iscover
The large freight door is clearly depicted in this photo, making the Finist an excellent contender in the parachuting, freight or sightseeing roles.
Technoavia SM-92 Finist
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A new age Beaverfrom the East
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Russians have been struggling to gain significant access to the lucrative Western general aviation markets.
But, until now, many of their established civilian types have seemed somewhat outmoded, originally intended for captive quasi military users, and poorly suited to our more commercial and image conscious society. But the country undoubtedly has some of the world’s greatest designers, excellent and under-utilised production facilities and a prodigious manufacturing ability. It also has a very good powerplant in the 360 horsepower (270kW) Vedeneyev M-14P radial. Now one of Russia’s most able designers has developed a modern machine that not only makes good use of this engine, but is aimed at a prominent gap in Western production. For the rugged seven seat Finist bushplane is a worthy successor to the DHC-2 Beaver and should usefully replace other ageing and increasingly scarce utilitarian types. Built at the Smolensk Aircraft Factory, the Finist is named after a small local bird, and is the brainchild of Slava Kondratiev. If his name is not immediately familiar, many of his previous designs will be. First working with the Yakovlev Bureau on the Yak-18T, he went on to be involved with many of their products, culminating in the World Aerobatic Championship winning Yak-55. After that success he joined the Sukhoi Bureau to develop their current world beating unlimited aerobatic machines, the Su-26, Su-29 and lightweight Su-31.
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