A prototype of the Ilyushin Il-112V transport aircraft crashed during a test flight near Moscow. The three people onboard the aircraft were killed.
“Rostec creates an internal commission with the involvement of specialists from aircraft research institutes and manufactories to investigate the accident of the Il-112v prototype that crashed today during a training flight in Kubinka, Moscow Region,” Rostec said.
Footage of the event shows what appears to be a fire in the right engine of the aircraft before the crash.
Crash en Russie – l’un des prototypes de l’avion de transport léger militaire Il-112V s’est écrasé aujourd’hui à Kubinka en Russie.
— air plus news (@airplusnews) August 17, 2021
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The Ilyushin Il-112V is a military transport aircraft designed for the transportation of personnel and cargo with a maximum weight of 5 tonnes. It is intended to replace the Antonov An-26 within the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Ilyushin Aviation Complex was selected to develop the airlifter back in May 2003. After 8 years of research, the development was interrupted for the first time in 2011, as the first prototype was showing design flaws. In 2014, the program resumed and on March 30, 2019, the Il-112V took off for its maiden flight. However, the prototype was found to be over 500 kilograms too heavy. The redesign of certain parts of the plane and the use of composite materials led to a weight saving of almost 1,000 kilograms.