The Let L-610 is a prototype aircraft for the Czech civil aircraft manufacturer
Let Kunovice
Aircraft Industries, a.s.,[Contacts]
" Let Kunovice. Retrieved on 19 May 2011. "Aircraft Industries, a.s. Na Záhonech 1177 ...
made in 1988–1997.
Design and development
In the late 1970s, after the success of the LET
L-410
The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech Republic, Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of lan ...
twin engine turboprop, the Soviet airline
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
requested that LET design a replacement for the
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...
aircraft.
LET
Let or LET may refer to:
Sports
* Let serve, when the served object in certain racket sports hits the net and lands in the correct service court, such as;
** Let (badminton)
** Let (pickleball)
** Let (tennis)
* Ladies European Tour, the ladi ...
's L-610 was designed as a twin engined turboprop aircraft powered by the new Czech engine,
Walter M602, with a seating capacity of 40. Flight testing was delayed by engine development taking longer than airframe development. Eventually the 1,358 kW (1,822 shp)
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...
engines were finished and the aircraft first flew on 28 December 1988. No aircraft was ever delivered to any commercial customer, although one aircraft was shown in Aeroflot markings during the
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
in the 1990s. One Let 610 M was delivered to the
Czech Air Force
"The air is our sea"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles =
, decorations =
, battle_honours =
, battle_honours_label =
, flying_hours =
, websi ...
, to support manufacturer's certification and test flights process.
After the Soviet collapse
LET
Let or LET may refer to:
Sports
* Let serve, when the served object in certain racket sports hits the net and lands in the correct service court, such as;
** Let (badminton)
** Let (pickleball)
** Let (tennis)
* Ladies European Tour, the ladi ...
tried to
westernize
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
the plane in order to widen the aircraft's sales appeal. The result was a new model, known as the L-610G, which had
General Electric CT7
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
engines,
Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Comp ...
Pro Line II digital
EFIS,
weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...
and
autopilot
An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...
. The L-610G prototype flew its maiden flight on 18 December 1992; four years after the L-610M.
During the time that the now-defunct
Ayres Corp. owned LET, the aircraft was also known as the Ayres L-610, and for a time was marketed as the Ayres 7000. The customer for the Ayres 7000 was to have been
City Connexion Airlines
City Connexion Airlines was an airline based in Burundi. The airline ceased all operations in 2000, however, no source for a declared bankruptcy has been found. The IATA code for the airline was later re-used by Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligente ...
before bankruptcy problems sidelined the program.
On 29 August 2019, the
UGMC subsidiary, the
Ural Works of Civil Aviation and the Russian regional
Polar Airlines
Polar Airlines (russian: Полярные авиалинии, ''Poljarnýe avialinii'') is an airline based in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia. It operates scheduled and charter passenger and cargo services. In 2020, it became part of Russia's ...
signed an agreement to supply ten L-610 aircraft from 2023 to 2025 as part of the regional aviation development program of the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. The signing took place at the international aerospace forum
MAKS 2019 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.
Variants
;L-610M
:Basic variant with
Walter M602 engines.
;L-610G / Ayres 7000
:Variant with
General Electric XT7-9D engines.
;L-610 MPA
:Proposed Anti-submarine warfare variant.
Specifications (L-610)
See also
References
External links
airliners.net Aircraft Data
{{Let Kunovice aircraft
Ayres aircraft
1980s Czechoslovakian airliners
L-610
High-wing aircraft
Abandoned civil aircraft projects
Aircraft first flown in 1988
Twin-turboprop tractor aircraft