Yakovlev Yak-42 variant
Yakovlev Yak-42 Yak-42M
Projected stretched and re-engined version with three Progress D-436 turbofans, up to 168 passengers and a 66,000 kg maximum take-off weight. It was never built: the design fed into the Yak-242 and, through it, into today's Irkut MC-21.
- 168
- Passengers
History
The Yak-42 that was meant to grow
The Yak-42M was the trijet's obvious next step: more seats, more range, new engines. Service entry was expected in 1987. A plug inserted in the rear fuselage — quoted as 45 dm in the most detailed account — took the cabin from 156 to 168 seats, and maximum take-off weight rose to 66,000 kg.
Powerplant and systems
The three Lotarev D-36s gave way to Progress D-436s, more powerful and thriftier, together with extra fuel capacity and, according to the Russian account, a digital flight and navigation suite able to fly automatic approaches down to ICAO Category IIIa minima. Western sources add a new wing to the list.
Why it was never built
The project was reworked repeatedly through the 1980s and, by 1991, some versions proposed Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines instead. None reached the factory: the collapse of the Soviet ordering system and the absence of funding left the Yak-42M on the drawing board.
What came out of it
The study was not entirely wasted. With two PS-90s under a new wing it became the Yak-242, and in this century that line of projects led to the Irkut MC-21, Russia's first new-generation airliner. The Yak-42M is therefore the link between the 1970s trijet and today's twinjet.