Tupolev Design Bureau - 100 YEARS

On October 22, 2022, the design bureau PAO Tupolev celebrates the 100th anniversary of its foundation. The famous "Tushkas" had a tremendous impact on both the development of domestic and global aircraft manufacturing as a whole, and on the production activities of the airline ALROSA.

Aviation appeared in Mirny in 1971: the Mirny air squadron was immediately formed on the basis of the new airport. Years passed, aviation developed, and the air squadron did not stand still - the geography of flights expanded, jet aircraft appeared.

ALROSA owes a lot to the aircraft of the Tupolev Design Bureau: thanks to them, the rapid growth of the airline began in the 90s. The fleet of aircraft increased, new ones appeared and old ones were written off, but one thing remained unchanged: ALROSA operated domestic aircraft. In addition to passenger flights, all this time we carried out cargo transportation for oil, mining and diamond mining enterprises. Thanks to the "Tushkas", machinery, equipment and food were delivered. Flight and technical characteristics allowed Tupolev aircraft to be used at a wide variety of airports at any time of the year.

During the years of operation at ALROSA, the Tu-134 proved itself to be one of the most, if not the most, reliable among Soviet-made aircraft. It was a practically trouble-free aircraft. Board RA-65693 was in operation for almost 40 years and flew more than 31 thousand hours. Its geography included Yakutsk, Polyarny, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Surgut, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and many other cities of our vast Motherland.

An even more striking fate befell the Tu-154 aircraft, of which there were also quite a few in our fleet. This is a truly reliable machine, and the incident at Izhma only became confirmation of this. On September 7, 2010, our Tu-154 with tail number RA-85684 was flying to Moscow and made an emergency landing at the unused Izhma airfield due to an abnormal situation during the flight. The plane rolled 160 meters beyond the runway, but none of the passengers and crew members were injured. On October 8, 2010, the President of Russia awarded the commander Evgeny Novoselov and the second pilot Andrei Lamanov the title of "Hero of Russia". After Izhma, the aircraft underwent major repairs and was used for another 8 years, and now occupies a place of honor in the aviation museum at the Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport.

Photo by: Khaev Inal