Ilyushin Il-96

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Ilyushin Il-96

Il-96 in the new livery of Aeroflot
Type	widebody airliner
Manufacturer	Ilyushin
Maiden flight	1988
Introduced	1992
Primary user	Aeroflot
Unit cost	$ 57,420,000 [1]

The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-range Russian widebody airliner.

1 About
2 Variants
- 2.1 Il-96-300
- 2.2 Il-96M
3 Specifications
4 Il-96 Deliveries
5 Incidents
6 Trivia
7 External Links
8 Related content

[edit] About

The Ilyushin Il-96 is a shortened, long-range, and advanced technology development of Russia's first widebody airliner, the Ilyushin Il-86. It features supercritical wings fitted with winglets, a glass cockpit, and a fly-by-wire control system. It was first flown in 1988 and certificated in 1992. The Il-96 comes in three main variants: the Il-96-300, Il-96M/T and Il-96-400.

Although its list price is more than 30% lower than the equivalent western types, Russian airlines are not particularly eager to buy it. As of September 2006, there are only 16 Il-96-300s in operation with Aeroflot (6 of the 17), KrasAir (2), Domodedovo Airlines (3; actually operated by Krasair on behalf of AiRUnion alliance), Atlant-Soyuz Airlines (1; cargo version), Cubana de Aviacion (2) and President Putin's airwing (2). Two more aircraft are being readied at the plant in Voronezh for shipment to the government of Cuba. Both Aeroflot and Transaero received tax exemption when importing Western-built aircraft in exchange for their promising to buy a few Il-96's each.

Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe is planning to purchase 5 Il-96-300, making the airline the largest carrier of the type outside Russia and second largest carrier to operate the planes after Aeroflot. ^{[citation needed]} However, after talks with Russian authorities, the order was cancelled (along with Tupolev orders).

In June 2006, Syrianair announced an agreement to purchase two Il-96-400 aircraft and an Il-96-300 aircraft.

The Cuban official newspaper Granma announced on 3 January 2006 the first official flight of the first Cubana IL-96-300, from Havana, Cuba to Buenos Aires, Argentina [2].

[edit] Variants

There are two variants of the Il-96 and launched on two separate occasions. The Il-96-300 was launched in 1985 with introduction into service in 1993. The Il-96M was launched in 1993 with introduction into service in 2000.

[edit] Il-96-300

The Il-96-300 is the initial variant and is fitted with Aviadvigatel (Soloviev) PS90A turbofans with a thrust rating of 16,000 kgf (157 kN, 35,300 lbf). Development started in mid-80s while first prototype flew on 28 September 1988, with Russian certification was obtained on 29 December 1992. The first Il-96 entered service with Aeroflot in 1993.

Range with 262 passengers and fuel reserve (for holding during 75 minutes at the altitude 450 m) in a two-class configuration is about 5,940 nautical miles (11,000 km), allowing flights from Moscow to US west coast cities, a far improvement over the Ilyushin Il-86. It is used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a VIP plane.

This version also comes in a longer range version budded Il-96-300V.

[edit] Il-96M

This is a stretched variant of the Il-96-300. It features a 10 m (30 ft) fuselage stretch, is 15 tonnes (33,000 lb) heavier, is fitted with Western-style avionics, and is powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW2337 engines with a thrust rating of 37,000 lbf (165 kN). Range with 312 passengers in a three-class configuration or 92 tonne (203,000 lb) payload is about 5,600 nautical miles (10,400 km). This turned it into a true—but vastly more capable—Il-86 successor. The Il-96M/T is broadly comparable with the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777-200A, but is much cheaper. Development on the M/T variant stalled when the US Export-Import Bank suspended talks on financing the engines and avionics, due to Russia's economic problems [3]. This version is also used as President Putin's VIP transport plane. The Il-96M also dispenses the need for a flight engineer. It is designed for a crew of two.

Il-96T

This is the freighter version of the Il-96M.

Il-96-400

The Il-96-400 was developed with Russian avionics and engines. It is based on the Il-96M/T fuselage and is powered by four Aviadvigatel PS90-A2 turbofans. Range with 247 passengers in a three-class configuration is about 11,300 km.

[edit] Specifications

Measurement	Il-96-300	Il-96-M	Il-96T
Length	55.3 m or 181 ft 7 in	64.7 m or 212 ft 3 in	63.9 m or 209 ft 9 in
Span	60.11 m or 197 ft 3 in
Height	17.5 m or 57 ft 7 in
Zero Fuel Weight	183,000 kg or 403,000 lbs
Maximum take-off weight	250,000 kg (551,000 lb)	270,000 kg (595,000 lb)
Cruising speed	.80 Mach
Maximum speed	.82 Mach
Range fully loaded		11,482 km or 6,195 nm	9,700 km or 5,237 nm
Max. fuel capacity	150,000 liters 39,625 USG
Engines (example)	Aviadvigatel PS-90A	Pratt & Whitney PW2000
Cockpit crew	Three	Two
3-class Seating	259	307

[edit] Il-96 Deliveries

2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	1995	1994	1993	1992	1991
2															0

[edit] Incidents

Following a series of incidents, one of which involved President Putin's jet in Turku, Finland, Russian civil aviation authorities grounded all the Ilyushin-96-300's from 22 August to 3 October 2005 to examine the braking gear.

[edit] Trivia

The Il-96 is the second Russian airplane after Tu-204 to feature western engines, the Pratt & Whitney PW2000, powering the Il-96M. However, a lack of financing from the US Export-Import Bank caused the program to be cancelled.