In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
FIRST FLIGHT: The first modernized Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military heavy lifter, also known as Il-476, made its 40-min. first flight at Ulyanovsk on Sept. 22. The prototype, bearing the tail number RA-78650, was rolled out on July 5 and has already performed ground tests. According to industry sources, after several flights in Ulyanovsk the aircraft will be flown to Zhukovsky, near Moscow, to continue flight trials. It is the first aircraft of this type assembled in Russia, as all earlier Il-76 modifications have been manufactured in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
MOSCOW — Irkut Corporation has begun flight tests of the twin-seat Sukhoi Su-30SM multirole fighter. The first aircraft made its 2-hr. first flight on Sept. 21; the second fighter joined the flight tests on Sept. 25, says Irkut, a subsidiary of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.
Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) has completed the assembly of the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet intended for delivery to Mexican air carrier Interjet. Flight trials have already started at SCAC’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur assembly facility, and the aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Venice at the end of September to be outfitted with an interior developed by Italian design company Pininfarina and painted in Interjet’s livery.
