Ilyushin Il-96
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The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-range Russian widebody airliner.
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.
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.
Production and customers
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 February 2006, there are only 17 Il-96-300s in operation with Aeroflot (6 of the 17), KrasAir (3), 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 airline largest carrier of the type outside Russia and second largest carrier to operate the planes after Aeroflot. [[Citing sources citation needed]] However the foreign currency crisis in Zimbabwe makes all major investments in the country highly uncertain.
In June 2006, Syrianair announced an agreement to purchase two Il-96-400 aircraft and an Il-96-300 aircraft.
Following a series of incidents, one of which embarrassingly 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.
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[link].
Il-96M/T
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 [link].The Il-96M/T dispenses with the flight engineer, making it a two-pilot airliner.
Il-96-400
The Il-96-400 was developed with Russian avionics and engines. Range with 247 passengers in a three-class configuration is about 11,300 km.Other versions
- Il-96PU : VIP transport version for the Russian President.
- Il-96-300V : Long-range version with increased fuel.
Specifications (Il-96-300)
References and external links
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