New An-74 with underslung engines will rollout in the first quarter of 2000 according to Antonov

Published: 11/24/1999

According to Antonov General Designer, Pyotr Balabuyev, the Kharkov plant will roll out the first An-74TK-300 in the first quarter of 2000. This a new member of the An-72/An-74 family was announced in the middle of 1998 and moves the engines of the aircraft from the" above-the-wing" positioning of the An-74, the -300 will have the same ZMKB Progress D-36 engines on under wing pylons. This redesign, while costing STOL performance, gives the aircraft a higher cruise speed and improves its fuel economy by 15%, although this saving appears to have declined from the 29% originally cited when the new variant was announced. The An-74TK-300 is aimed primarily at mid-weight cargo aircraft market, where the company sees rising demand for aircraft of the size of the An-74. Unlike older Soviet designs, the An-74 meets the latest Chapter 3 ICAO requirements for noise and emission. While Moscow-based East Line operates this aircraft type on regular cargo routes to Germany. Other An-74 operators, complain that this design, with high-bypass engines, is not well suited to airline service, owing to relatively high fuel burn and low speed, caused by the positioning of the engines (designed to increase the lift on takeoff by passing exhaust efflux over upper wing surfaces and down over large multislotted flaps). Balabuyev claims that the weaknesses arising from the aircraft's military origin will be eliminated in the new version.

Article ID: 1126