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MOSCOW — Russian aviation authorities have grounded the country’s fleet of its newest model of civilian airliner, the Sukhoi Superjet 100. Metal fatigue, a problem usually associated with older airplanes, was discovered in the tail section of a new Sukhoi plane, the Russian regulator Rosaviatsia said Friday.
The grounding was the latest setback for the jet, which has already had a rough introduction.
The plane model is important as a test of whether Russia’s military aerospace prowess can translate into a successful civilian product. The manufacturer, Sukhoi, is best known as the maker of military jets now flying over Syria.
Most other Russian-made civilian jets, once a workhorse fleet of wide- and narrow-body planes, are flown only by regional airlines, and the aging planes are plagued by safety problems.
After the latest announcement, the Russian national airline Aeroflot, a major Sukhoi customer, on Saturday canceled 21 domestic flights.
Rosaviatsia ordered the planes grounded pending inspections after a regional carrier, IrAero, reported finding metal fatigue in a component in the tail wings of one plane, according to Regnum, a nongovernmental news agency.
The agency grounded the fleet to determine whether similar problems were appearing in other planes, most of which have been flying for only a few years.
The grounding was the latest setback for the jet, which has already had a rough introduction.
The plane model is important as a test of whether Russia’s military aerospace prowess can translate into a successful civilian product. The manufacturer, Sukhoi, is best known as the maker of military jets now flying over Syria.
Most other Russian-made civilian jets, once a workhorse fleet of wide- and narrow-body planes, are flown only by regional airlines, and the aging planes are plagued by safety problems.
After the latest announcement, the Russian national airline Aeroflot, a major Sukhoi customer, on Saturday canceled 21 domestic flights.
Rosaviatsia ordered the planes grounded pending inspections after a regional carrier, IrAero, reported finding metal fatigue in a component in the tail wings of one plane, according to Regnum, a nongovernmental news agency.
The agency grounded the fleet to determine whether similar problems were appearing in other planes, most of which have been flying for only a few years.
