Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

As the first Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100 destined for Western launch customer Interjet of Mexico rolled out of its paint hangar in Venice, Italy, on February 11, industry observers digested a seemingly unprompted statement from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft’s Moscow headquarters summarizing design problems uncovered during the airplane’s 23 months of service history. 
 
	In the statement, SCAC catalogued three primary issues, namely an erroneous engagement of the leakage-detection system, a slat-extension problem and a so-called landing-gear-up fault.


SCAC said it isolated the source of the problem involving the leakage-detection system, issued a service bulletin and implemented the fix in all aircraft at its production site in Komsomolsk on Amur, Russia. For airplanes already in service, SCAC said it would address the fault “as soon as possible.”


SCAC has also determined the source of the problem with the lift devices and issued yet another service bulletin, ahead of which it ran further bench tests to verify the efficacy of the repair. The company said it performed what it calls a design improvement implementation on four of ten aircraft in operation with Aeroflot. It plans to address the problem with the rest of the fleet under a schedule it established with the carrier.


Finally, said SCAC, the landing gear problem arose in two aircraft in operation and does not represent a “systematical” fault. It said it has identified the cause of the problem and continues to work with landing gear maker Messier-Bugatti-Dowty to prepare all the documents needed for delivery to the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviacia) and Aeroflot. The landing gear fault did not qualify as an in-flight emergency, said SCAC, and, following examination of all other aircraft in service, it found no other landing gear problem.


Meanwhile, Mexico’s Interjet expects imminent delivery of SSJ100 S/N 95023, and plans to place the aircraft into service this spring. A second of 20 SSJ100s destined for Interjet, MSN 95024, has also arrived in Venice for completion at Western sales, support and completions partner Superjet International (SJI), where a new full flight simulator undergoes certification activity. SJI plans to begin training Interjet’s pilots early next month.


Apart from the 10 SSJ100s delivered to Aeroflot, SCAC has sent two airplanes to Siberian carrier Yakutia, which launched service with its first this past January. Its second SSJ100 arrived at its home base in Yakutsk on January 31, and plans called for entry into service “upon completion of relevant documentation.”


Yakutia plans to operate both SSJ100s on the routes connecting Yakutsk with Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk and Kharbin, China, starting this autumn. For the spring and summer periods, it plans to add Yakutsk-Novosibirsk-Nerungri, Khabarovsk-Magadan and Khabarovsk-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as well as international charter service from the Russian Far East.

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

Sukhoi Tackles SSJ100 Design ‘Deficiencies’

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Joseph Carfagna Jr.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Certainty benefits the preowned business aircraft market

AINsight: Election Results and the Fence

Kerry Lynch

Ultra-long-range model has amassed 75 records, many from customer trips

Speed Records Abound for Bombardier's Global 7500

We talk through the process from conception to delivery

Flying Privately: How Aircraft Like the Bombardier Global 8000 Come to Life

Hanneke Weitering

News and issues about aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), covering all segments of the aviation industry; and modifications for aircraft and engines. Subjects include product support of aircraft, engines and avionics, MRO company mergers, acquisitions, announcements and personnel, Airworthiness Directives, Supplemental Type Certificate approvals and other topics.

News about simulators and training procedures, as well as workforce.

AltiSky will assemble, sell, and service VoltAero's aircraft

VoltAero Picks U.S. Distributor for Cassio Hybrid-electric Aircraft 

Jennifer Leach English

Company noncommittal on expanding its lineup upwards, citing $1B investment cost

Embraer’s Plans for a Larger Bizjet Remain Up in the Air

Operations ebbed, backlogs were steady, and available aircraft increased

GJC: Bizjet Market Continues To Stabilize in 3Q2024

Greenville-based charter operator pre-orders 10 eVTOL air taxis

SAI Flight To Operate SkyDrive eVTOL in South Carolina

Charles Alcock

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

More In Aircraft