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.
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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). Developement started in Mid-80s while first prototype flew on September 28, 1988. Russian certificate obtained on December 29, 1992. The first IL-96 entered service with Aeroflot in 1993.
Range with 235 passengers in a three-class configuration is about 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km), allowing flights from Moscow to US west coast cities making it broadly comparable with the Airbus A340 and the Boeing 777. Its list price is more than 30% lower than the equivalent western types and is very attractive to the cash-strapped Russian airlines. It has also been used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a VIP plane.
Civil operators of IL-96-300 include Aeroflot, Atlant-Soyuz Airlines, Domodedovo Airlines and KrasAir
Il96t_panel.jpg
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 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 sucessor. The Il-96M/T is broadly comparable with the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777, 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 [1] (http://news.airwise.com/stories/99/07/933085110.html).
The Il-96M/T dispenses the flight engineer, making it a two-crewmember airliner.
Il-96-400
The Il-96-400 was developed with Russian avionics and engines. It based on the Il-96M/T fuselage and is powered by four less-powerful Aviadvigatel(Soloviev) PS90A turbofans; consequently its performance was affected. Range with 235 passengers in a three-class configuration is about 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km). The newer Aviadvigatel PS90-A2 restores the original Il-96-M/T design range and overcomes this performance deficit.
References and external links
- Photo (http://www.russians.bird.ch/Il96/17466c.jpg)
Related content
Related development:
Comparable aircraft: Airbus A340 - Boeing 777
Designation sequence: Il-82 - Il-86 - Il-87 - Il-96 - Il-98 - Il-100 - Il-102
Related lists: List of airliners
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