title: NPO Molniya Molniya-1
text: # NPO Molniya Molniya-1
  
  The Molniya-1 is a six-seater utility aircraft designed and built in Russia during the 1990s.
  
  ## Design and development
  
  The Molniya-1 six-seat aircraft is a three surface design with a forward balanced canard surface and a square section fuselage with a Vedeneyev M14P nine cylinder radial engine in the rear. Twin booms carry fins with balanced and trim tabbed rudders and a high set tailplane, similarly tabbed and balanced.
  
  It was intended to cover a wide range of tasks including touring, cargo/mail carrying, business flights, aerial photography, patrol and air ambulance services. The three-surface configuration was intended to provide improved safety and fuel efficiency over conventional types, with the rear-mounted engine lowering cabin noise and vibration. It flew for the first time on 18 December 1992.
  
  A Westernised version with a 260 kW (350 hp) Continental TSIO-550-B flat six engine and another, the Moliniya-3 with an Allison 250 turboprop, were proposed. More broadly, the company were considering a number of larger types based on the three surface configuration.
  
  ## Operational history
  
  In 1993 the design received a gold medal at the Eureka-93 World Inventors, Scientific Research and Know-How Salon in Brussels. It was demonstrated at the Le Bourget aero show in 1995. Only two Moliniyas had been built by about 2000.
  
  ## Specifications (Molniya-1)
  
  Data from Simpson 2001
  
  General characteristics
  
  * Crew: 1
  * Capacity: 5 passenger / 500 kg (1,100 lb) maximum payload
  * Length: 7.87 m (25 ft 10 in)
  * Wingspan: 8.51 m (27 ft 11 in)
  * Height: 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in)
  * Gross weight: 1,740 kg (3,836 lb)
  * Powerplant: 1 × Vedeneyev M14PM-1 9-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled radial piston engine, 270 kW (360 hp)
  
  Performance
  
  * Maximum speed: 322 km/h (200 mph, 174 kn)
  * Cruise speed: 290 km/h (180 mph, 160 kn)
  * Stall speed: 115 km/h (71 mph, 62 kn)
  * Range: 500 km (310 mi, 270 nmi) with maximum payload
  * Rate of climb: 3.8 m/s (750 ft/min) at sea level
  