An-218

The independence of Ukraine in 1991 coincided with the completion of the design of two passenger airliners in Kyiv – the An-180 and the long-range An-218. Both projects were frozen due to the lack of funding. The Antonov An-218 was a Soviet long-range wide-body airliner medium capacity designed Antonov Design Bureau in the late 1980s. In the early 1990's the design AN-218 would recover, but due to the difficult situation in the country all their efforts were in vain. Currently, the project is terminated due to financial difficulties.

The Antonov AN-218 aerodynamic configuration is a low-wing monoplane with a large wing elongation and moderate vertical development, sweep and fixed horizontal tail monoplane. The AN-218 was supposed to fly on two D-18TM engines used in the "Ruslan" and / or "Mriya", which it was planned to upgrade. The two D-18TM high bypass turbojet engines, located on pylons under the wing, had a takeoff thrust of 25000 kg and with a low specific fuel consumption. In the future it would be possible to install the D-18TP with thrust of 27500 lbs or "Rolls Royce" engines.

The number of passengers was different, depending on the planned modifications, in the area of 300-400 people with a range of 4500-9000 km. Length was 59 meters, wingspan 50 meters; fuselage diameter 5.6 meters. The maximum takeoff weight waf 170,000 kg.

The aircraft was equipped with modern avionics, including an electronic display system. Through the application of new high-strength light alloys, composite materials and optimal design technological solutions significantly improved weight of the aircraft. The landing gear has one front and three rear (two wing and one fuselage) struts. AN-218 used designs, technology and systems, used on the AN-124 and AN-70, including parts and product complexes of the Tu-204. Chassis allows the aircraft to operate at the same airfields strength coating that Tu-154 and Tu-204. This greatly expands the geography of the new liner, making it accessible to more than 50 airports (IL-86 operated at 19). Projected resource structure 60 000 flying hours. It was planned to install navigation system to use the minimum aircraft ICAO category IIIA. The planned use of highly automated cockpit display system was to include six electronic displays.

It was estimated that the AN-218 will surpass the Tu-154 and Il-86 for fuel efficiency, comfort, safety, packaged cargoes transportation technology. The AN-218 was supposed to consume 18 grams of fuel per passenger-kilometer versus 34.5 g in IL-86. The crew of the AN-218 would consist of two pilots, as six electronic displays considerably facilitate the piloting. A third crew member, flight engineer, is optional. The measurement of the number of passengers in a single-class layout: 350 or 400 (810 mm seat pitch), in 3 compartment configuration 300 (seat pitch 1020/870/810 mm).

The intention was to develop a fundamentally new system of aircraft maintenance at the airport, to reduce its complexity and get a running time of 3.5-4 thousand hours per year per aircraft. The complexity of the maintenance of the aircraft is estimated at 9.5 person-hours for 1 hour of flight.

In the long term it would be possible to create AN-218 with shortened fuselage with a range of up to 12000 km with 200-220 passengers on board, as well as with an extended fuselage up to 400 person capacity. All models allow using foreign engines.

Development began in 1991, technical documentation was to be completed in the first half of 1993, the first flight of the prototype was planned for 1994, certification in the CIS - a year after that. It was supposed to build the An-218 in Ukraine, liaising with Russian aircraft manufacturers.

On paper, the plane was 90% ready (85% others say, but what does it matter?) as for the final drawings and notes thereto. A full scale modkup was assembled in wood. With a full layout of passenger seats, cabinets, and of course working with the cockpit displays. In the layout of the aircraft in full swing led delegations of foreign customers. According to some reports, some parts of the AN-218 has even been put into actual production, but within 10 days it was discontinued.

In 1994 funding ceased. The future of the aircraft was very foggy. Informally, experts pointed out major technical flaws in the design of the aircraft. This airliner had to be worked out completely before transferring to the customer. And most of the opinions of these people depended on the reputation of the aircraft. Against other players in the passenger market, Antonov lagged.

Type: wide-medium haul passenger aircraft

Crew: 2-3 persons

Powerplant:

two turbofan D-18TM Zaporozhye IBC "Progress" (2 × 245,2 kN, 2 × 25 000 kg); planned installation of D-18TP (2 × 269,7 kN, 2 × 27 500 kgf) or Rolls-Royce RB.211-524N4

Dimensions:

wingspan: 50 m

length: 58.15 m

airplane height: 15.6 m

wing area: 270m ²

fuselage diameter: 5.62 m

Weight

unladen aircraft: 90000-91000 kg

maximum payload: 42000 kg

MTOW: 170,000 kg

Number of passengers:

350-400 (seat pitch 810 mm) in a single-class layout

300 in three-class configuration (seat pitch 1020/870/810 mm)

cruising speed: 850-870 km / h

cruising height: 10100-12100 m

practical range:

With a maximum payload of 4570 km

With 350 passengers 6,300 km

With 400 passengers 5100 km

With 300 passengers 7200 km

With full fuel and 200 passengers 9400 km

Required runway length: 2900 m