P. V. Balabuev

From a press release of 18 May 2001 commemorating the 70th birthday of Piotr Vassilievich Balabuev, General Designer of the Antonov Design Bureau.  Mr Balabuev passed away on 17 May, 2007.

The 23rd May 2001 marks the 70th birthday of one of the most remarkable leaders and achievers of the aviation industry, not only of Ukraine and the CIS, but also within the world. Piotr (Peter) Vassilievich Balabuev, General Designer (equivalent to Chairman and CEO) of the Antonov Design Bureau of Kiev since 1984, when he succeeded the founder, Oleg K. Antonov, on his death.

Peter Balabuev was born in the Gugansk region of Ukraine and in 1954 graduated in aircraft engineering from the well-known Kharkov Aviation Institute. He then joined Antonov as an Engineer/Designer and within two years achieved rapid promotion and increasing responsibility. In 1971 he became Oleg Antonov’s deputy.

Since the 1940’s, Antonov has been responsible for designing a whole range of outstandingly successful cargo and passenger aircraft, commencing with the rugged, ubiquitous single-engined AN2 biplane of which several thousand were produced, to become the scheduled service workhorse linking isolated communities throughout the entire Soviet Union.

Other aircraft included the AN-24 twin turboprop passenger aircraft, similar in appearance to the F27, which became the most widely used aircraft of its type on scheduled passenger services throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; the AN-22 the world’s largest turboprop aircraft, capable of carrying 60 tonnes, and the AN-12 four engined turboprop aircraft, large numbers of which were produced. In the 1990’s the AN-12 overtook the Lockheed built Hercules as the most used aircraft for carrying relief supplies in Africa and other developing countries.

In the early 1980’s Antonov created the AN-124 ’Ruslan’ to carry heavy equipment for the Soviet military. This four engined giant, capable of carrying up to 150 tonnes, became the world’s largest aircraft (excluding the ‘Spruce Goose’, which only took to the air once).

In the late 1980’s, noting the decline of the Soviet government controlled and financed state economy, Balabuev had the vision to recognise that in order to ensure that Antonov survived and continued to create and build new aircraft designs, it could no longer depend on the State, but would have to generate its own independent source of income.

He realised this could be achieved by becoming a commercial operator of the giant AN-124 in the international cargo charter market, using Antonov’s large pool of specialist designers, engineers and highly experienced test pilots to support, maintain and fly the aircraft.

For many unsuccessful months Antonov sought to obtain authorisation from government bureaucrats and ministers in Moscow to become an independent certificated AN-124 operator.

In February 1989 Gorbachev visited Antonov’s facility in Kiev and after Balabuev personally requested Gorbachev to help, a decree was issued by the Soviet Prime Minister the following month giving Antonov the necessary authority they needed.

Three months later Balabuev met with Christopher Foyle, Chairman of the UK Aviation Group, Air Foyle, at the Paris Air Show and a month later in Kiev the partnership with Air Foyle was cemented. As a result, Antonov’s fleet of initially two, and now eight AN-124 aircraft, have performed thousands of hours of commercial flights throughout the world, carrying unusually large or heavy pieces of cargo that no other aircraft type can accommodate.

These aircraft were used to great effect by the Coalition Forces during the Gulf war; by many European, as well as Canadian and US governments, both for peace keeping deployments and humanitarian missions. Also on nearly all the major United Nations relief efforts over the last 12 years.

The revenue thus generated has enabled Antonov to continue in business, employing a staff of 8,000 at it’s factory, design bureau and airfield in Kiev and it’s flight test base near Kiev at Gostomel, while most other CIS aircraft design bureaux have virtually ceased to function.

This achievement was due to the vision, inspiration and leadership of Balabuev.

During the difficult late 1980’s and 1990’s caused by the worsening economic situation in the Soviet Union and then the CIS, Balbuev’s vision and drive galvanised Antonov into designing and building a whole range of new types of aircraft.

In 1989 Antonov rolled out the six engined AN-225’Mriya’, designed to transport Buran, the Soviet space shuttle vehicle and capable of carrying up to 250 tonnes of cargo, externally mounted as well as internally accommodated loads. In the mid-90’s this aircraft fell out of use due to the cancellation of the Soviet space programmes that it was to support.

But over the last 12 months Balabuev has led the programme to overhaul this aircraft, complete it’s full certificate of airworthiness and for the first time make it available to the worldwide market to carry specialised cargo. On the 7th May this year, it successfully made its first flight following seven years on the ground and will soon have its certificate.

More recently Balabuev has been responsible for creating three new aircraft types, the twin turboprop AN-38 multi-purpose utility feederliner now in production in Novosibirsk, the twin turboprop AN-140 50 seat passenger airliner designed as a modern replacement of the AN-24 and F27. Balabuev led the innovative programme for this aircraft to be manufactured under licence in Iran (the first aircraft to be produced by Iran), and the state-of-the-art four engined AN-70 cargo aircraft.

This is the first aircraft in the world powered by unducted prop fans and capable of carrying up to 47 tonnes in and out of short runways. It has a very superior payload/range performance and has almost the speed of a jet coupled with the fuel economies of a turboprop.

This aircraft, already in existence and available, not only meets but also substantially exceeds the European specification to which the proposed new European A400M military cargo aircraft has yet to be built. Balabuev continues to lead dialogue with Western governments regarding joint production and operation of the AN-70 as a viable alternative.

These achievements have been made possible by a major drive within the Antonov organisation to connect to computer aided design systems. This conversion programme was initiated by Balabuev who foresaw the absolute necessity for Antonov to make this transition if it was to maintain its leading position in the world industry.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Piotr Balabuev has created an organisation which is not only self supporting from it’s revenue earning capacity with a growing fleet of AN-124 aircraft, but has brought two entirely new products with good mass market potential to the global marketplace in the form of the AN-38 and AN-140.

Antonov has also brought to fruition a leading technology product in the shape of the AN-70, which has no analogy and has returned the world’s largest aircraft, the AN-225, to service the international ‘outsize’ cargo market in the future.

These are all great achievements of a truly remarkable man and organisational leader.