An-70 News

September 2002: The An-70 prototype has completed its certification tests. The program also requires a production aircraft to be completed and audited. The first production airframe is close to completion at the Aviant factory in Kiev, but will likely not fly until mid-2003.

2002: The Czech Republic has ordered three An-70s. They are to be completed by year-end.

January 2001: On Saturday, 26th January 2001, around 6 o'clock local time, on of the two An-70 test aircraft crashed near the Russian town Omsk.

The aircraft had arrived in Omsk at 0:30 local time. At the airport, the aircraft took 38 tons of fuel and headed for Yakutsk at 5:38. A few seconds after take-off, two of its four turbofan motors failed. The aircraft crash-landed in the snow a few hundred meters behind the runway, from a height of about 20 meters. The force of the crash broke the aircraft into two pieces. Of the 33 people aboard (11 crew and 22 specialists from Antonov), 4 were injured.