Fédération Aéronautique Internationale registered the records set by the test pilots of Yakovlev Design Bureau flying Yak-130 combat trainer.
The batch of the record flights was performed at the airfield of Gromov Flight Research Institute from 17 to 26 October 2016. The flight crews consisted of the Hero of Russia Oleg Kononenko, the Hero of Russia Oleg Mutovin, Andrey Voropaev, and Vasily Sevastianov test pilots.
Several Russia’s and world records were set for the class of serial land-based turbo-jet aircraft with take-off weight from 6000 to 9000 kg (see the table below).
The Hero of Russia Roman Taskaev, Yakovlev Design Bureau’s Deputy Director General for flight tests, notes: “Record flights have demonstrated both outstanding capabilities of Yak-130 aircraft and masterhood of our test pilots.’’
| Record Type | Performance | Crew |
| Time to climb to a height of 6000 m | 1 min 42 sec | Oleg Kononenko |
| Vasily Sevastianov | ||
| Time to climb to a height of 9000 m | 2 min 44 sec | Oleg Kononenko |
| Oleg Mutovin | ||
| Time to climb to 3000 m with 1000 kg payload | 1 min 16 sec | Andrey Voropaev |
| Oleg Kononenko | ||
| Time to climb to 6000 m with 1000 kg payload | 2 min 07 sec | Andrey Voropaev |
| Oleg Mutovin | ||
| Time to climb to 9000 m with 1000 kg payload | 3 min 30 sec | Andrey Voropaev |
| Vasily Sevastianov | ||
| Time to climb to 2000 m with 2000 kg payload | 1 min 17 sec | Vasily Sevastianov |
| Oleg Mutovin | ||
| Time to climb to 3000 m with 2000 kg payload | 1 min 26 sec | Vasily Sevastianov |
| Oleg Mutovin | ||
| Time to climb to 6000 m with 2000 kg payload | 2 min 39 sec | Vasily Sevastianov |
| Andrey Voropaev | ||
| Time to climb to 9000 m with 2000 kg payload | 4 min 43 sec | Vasily Sevastianov |
| Oleg Kononenko |
The Yak-130 is a two-seat operational trainer developed to provides the basic and advanced training of pilots for existing and future warplanes, including generation “4++” and “5” ultra-manoeuvrable fighters.
The guided and unguided weapons systems allow the effective use of the Yak-130 both in training and on combat missions. The long service life and low operating cost offered by the Yak-130 minimize initial and recurrent airforce-pilot operational training costs.
The Yakovlev Design Bureau started the development of a new operational training aircraft for the Russian Air Force in the early 1990 and the innovative concept was completed and approved by the Ministry of Defense of Russia in 1993. Due to lack of funding from the government, the management of Yakovlev Design Bureau decided to implement the project in cooperation with Italian company Aermacchi. Cooperation under this program continued from 1993 to 1999.
The Yak-130 was declared the winner of the Russian Defense Ministry’s tender on April 16, 2002. The full production configuration manufactured went in flight at the Sokol aircraft-manufacturing plant in Nizhny Novgorod, on April 30, 2004, and the official tests were successfully completed in 2009. The Yak-103 aircraft have been operated by the Russian Air Force since February 2010.
Source and photo credits: UAC Russia