Another IL-62 lands on Runway 31 viewed by a sizeable audience watching from the mound. Three of them were here this day in support of Russian leader Putin's visit for the G8 Summit.

Ilyushin Il-62
The Ilyushin Il-62 is a long range Soviet civil airliner which first flew in 1963, and entered service with Aeroflot in 1967. The first passenger service was an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Montreal on September 15, 1967. It has the NATO reporting name "Classic".

It was developed at the same time as the British Vickers VC-10, to which it bears a very close resemblance. Industrial espionage was widely suspected at the time but has never been proved. It is powered by four rear-mounted Kuznetsov NK-8-4 engines in pairs mounted in a T-tail arrangement. The VC-10 and Il-62 are the only airliners to have used this configuration.

The Il-62 is one of the largest aircraft without powered flight controls: all moving surfaces are controlled by direct cable links. There is an extra wheel below the tail to prevent the plane tilting backwards during loading. The aircraft was designed to withstand gear-up landings, having a strengthened belly with a ski running down the middle. The Il-62M variant (first flight in 1971, introduced in 1973) has more powerful and efficient D-30KU engines, and an extra fuel tank in the tail. Nearly all of the planes still in service today are Il-62M models. In 1978, the next variant was produced: the Il-62MK with 195 seats which is capabable of lifing 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) more than Il-62M.

Air Koryo and Cubana de Aviacion still have the Il-62 in commercial service. It can also be found in use by the countries of the former Soviet Union.


This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ilyushin Il-62".