Published: 6/19/1998

The PS-90A engine of Perm plants will have a proper quality assessmentin two and a half years, general director of the Aviadvigatel company, Yuri Reshetnikov, said at a news conference. The engine has been in service for five years, and the operational results are satisfactory. It can fly for 5,000 hours without being removed from the wing for repairs. A PS-90A engine, which flew for 5,370 hours without repairs, was recently dismantled to check the internal condition. "It appeared that the engine components were in a good condition and the engine had no serious defects," Reshetnikov said.Still, the PS-90A lags behind foreign competitors. Perm has decided to replace some engine components with foreign-made parts in order to improve overall quality. So far, ten or eleven engines of the type have been produced. The engines with foreign-made components will be used until domestic plants start making products of the required quality. "That will not take long," Reshetnikov said. The main partner in the project is the US Pratt & Whitney company. The ideology of the engine operation will be changed as well. The engine will be used by an airline as long as it is beneficial. Separate components will be replaced as their service life expires, and the service life for the whole engine will not be set. The solution to the PS-90A's problem has a state significance, the company director noted. The engine is used in the Russian Il-96 and Tu-204 types, and also the Il-76MF cargo aircraft. Hundreds of aircraft are needed by the country for the survival of the whole Russian aviation industry. (SP698.2) (VZ)

Article ID: 206