The ATR 42 is an high wing twin-turboprop commuter airliner for up to 46 passengers and 4 crewmembers produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR,
with final assembly in Toulouse, France. ATR stands for Avions de Transport Regional, a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now part of Airbus)
and Aeritalia (now Leonardo S.p.A.), with headquarters in Toulouse. On 4 November 1981, ATR officially launched the ATR-42 project as a result of
merging two separate aircraft concepts: the AS35 from Aérospatiale and the AIT 230 from Aeritalia. The two companies had been working on their
respective aircraft concepts since 1978. Both concepts, the AS35 and the AIT 230 were started as a short-range 35-seat turboprop airliner. In
July 1980 was decided to merge the efforts and a marketing study resulted in February 1981 in starting the development of a 42-50 seat airliner,
the ATR-42. The first of two ATR-42 prototypes, F-WEGA c/n 1001, flew for the first time on 16 August 1984. After the certification was granted
on 24 September 1985, deliveries of the ATR-42-200 started in December 1985. The ATR-42 evolved and on 16 August 1984, the ATR-42-300 with greater
payload range and a higher takeoff weight than the ATR-42-200 was flown first. The ATR-42-300 became the standard production version until 1996.
The ATR-42-320 is equipped with two 2100 hp Pratt and Whitney PW121 engines. The ATR 72, a stretched version of the ATR 42, first flew in 1988.
On 2 October 2007, ATR announced the launch of the -600 series aircraft; the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 featured various improvements to increase
efficiency, dispatch reliability, and lower fuel burn and operating costs. The ATR twin turboprop passenger aircraft line consists of the ATR 42
and ATR 72. The current production version are the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 series. ATR has built over 1300 ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircraft. The
ICAO Aircraft Type Designator with Wake Category used to classify aircraft types for the ATR-42-320 is ATR43.
On 17 June 1987, ATR.42-320 s/n 057 flew first at Toulouse as F-WWEL. On 15 July 1987, the airliner was delivered to ATI in Italy as I-ATRJ.
On 24 March 1990, the I-ATRJ was delivered to Avianova and on 1 November 1996, the aircraft started operating with Alitalia Express. On 1 October 2001, the
ATR-42-320 I-ATRJ was withdrawn from use and stored. On 1 August 2002, the I-ATRJ should be transferred to Air Industria, but this did not happen and the aircraft
returned in service with Alitalia Express. In May 2006, ATR-42-320 I-ATRJ was withdrawn from use and stored again. On 1 April 2007, the aircraft was delivered as VP-BCG
to UTair Aviation in Ukraine. On 28 June 2011, the ATR-42-320 was transferred to UTair - Ukraine as UR-UTE. In May 2014, the ATR-42-320 UR-UTE arrived at
Flugplatz Mönchengladbach in Germany and was stored at MGL until tha aircraft was scrapped in April 2018. On 25 July 2016, the 1987-built UTair- Ukraine'
Avions de Transport Regional ATR-42-320 UR-UTE was seen stored at Mönchengladbach Airport (EDNL/MGL).
Luchtvaart déjà vu
