The History of the Russian Aircraft, the Yakovlev, or Yak-40

Video from the channel Aviação e Turismo about Yakovlev Yak-40, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 23:11. Language: Portuguese. Video type: Documentary.

A Portuguese-language documentary about the Yakovlev Yak-40, presented as the first regional jet: a Soviet trijet able to operate from dirt strips and link nearby towns. It covers its genesis, the design, the engines, the cabin, exports, the 1990s, and modernisation projects.

In the 1960s, Soviet local transport relied on piston aircraft such as the Li-2, Il-12 and Il-14, which accounted for almost half the country's air traffic. After proposals from Beriev and Antonov (AnBe-20) and from Ilyushin (Il-70), the job went to Yakovlev: work officially began in April 1965 and the prototype flew in 1966. Production was set up at the Saratov plant, and the first scheduled flights left from Bykovo, whose coat of arms features the aircraft. The video describes it as the first Soviet aircraft certified in capitalist countries; deliveries to Italy and Germany in the early 1970s were cut short by the 1973 oil crisis. In the 1990s, the airlines that emerged from Aeroflot kept it flying for lack of money and thanks to cheap fuel, until rising kerosene prices pushed it out of the fleets; at Saratov it was succeeded by the Yak-42, a different aircraft.

It is about 20.36 m long with a 25 m wingspan, a T-tail, a nearly straight low-mounted trapezoidal wing with no slats or spoilers, and tricycle landing gear with large wheels and disc brakes. It carries three Progress-bureau AI-25 turbofans, each around 14.7 kN, and an AI-9 APU; the thrust reverser is built into the tail and was used even before touchdown, letting it land in around 800 m. It flies at 510-550 km/h, reaches 800-900 km at full load and has a service ceiling of 6,000 m. The cabin, entered via the tail and with no under-floor hold, grew from 24 to 27 and then to 32 seats, and the maximum take-off weight of the first series was around 13.7 t. SibNIA proposed re-engining it with two Garrett engines, a composite wing and winglets, giving around 4,000 km of range and a 10,000 m ceiling. Accidents and incidents claimed 107 aircraft.