built-in diesel generator
and cabin heating. The first modified
aircraft was dubbed An-2MS, but to avoid
licensing problems with Ukraine-based
Antonov they changed the designation to
TVS-2MS.
Reducing operating costs is the main
objective for replacing the An-2’s original
ASh-62IR piston engine with a turboprop;
kerosene in Russia is several timescheaper than avgas, the type of fuel
required for the Ash-621R piston engine.
The TVS-2MS first flew at Novosibirsk on
September 5, 2011 and made its MAKS
debut in 2013.
Russian company Rusaviaprom installs
the new turboprop engine on a serial
production line at a current rate of up to
eight aircraft per year, but is hampered by
the new engine’s high price. By the start
of 2017, the number of TVS-2MS aircraft
fitted with the TPE 331 engine numbered
23, of which 16 are in operation.
After installing a new engine, the
next stage saw designers replacing the
original wing and tail with new versions
made entirely of composites. The shape
of the wing changed: bracing struts and
wires vanished and the tips of the lower
wing were turned upward and joined with
those of the upper wing. The first TVS-
2-DT fitted with composite wings flew at
Novosibirsk on June 10, 2015 and made
its debut at MAKS 2015.PAK SKH T-
CHARACTERISTICS
Length: 7.72m (25ft 4in)
Wing span: 12.4m (40ft 8in)
Height: 2.27m (7ft 5in)
Max take-off weight: 1,475kg (3,252lb)
Empty weight: 756kg (1,667lb)
Cruise speed: 70kts (130km/h)
Max range: 1,000km (540nm)This is the new TVS-2-DTS general-purpose
aircraft designed by the Siberian Aviation
Science and Research Institute based
at Novosibirsk. An updated An-2, the
turboprop aircraft features a composite
fuselage and wing. Piotr ButowskiOn display in the Rostec pavilion during MAKS 2017 was the new T-500 PAK SKh agricultural
aircraft. Piotr Butowski