New super-light plane Scarab stirs interest

The Scarab, a new super-light aircraft, has been offered for its use to the city of Moscow, Rosbalt was told today by Konstantin Yudin, general director of Ros-Business-Design, a venture-capital firm. The company is promoting the super-light.

Yudin said certification of the Scarab is expected to be complete by December. Regular production is expected to be worked out at the Piatagorsk experimental air-technology laboratory. Interest in the project has been expressed by the administration of the president of the Russian Federation and the State Duma. Duma deputies suggested the offer to the Moscow city administration, Yudin noted. Interest in the Scarab also has been voiced in Germany.

The designer of the Scarab, Aleksandr Begak, a student at the Moscow Aviation Institute, said the design allows for single-seat and two-seat versions. In essence, the Scarab is a vehicle offering a combination of air with land, water and snow transport. In regular production, a unit is expected to cost between $8,000 and $12,000. For comparison purposes, the price of an MI-2 helicopter, currently used for monitoring, is approximately $2 million, Yudin stressed.