United Aircraft has carried out water-ingestion tests on its initial import-substituted Yakovlev SJ-100, equipped with Aviadvigatel PD-8 powerplants.

The aircraft, number 97023, carried out the runway pooled-water test at the Gromov institute at Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.

It was accelerated through the standing pool – about 70m long and 12m wide – and United Aircraft says the tests “confirmed the aircraft…can operate with water on the runway”.

”During testing, it was confirmed that water does not interfere with the operation of the aircraft’s engines or auxiliary power unit,” says Yakovlev regional aircraft flight-test complex chief Vadim Shirokih.

“Tests were also conducted in reverse-thrust mode, which all modern airliners use for braking on the runway.”

Video cameras – on the jet and the ground – as well as other parametric systems recorded data for the SJ-100 certification programme.

The aircraft is a derivative of the Superjet 100, with Russian-built systems fitted in place of foreign-sourced equipment.

“Water-protection testing of the latest aircraft engines is one of the most important [tasks],” says United Engine deputy sales director Fyodor Mironov.

He says the PD-8 demonstrated “reliable operation” during the pooled-water runs.

Two of the three SJ-100 prototypes have been fitted with PD-8s. But flight-testing of the engine has also been undertaken using an Ilyushin Il-76 testbed.

PD-8s have been developed to replace the PowerJet SaM146, the Franco-Russian engine for the Superjet. United Engine expects full certification testing of the PD-8 to be completed by the end of this year.