802flyguy From United States of America, joined May 2012, 85 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6879 times:
Some years ago. I head a rumor that PI had considered the Yakolev Yak-40 back in the 70s. Since, in the airline biz, a rumor and three dollars will get you coffee at Starbucks, I did not think there was much to it. Something brought it to mind recently; it turns that there actually was something to the rumor after all! In 1974, PI Vice president William Magruder sought State Dept assistance in going to the Soviet Union to evaluate the type.
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6270 posts, RR: 23 Reply 1, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6788 times:
That would have been so cool! However, I can see how a lot of people may well have strongly objected to flying a Soviet type at the time - potentially commercial suicide?
Flyingsottsman From Australia, joined Oct 2010, 396 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6782 times:
Well I supose nobody in the 70s or 80s could ever imagine seeing an Aeroflot Boeing or Airbus jet, I doubt he would have got very far and the 70s being at the height of the cold war, but would have made for some interesting photos.
GCT64 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2007, 1104 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6751 times:
It would have been an early commuter / regional jet, so that would have been very forward looking and in service 10/15 years before the CRJ. It would have been replacing / operating alongside YS-11s (if I have got the timelines right) and pax may well have preferred the "commie jet" to the turboprop alternative.
Thanks, an interesting post - and a lot better than the usual AvB fare we see here
gemuser From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 5217 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 6681 times:
In the early 1970s the USSR Export Agency launched a push to export Russian aircraft to the West. In this time frame at least one major tour to South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand was undertaken by a Yak-42. The aircraft was shown to major airlines in the area including AN, TN, East West as well as DCA Airworthiness & Operational officials. The only comment from a colleague I remember was "scarey".
Quoting Flyingsottsman (Reply 4):
How many Yak 42's were made and I wounder how many are still flying?
The Yak 42 is still alive and well, may I gently point out that the thread refers to the earlier (and smaller) -40? I would think that the economics of the Yak-40 - three engines and only 32 seats - would be rather poor (even though it can operate out of very short runways).
ItalianFlyer From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 948 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 6223 times:
As cool as the PI livery on a Redjet would have been....I can not see this making any sense. Even in the 2013 one of the primary factors that preclude large scale Russian frame market penetration is the lack of aircraft support and part stores in the west. I can only imagine that in the 1970s, with cold war trade restrictions in place, aircraft support systems would be nonexistent.
SIBILLE From Belgium, joined Jun 2005, 450 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 6169 times:
I remember a Yak-40 visited Liege airport (Belgium) in the seventies or eighties. I had an article in a local newspaper (will try to find it). A new airlines based in Liege airport was looking to buy new planes but this airlines never borned.............
L410Turbolet From Czech Republic, joined May 2004, 5392 posts, RR: 19 Reply 12, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 6038 times:
Quoting RussianJet (Reply 1): I can see how a lot of people may well have strongly objected to flying a Soviet type at the time - potentially commercial suicide?
It would have been a suicide without any politics involved. Yaks 40 had a terrible fuel economy even by COMECON standards of mid-1970s which were based on non-market prices of fuel.
Devilfish From Philippines, joined Jan 2006, 4423 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 5165 times:
Quoting 802flyguy (Reply 6): I would think that the economics of the Yak-40 - three engines and only 32 seats - would be rather poor
Quoting L410Turbolet (Reply 12): Yaks 40 had a terrible fuel economy even by COMECON standards of mid-1970s which were based on non-market prices of fuel.
Perhaps its much depreciated acquisition costs after stints with previous owners allowed three frames to make it to the local registry for profitable(?) operation around the islands.....
pliersinsight From United States of America, joined May 2008, 446 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 4558 times:
Might it have been a CIA espionage operation disguised as a commercial visit? Instead of sneaking around you just boldly come right in through the front door with a good story behind you...........?
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6270 posts, RR: 23 Reply 16, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 4465 times:
Quoting pliersinsight (Reply 15): Might it have been a CIA espionage operation disguised as a commercial visit? Instead of sneaking around you just boldly come right in through the front door with a good story behind you...........?
I'm pretty sure that the KGB would have been all over any such visit, and then some.
woodsboy From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 1011 posts, RR: 3 Reply 17, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 4448 times:
Hmm, pretty interesting stuff but seems so unlikely to have even been considered. At the time I imagine that low cost BAC-111s were available as well as new Fokker F-28s, both similar in size yet a little bigger than the YAK-40 but with established western customers and technical support. I guess the DC-9-10/15 would have been a bit too big if something along the lines of a 35 seat jet was what they were looking for. I dont imagine that a purchase of a Soviet commercial jet would ever have been allowed anyway, no matter what!
FI642 From Monaco, joined Mar 2005, 1055 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 4270 times:
When EA ordered A300's there was universal outrage that they ordered Airbus.
Wisely, EA said "The engines are made here in America, and that's the expensive
part."
No way would the Yak-40 have worked. Support for it would have been difficult,
and the American perception of Soviet equipment would have kept passengers
from wanting to fly it.
737MAX, Cool Planes for the Worlds Coolest Airline.
"On August 21, 1961, pilot William Magruder, copilot Paul Patten, flight engineer Joseph Tomich, and flight test engineer Richard H. Edwards took Douglas DC-8-43 no. N9604Z for a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The aircraft exceeded Mach 1—the only intentional supersonic flight by an airliner other than the Concorde and the Tu-144. Bill Wasserzieher interviewed Richard Edwards in May 2007."
CairnterriAIR From United States of America, joined Jun 2008, 337 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 1369 times:
Like what another poster above stated.....it could have been a very forward way of thinking, as well as a possible way to provide jet service to smaller stations during the pre- deregulation era. While the YAK in all honesty would not have been the most efficient aircraft, perhaps the airline was interested in a jet that could be marketed as such that could wisk people in and out of small cities such as Newport News VA or Parkersburg WV...cities that could not support a 727 but where a jet could be turned around quickly (airstairs etc) and fly faster to bigger cities than the YS-11 or Allegheny's props. Back in pre-deregulation days airlines marketed service over price....and what a way to attract passengers in small communities than a fast flight on a "jet" airplane. No need to say where the plane was made, but with a YAK-40 parked next to a Nord 262 or an FH-227....guess which one would have probably gotten the attention? Could full flights have made up for the shortcomings?
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