Mongolian built aircraft to fly in April www.news.mn
The engineers at MIAT Mongolian Airlines are gearing up to take the first TVS-2MS aircraft up for its maiden flight in April. The aircraft is an upgraded and re-engined version of the famous Antonov An-2 passenger biplane which was designed by the Antonov design bureau in 1946 and served as the work horse of regional aviation not just in the USSR but in many other countries - Mongolia included. The new version of the classic plane has been designed by Russia’s Siberian Aviation Scientific Research Institute (SibNIA) in Novosibirsk, whilst the actual modernisation is being carried in Mongolia, at the MIAT base in Ulaanbaatar. Currently there are two aircraft fully ready for the installation of Honeywell TPE331 turboprop engines.
MIAT technical director Ayush Tuvd told Russian Aviation Insider at the MRO Russia and CIS 2018 convention that the airline has plans to upgrade five more An-2s this year, while the total plan includes 24 aircraft. He also commented that the entire fleet is required for the airline, so it is not considering any external orders for modernisation just yet.
The Mongolian aviation authorities have already validated the Russian airworthiness certificate for the TVS-2MS. The aircraft re-engined in Mongolia will have a letter M added to their designation, TVS-2MS-M, which stands for “modernised”. The main difference from the basic TVS-2MS is Garmin 800 avionics suite instead of Garmin 500, and a proposed installation of a Honeywell-made APU in the future. Mr Tuvd explained that the APU is required because the aircraft will be operated far from the maintenance base, and the APU will help solve the issue with charging batteries.
There are currently 23 MIAT Mongolian Airlines engineers involved in the project, but the operators intends to send 17 more to be trained in Novosibirsk.
Published Date:2018-03-06