Ilyushin Il-86 Totally Explained

Everything about Ilyushin Il-86 totally explained

The Ilyushin Il-86 is the first Russian wide-body commercial passenger jet aircraft.
   The aircraft was developed by Ilyushin, one of the Soviet Union's design offices. Announced in 1971, it first flew on 22 December 1976 and entered commercial service in 1980. It was the first wide-body type built in the Soviet Union, and slightly more than 100 were built. Initially it was only flown by Aeroflot and, slightly later, China Xinjiang Airlines.
   It has good capacity (350 passengers), cargo space, and robustness. However, since the Soviets at the time lacked any high-bypass turbofan engine, the aircraft had to use low-bypass turbofans, which have a high fuel consumption. These inferior engines severely limited range compared to Western wide-body jets such as the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, or Lockheed L-1011.
   As of May 2007, a total of 42 out of 102 civilian Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft remained in active airline service.

Development

In 1967 Aeroflot produced a specification for an aircraft with 250—350 seats. The Ilyushin team responded with a stretched version of Il-62 accommodating 250 passengers, but Aeroflot rejected the design. Further redesigns of Il-62 also didn't meet the approval. In 1971 Ilyushin started development of a new wide-body airliner with four engines. Five years later Ilyushin-86 made its maiden flight on December 22, 1976. In June 1977 the aircraft was shown at Paris Airshow. In 1980 the aircraft went into regular service. In 1981, it broke 18 world records for the speed of flying with the load from 35 to 80 tonnes.

Design

Il-86 has a classic wide-body aircraft deisgn powered by four Kuznetsov NK-86 engines, which are similar to the NK-8 turbofans of the Il-62 'Classic' (though of somewhat higher power).
   Passengers board on the lower deck via the integrated airstairs and stow their own baggage before proceeding upstairs to their seats, allowing the Il-86 to operate from airfields without any facilities. It also lacks overhead baggage bins over the middle seat rows.
   Other airframes of the type have been modified for use in military roles such as airborne early warning and communications support.
   In 1980s there were projects for equipping the aircraft with Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. This should enable to either increase the range (to over 9000 km) or to increase the passenger load (to 450 passengers). However, these designs were halted by the disintegration of the Soviet economy and development of a smaller, but more efficient Ilyushin Il-96, which went into regular service in 1993.
   The use of the Il-86 outside of the CIS has been restricted due to the aircraft noise levels. For example, the European Union has banned all 'Chapter 2' (of ICAO Annex 16) aircraft (which included the Il-86) since 1 April 2002.

Operators

Civil operators

As of May 2007, a total of 42 out of 102 civilian Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft remained in active airline service with:

On October 23, 2006, Aeroflot's Deputy Director General Igor Desyatnichenko told reporters that the airline will cease flying the plane. "The Il-86 planes won't be in use starting November 15, and it's too costly to keep them through the winter and fly just two or three months in the summer." He added that the planes were fuel-guzzling and didn't meet Europe's rigid noise and environmental standards, although Aeroflot still uses this plane during summer rushes to Africa and Asia (though it isn't in the official fleet list).
Previous civilian operators of the Ilyushin Il-86 include:

Aerolicht

AJT Air International

Air-Van Airlines

Armenian Airlines

Belavia

China Xinjiang Airlines

Hajvairy Airlines

Air Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Airlines

Aeroflot Russian Airlines

Transeuropean Airlines

Incidents

March 8, 1994, while parked in the Delhi airport, an Il-86 was struck by a crashing Boeing 737 flown by a trainee pilot;

September 21, 2001, a scheduled flight from Moscow to Dubai landed without extending the landing gear (a crew mistake), no fatalities;

July 28, 2002, a test flight after repair works crashed shortly after the take-off, 14 out of 16 crew died. Further Information

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