Sukhoi 100 grounded - Curt Lewis

Russia Grounds Its Newest Airliner Over Safety Concerns

A Sukhoi Superjet 100 taking off at Farnborough air show in July 2010. A regional carrier in Russia, IrAero, reported finding metal fatigue in a tail section of a new Sukhoi Superjet, the latest setback for the plane. Credit Per Gram

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 Russian 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 flights scheduled on domestic routes during the busy holiday season.

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 Russian 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.

Sukhoi said in a statement that it inspecting the entire fleet "to support airworthiness of the civilian Sukhoi planes." The defect "of one element of the tail portion" could not cause a crash, but "all the same airlines must check this model of aircraft," the company said.