Ilyushin Il-62 Il-62M

The Il-62M first flew in 1971 and entered service in 1973. It swaps the NK-8s for four Soloviev D-30KUs of 107.9 kN — more powerful, more efficient and quieter — and adds a fin fuel tank. Beneath the skin it has simpler, lighter single-slotted flaps and incremental aerodynamic improvements; chief among them the spoilerons — lift disruptors that act as ailerons when deployed differentially in cruise and kill lift on landing when deployed together — and the ability to use idle reverse thrust in flight on final approach to shorten the landing run. It also has the containerised baggage and freight system the original Il-62 lacked.

With Aeroflot the Il-62M achieved a 97% dispatch rate, with some examples logging as many as 17 flight hours a day, and it was described as the most reliable type in the fleet. It set several international records in its class, mostly of range: with 10 tonnes of freight it reached 10,300 km against the VC10's 9,412 km at the same weight, and with a 23-tonne payload it managed 8000 km against 6,920 km for a Boeing 707 at maximum payload. Some of those records were set by an all-woman crew of five captained by Iraida «Inna» Vertiprakhova.

While the original Il-62 was rated for 23 years of service life, upgraded M versions are sometimes rated for 50, with engine overhaul intervals rising to 6000 hours and a total engine life of 18,000 to 20,000 hours. Almost every example in service today is an Il-62M, and the type remains in use as a VIP and head-of-state transport. The sheet's specifications are its own: 53.12 m long, 43.20 m span, 12.35 m high, 71,600 kg empty, 165,000 kg maximum take-off weight, 900 km/h cruise, 10,000 km range with a 10,000 kg payload and a 12,000 m maximum cruising height.

Its capacity has made the type a regular on emergency civilian evacuation flights: an Aeroflot Il-62 landed at Santiago de Chile on the night of 10 September 1973, the day before the military coup, to evacuate 147 Cuban embassy personnel; and in April 2015 two EMERCOM Il-62Ms evacuated around 900 people from Sanaa during the military operation in Yemen.