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UPDATE: Russian aviation blogger Sergey Dolya, who is on-scene in Jakarta, shows us the full Superjet 100 flight path. As a grease pencil retracing of radar data, its accuracy is difficult to gauge, but it gives some idea of the aircraft's course and environment as it circled what appears to be the Mount Salak volcano. Local reports indicate the pilot requested to descend from 10,000ft to 6,000ft shortly before the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. The Superjet was flying through an area with mountains as high as 7,500 feet. There is a sudden and sharp left turn indicated shortly the Superjet was lost. But, again, it's hard to judge the accuracy of the picture without actual radar data.

Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan flies tomorrow to Jakarta to personally oversee the investigation of the Superjet crash, according to Russian media reports.


Sukhoi confirms on spokeswoman Olga Kayukova's Facebook page that a Superjet 100 went missing 20min after take-off on second demonstration flight from Jakarta, Indonesia. More news coverage is available here.

The first demonstration flight from Halim Perdamakusama Airport earlier today was completed successfully. A Russian photographer, Marina Lystseva, posted photos on her blog of Sukhoi pilot Sergei Alexander Yablontsev giving instructions to another photographer before the first or second flight. Lystseva flew on board the first demonstration flight, but it wasn't clear from her postings if she was on the second. "It was already a demo flight," she wrote, as translated from Cyrillic by Google. "I also fly."  

The second flight apparently disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff at 14:35 local time. "We are carrying out search operations, [and have] set up operational headquarters," Sukhoi says, via Google translation.

Jakarta was the latest stop on a global demonstration tour of the 75- to 95-seat Superjet 100. At each stop, the company has invited local airlines, aviation journalists and government officials on board for a series of demonstration flights. This morning, the Superjet 100 was decorated in Sky Aviation interior colours on the first flight, with glasses of champagne offered by flight attendants to the 47 passengers aboard, according to Lystseva. Sky Aviation is an important Superjet customer, expecting the airframer to delivery 12 of the regional jets later this year.

In this decade's great narrowbody race, Mitsubishi became the first runner to publicly stumble -- again.

The Japanese airframer warned us in February that first flight of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) would be delayed from the second quarter this year.

This morning, the MRJ programme announced first flight is indeed postponed 15-18 months to the fourth quarter of 2014, which is the third quarter of the Japanese fiscal year. First delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airlines is delayed at least 18-24 months to between October 2015 to March 2016.

The delays slightly reshuffle the official order of appearance of the six major narrowbodies now in development. The Bombardier CSeries still comes first in 2013, although there are growing doubts about this timeframe. The re-engined Airbus A320neo is scheduled to enter service in 2015. Then comes either the MRJ or the Russian MS-21 starting from late 2015 to 2016, respectively. Embraer has said the next generation E-Jet should appear between 2016-2018. Boeing, finally, has pegged entry into service of the re-engined 737 Max in 2017.

Although the MRJ programme is only four years old, this is actually the second major delay announcement. The first postponement came at the Asian Aerospace airshow in Singapore in February 2010. Mitsubishi pushed back first flight by a year as it dumped the carbon fibre wings for simpler aluminium alloy and unveiled a stretched 90-seater.

We don't know exactly why another programme delay was necessary. Mitsubishi reassures the Pratt & Whitney PW1127G geared turbofan development is going smoohtly, with first flight of the engine on a testbed aircraft scheduled later this month. MRJ only says cryptically that the latest delay will allow the designers to "confirm respective fabrication processes" and "provide sufficient time for technical studies".  

Today's Movie Monday is in honour of a trip to Moscow your blogger will not be making next week.

As of two weeks ago, the trip was all set up: my seat on British Airways, my room in the Aerostar Hotel, my interviews with the heads of Irkut and MiG, even my personal visit to the Monino air museum (thanks anyway, Grigory!).

Then, Jon Ostrower got a new job at the Wall Street Journal.

So much for my long-awaited, one-week tour of the Russian aerospace industry! My colleague Craig Hoyle courageously accepted that assisgnment on short notice. Meanwhile, this blogger prepared to take on the role of replacing the founder and formerly sole contributor of FlightBlogger. Luckily, I will have some help. John Croft, Flightglobal's Americas Editor, will be taking over coverage of Boeing twin-aisles. I will focus on the commercial single-aisles produced in the US, Canada and Brazil. We'll both be posting updates here, along with our European and Asian colleagues as events warrant.

We understand we inherit not just an aerospace blog, but a true labour of love by a now-former colleague whom we greatly respect.It's our goal to honour Jon's work here by preserving and continuing that legacy.

Even if it means cancelling our trip to Moscow. 

LAS VEGAS -- When the Sukhoi Superjet Twitter account checked into McCarran Airport on Foursquare late last week, more than an eyebrow's worth of interest was raised. A sign, perhaps, of the 100-seater's growing presence in business aviation, with its recently announced Sukhoi Business Jet (SBJ).

At Sunday's NBAA press day, Switzerland-based Comlux ordered two green SSJ100s which will be converted to an SBJ at the VIP charter company's Indianapolis, Indiana facility starting in 2014. The aircraft will be fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks in the factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia to achieve non-stop London-New York and Moscow-Dubai flights.

The name Comlux may be unfamiliar in commercial aviation, but the Zurich-based company operates a fleet of 19 aircraft, including five A320 ACJ family aircraft, seven Bombardier Global and three Challenger family aircraft, as well as a Dassault Falcon 900LX and Boeing 767.

While it remains a modest order, Comlux, which has become a staple at NBAA and MEBA shows in past years, bringing its Airbus ACJs to the static display, has thrown its weight behind the Russian regional jet, providing an unexpected Western stamp of approval from a major industry player.

The environmental and flight control systems are supplied by Liebherr, hydraulic system from Parker Hannafin, auxiliary power unit from Honeywell, Goodrich wheels, brakes and brake system controls, Messier-Dowty landing gear, Zodiac-Intertechnique fuel system and a PowerJet engine, a joint venture between Snecma and Russian engine maker Saturn NPO.

Additionally, the Thales avionics are grounded on a foundation similar to the Airbus A380, says Superjet, with an Aircraft Full Duplex switched data network (AFDX) and Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) core that exceeds its nearest competitors with full fly-by-wire architecture and RNP .3 precision navigation capability and CATIIIa autoland capability.

Aeroflot is inching closer and closer to accepting the first Suhkoi Superjet SSJ100-95LR, as the Russian airframer has released the first official photos of the RA-98001. Russian certification of the new regional jet is expected this month, and EASA told Reuters yesterday its stamp of approval will follow in 2012. More photos are available below the fold.




Photos Credit Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company

When I sat down to think about the remaining thirteen and a half weeks of 2010, it became immediately apparent how pivotal this time will be for the future of commercial and business aviation. Decisions from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier and Gulfstream will shape the industry in 2011 and 2012 in the near term, but these same decisions could guide commercial and business aerospace for the next decade to come.