The Russian government confirms that the serial production of the new regional turboprop Ilyushin Il-114-300 is going to be delayed because of the crash of the Il-112V prototype.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the crash “has changed” the plans to start the serial production of the Il-114-300 by 2023. The new timeline for the aircraft has not been disclosed.
According to Borisov, there are no plans to look for a new engine for the turboprop. The current engine will have to be improved instead.
Both the Il-114-300 and the Il-112V share the same engine, the TV7-117ST. On August 17, 2021, a prototype of the Il-112V crashed near Moscow during a routine training flight.
Right before the crash the right engine of the aircraft caught fire. According to numerous reports in the Russian media, there have been previous indications that the TV7-117ST is prone to overheating. According to the former chief engineer of Ilyushin, Nikolay Talikov, the crash happened because the company neglected numerous warnings that the engine is not ready for extensive flight testing.
Following the crash, all aircraft that are equipped with the engines of the same model – including the prototype of the Il-114-300 – were grounded.
The Ilyushin Il-114-300 is a deep modification of the soviet-era regional turboprop Il-114. It conducted its maiden flight in December 2020. As of September 2021, one prototype of the new aircraft has been flight tested, with at least two more being under construction.
