Widebody Aircraft Parade

Ilyushin Il-76

The Ilyushin Il-76 is a four-engined widebody cargo aircraft, designed in Russia. It was developed as a military freighter and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12 'Cub' turboprop cargo plane. The NATO codename for the aircraft is 'Candid'. The Il-76 first flew on March 25 1971 and the first production aircraft entered service with Aeroflot in 1975.

Because it is designed as a military freighter, the Ilyushin Il-76 looks quite different from passenger widebodies. It has a high mounted 'shoulder' wing, a so-called T-tail and rear loading freight doors under the tail. When used as a military transport, paratroopers can be dropped through these doors. The basic layout was similar to the U.S.-built Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, but the Ilyushin freighter has a wider fuselage and more powerful engines. The fuselage is fully pressurized. The aircraft is also suitable for carrying passengers and can be used as a flying ambulance.

Short field performance

The Ilyushin Il-76 was designed with short field performance in mind and operations from rough fields. That is why the Il-76 has a lot of devices on its wing to improve low-speed characteristics at take-off and landing and a total of twenty low-pressure tyres. The front undercarriage leg has four wheels and the main wheel bogies have two rows of four tyres each. Freight handling is largely mechanised.

The Ilyushin Il-76 is in widespread use in Asia, Africa and eastern Europe. The aircraft is still in production in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and more than 900 have been built.

Versions

Ilyushin developed many versions. The basic Ilyushin Il-76 is the first production version and in widespread use. The Il-76T (NATO: 'Candid-A') is a version with extra fuel capacity. Its first flight was on November 4, 1978. The Il-76TD is a version with higher take-off and payload weights and D30KP2s engines. The Il-76M is an improved version and the base for the Il-76MD with increased range and service life and the Il-76MP firefighter. The stretched Il-76MF first flew on August 1 1995. Its fuselage is 6.6 meter (21 ft 8 in) longer than that of the standard aircraft. This version is powered with Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines and Stage 3 compliant.

The standard-body Il-76TD-90VD also has the PS-90 turbofan engines and updated avionics. This version flew for the first time on 5 August 2005. Because the engines are less noisy the aircraft is allowed to operate from EU-airports where older aircraft are banned because of noise regulations. ICAO classified the aircraft under Chapter 4 of noise regulations. The first user of this version is Volga Dnjepr Airlines (photo below). The aircraft can be recognised by the larger diameter engine pods.

One of the military versions is the Il-76/A50 ('Mainstay'), which has a big radar disc on its back, like the Western AWACS has. The Ilyushin Il-78 'Midas' is an aerial tanker version for the Russian Air Force.

   Technical Specifications