The third specimen of the MS-21 is ready for flight tests. But experts are sounding the alarm: the latest Russian long-range aircraft may not be allowed in Europe. Why? The correspondent of "Russian Newspaper" is discussing it with the General Director of the Russian-European consulting "REC aerospace company ", the chief designer of the be-200 amphibious aircraft, Alexander Yavkin.

Within one week, in two former Soviet republics, and now sovereign States, one after the other tragedies occurred - on November 17, the crash of the passenger aircraft Boeing 737-500 in Kazan, which claimed the lives of 50 people, including an Ukraine and British citizen, and 4 days later - the collapse of a shopping center in Riga, the victims of which were 54 people, including two citizens of Russia.
How did the state bodies of Russia and Latvia react to the incident?
Alexander Yavkin – BERIEV Deputy Chief Designer, Chief Designer of the be-200ES-E.

In 2018, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the historic document that marked the beginning of the integration of the Russian aviation industry into the world aviation community. This was the assessment, at least twenty years ago, of the signing of the "Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America on improving flight safety" on September 2, 1998 (Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement – BASA Russian Federation – USA).

The successive crashes of the A330 and A310 aircraft, which claimed the lives of 380 people, have sharpened the attention of the world community to the problem of flight safety. Relatives of victims of disasters, people flying planes, and those who are not going to fly today, but are potential passengers, ask the questions: "Why could this happen? How safe is it to fly? Is everything possible being done to ensure the safety of flights, and can the measures taken guarantee the preservation of life during the flight?"

In December 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed JSC "UAC" together with the State Corporation "Rostech" to focus on the issues of elimination of technological backwardness of the industry, improving the productivity and competitiveness of domestic aircraft and expanding their lineup with projected market demand. It is necessary to work on the formation of scientific and technical groundwork to create a new generation of aircraft with qualitatively better technical and operational characteristics.

It is obvious that at present the creation of new aircraft models is impossible without partnership with foreign companies. Any project of the Russian civil aircraft, thus, becomes international and requires the interaction not only of industrial partners, but also of certification authorities.

It is hard to expect quick and efficient "anglicisation" of the Russian population. In addition, in aviation it is not only about language, as such, we differ in mentality, approaches to solving problems of ensuring the safety of aircraft and systems. This is typical for both company specialists and aviation authorities.

Alexander Yavkin – Deputy General Designer of Beriev Aircraft Company", Chief Designer of the Be-200ES-Е.