Ukrainian Engines not to Blame in Ruslan Catastrophe

Designer of aviation engines D-18, with which the Ruslans have been equipped, is Academician Ivchenko Progress machine-building design office of Zaporizhzhia. Progress general designer Fedir Muravchenko said, "What the commander of the Russian Armed Forces has said is not true. We conducted unique bench tests of our aircraft engines recorded on video camera," he said. "The cause of the crash was quite complicated and related to the physical law of the phase transformations of water in fuel. Though commission members have not taken this into account, Russian specialists that saw our video film with our conclusions."

Still the Russian Armed Forces command has already announced that the D-18 engines, mounted on An-124 aircraft, should be replaced with newer ones. 70 Ruslans, now grounded, require such replacements.