IL-86 - Features of the Soviet Giant

Video from the channel Skyships Eng about Ilyushin Il-86, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 29:09. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

An explanatory walk-through of the Il-86, the first Soviet wide-body passenger aircraft, filmed on the example preserved by the training centre of the Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation (MSTU CA). The video combines the history of the programme with a detailed review of the fuselage, the wing, the fuel system, the landing gear, the engines, the flight deck and the passenger cabin.

In the late 1960s, congestion at airports and on air routes pushed manufacturers towards larger aircraft: the Boeing 747 in 1969, the DC-10 and L-1011 trijets in 1970, and the Airbus A300 in 1972. In the USSR, intermediate solutions were ruled out, such as the Il-62M-250 or civilian versions of the Il-76 and the An-22. Studies settled on a medium-range aircraft with 350 seats, a range of between 3,600 and 5,800 km depending on load, and able to operate from 2,600 m runways with little dependence on airport equipment. This gave rise to the "hand luggage plus containers" concept. The order reached the Ilyushin design bureau in 1970. The prototype flew on 22 December 1976 and went to the Paris Air Show in 1977, and the aircraft was certified in 1980. Production at Voronezh reached ten units in 1985 and ended in 1997 with 106 aircraft. The Il-80 airborne command post and the Il-86D, which would eventually become the Il-96, were derived from the model. Its last commercial flight was a charter to Turkey in January 2011.

It had a circular fuselage 6.08 m in diameter and almost 60 m long, a wing with a 48 m span and 35° of sweep, and a height of 15.8 m. It carried 88 t of fuel, enough for about 3,800 km at full load. Its maximum take-off weight was 215 t, borne by a landing gear with a fourth, central leg. Each of its four NK-86 engines produced 13 tf with a bypass ratio of 1.17, so the aircraft had thrust to spare only just, and had limitations in hot and high-altitude conditions. The flight crew numbered four. Passengers boarded via three built-in stairs to the lower deck, where they left their luggage before going up to a cabin seating 234 to 350 in a 3+3+3 layout. The forward galley spanned two levels linked by a lift. It suffered two fatal accidents: one in 2002, on a ferry flight with no passengers, and another in India in 1994, when another aircraft fell onto it while it was parked.