Crash of the Il-112V prototype
The first prototype of the Il-112V military light twin-engined transport aircraft crashed during a flight in the Moscow region near the Kubinka airfield. The crew of three, led by the test pilot Nikolai Kuimov, was killed.
The disaster apparently started with a fire in the starboard TV7-117ST engine. The crew had made an attempt to shut the powerplant off but with a large fire still burning, then turned into the dead engine in what seems to be an attempt for an approach manoeuvre.
This turn, opposite to what is generally recommended for an engine failure in a twin-engined plane, resulted in an excessive roll to starboard, the plane ended up inverted and nosedived into the ground at high speed.
The first prototype of the Il-112V light turboprop military hauler (serial number 01-01, tail number #01 Yellow, reg. RF-41400) made its first flight at the airfield of PJSC Voronezh Aircraft Building Company (VASO, part of PJSC United Aircraft Building corporation) on 30 March 2019. After that, the flight tests of the sample were halted for two years in order to reduce the weight of the aircraft and improve its design.
The second flight of the reworked prototype took place on 30 March 2021 and according to known data, this aircraft has completed about 15 flights under the preliminary test program which was repeatedly plagued by system failures and problems with the engines.
On 13 August, the prototype flew from the VASO Voronezh airfield to Zhukovsky to participate in the Armiya-2021 International Military-Technical Forum, which will be held on 22-28 August 2021 in Kubinka. The crash obviously occurred during the flight from Zhukovsky to Kubinka, the plane fell some 1500 m from the Kubinka airfield strip.
So far, a second prototype of the Il-112V (serial number 01-02) for static tests has been built at VASO, with additional two flight (pre-production) examples (serials 01-03 and 01-04) being in the works since January 2018.
In August 2020, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the UAC for the supply of these two aircraft, but it looks now that the entire Il-112V program needs to undergo serious revision.
Photo by Dmitry Shedogubov via Russianplanes.net and stills from a Youtube film