Aircraft Il-476: technical characteristics, fuel consumption, photo

Aircraft building in our country has deep roots and a very glorious history. It is even more insulting to observe how at present Russian aviation often depends heavily on foreign suppliers. Fortunately, recently the long-awaited course for a complete substitution of imports was still taken. But at once the problem of creation of own transport airplane has sharply risen.

Until recently, this work was carried out jointly with the Ukrainian CB "Antonov", but it is becoming increasingly difficult to conduct business with these enterprises. Among other things, the Russian military did not like the attitude of the Ukrainian side to deliveries and developments. Simply put, in almost ten years, "Antonov" and could not offer anything fundamentally new.

Soon after, our state gave an official start to its own program, which would result in a completely new transport plane of domestic production Il-476. Now work on its creation is in full swing.

On modernization and other aspects

It is known that the main backbone of military and civil transport aviation in our country was the old IL-76, which inherited from the USSR. The first airplane of this class was regularly launched into the air on May 5, 1973. Production for a long time was conducted at the Tashkent aircraft building plant. The history of production is about 40 years. Totally managed to collect about a thousand such machines, and about a hundred of them were sent for export.

But today's realities suggest the creation in many respects of a different machine, more spacious, with an increased range of flight. Actually, back in 1989, right after the campaign in Afghanistan, the Soviet leadership finally established itself in the opinion of the need to produce such an aircraft. In general, it was quite feasible to launch the production of modernized aircraft, since at about the same time the plant was already setting up production of new, economical PS-90A engines. But at that time in Tashkent to arrange their release and failed.

Replacement of critical systems

So what is the difference between the new IL-476? To many. First of all, specialists almost completely replaced the wing. The newest PS-90A-76 engines were installed. Their thrust is 14,500 kgf (in cruise mode), and the economy is higher by 12-15%. Thanks to this, the flight range could be increased immediately to five thousand kilometers. And what is the IL-476 fuel consumption? It is 0.59 kg / kgf * h, which is much less than the previous machine.

The number of crew members is five. The carrying capacity of the new variant is estimated at 60 tons, which allows to save considerably fuel and financial resources, carrying more cargo for fewer flights.

In flight with comfort!

In our country, the new IL-476 became the first military transport aircraft, which provides a sane level of comfort for the crew in flight. So, there is a full-fledged washbasin and toilet. Agree that with a maximum range of flight of five thousand kilometers, these details are of no small importance!

The toilet room is located in a special sealed room, which is located in the forward section of the aircraft. The volume of the built-in tank for biological waste is 28 liters. In principle, this should be enough for one flight to meet the needs of the entire crew and several paratroopers. Since two-deck modification Il-476 (photo of which is available in the article) can transport up to one and a half hundred airborne troops, two additional tanks of 80 liters each can be installed.

Immediately before the discharge, the use of the toilet room will be unavailable, as by the rules at this time it is strictly forbidden to unfasten the overalls. But with long flights (with military exercises or real combat operations), the importance of this innovation is difficult to overestimate. In this case, the toilet can be used all the time of flight except for the period of climbing and landing.

Although the "toilet" theme and looks on the first form is not serious, veterans of the Airborne Forces recall that sometimes they had to suffer for days. On the health of fighters, this is often reflected in an extremely negative manner, and therefore the initiative of domestic aircraft builders in this area is worthy of all praise.

Ecology - first of all!

In accordance with the requirements of recent years, much work has been done in the field of noise reduction and emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere. As a result, IL-476 complies with all the latest ICAO standards. This immediately allowed "to open the sky" to new aircraft not only on almost all domestic routes, but also on the European track. Brussels has long criticized our aircraft for a high level of noise pollution, but now this problem has been completely eliminated.

Strange as it may seem, even the events of the 90s in their time could only slow down the development of the project, but not stop it. In the early 2000s, the new government decided to force the work on a new aircraft. Already at the beginning of 2007, preparatory work began to begin serial production of aircraft in Ulyanovsk.

Main technical characteristics of the machine

Nearest plans

It is planned that by 2020 the Ministry of Defense will receive at least 39 new Il-476 aircraft. Recently, pilots say that it is planned to constantly fly on a modernized IL-76MD-90A car, which will finally reveal and eliminate all possible design flaws. Alas, but the IL-476 still has some problems, which he inherited from the previous model. Before the start of mass production, they must be identified and eliminated without fail.

Engine supplies

It is reported that at the moment, no less than 156 PS-90A-76 engines are being prepared for delivery, which are intended for installation on new aircraft. The value of this contract (according to the data of the previous year) exceeds the mark of one billion US dollars. Their planned deliveries were to begin already last year. Apparently, everything went according to schedule.

The development and assembly of engines was carried out at Perm Engine Plant, which almost from the day of its foundation cooperates with the aviation industry and army structures. Simply put, this manufacturer is well aware of the specific conditions that all his products must withstand.

Stability and controllability!

It should be noted that the predecessor of the new car, the Il-76MD-90A, first took off for air for only two years. In the cockpit was the most experienced crew, commanded by Hero of Russia Nikolai Kuimov. In the air, the plane was exactly one hour and 55 minutes. The commander acknowledged that the new car is distinguished by its excellent exchange rate stability, there were absolutely no claims to its handling.

In October of the same year, the aircraft was first demonstrated to the President of Russia, V.V. Putin. On the same day, the largest contract between the manufacturer and the Ministry of Defense was signed at that time, according to which by 2020 the army should receive exactly 39 Il-476 aircraft, the characteristics of which were very impressive for the military. The contract cost was exactly 140 billion rubles. A great gift for the domestic industry, which the authorities in previous years did not spoil large orders!

First flight testing

For the first time, the Il-476 aircraft was fully tested in the past year. According to their results, the car was recognized as fully meeting all the customer's requirements. Further testing and debugging are carried out on the polygon belonging to "Ilu". In the summer of 2013 the new flagship of domestic cargo aviation was presented for the first time to foreign customers. It happened at the famous MAKS airshow.

In June last year, the first IL-476, the characteristics of which are given in this article, was finally pumped out of the hangar for assembly. The caisson of the wing and the centroplane was checked for their complete tightness (with fuel). After that, almost finished aircraft went for painting. Here it is something to dwell in more detail, since this process was seriously adapted to the new Russian aircraft.

Information on the color of the fuselage

The fact is that for the first time in the history of Russian aircraft construction, domestic enamels of VE-69 and VE-71 of polyurethane type were used. The paint was specially developed by the whole research institute (aviation materials) specially for the Il-476 aircraft. Production allows you to obtain a non-glossy (traditionally used dye), and a matte paint.

It is better distributed over the fuselage, it has higher properties in the protection of the hull material from aggressive chemicals. In addition, this dye practically does not wear off. Since transport workers often have to fly in extremely difficult conditions, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of such innovation.

About the "genealogy"

The first aircraft not only received a coloring, which was approved in the Ministry of Defense itself, but also own name "Ulyanovsk". The name of the city and the coat of arms were specially printed directly on the nose of the car. All subsequent aircraft of this series will be assigned the names of those great people whose homeland was the Ulyanovsk region.

What is different from its predecessor? Test-pilot's opinion

The new Il-476 aircraft, whose characteristics are described in detail in the article, is intended both for the carriage of a wide variety of civil and military cargoes and for the transport of amphibious weapons, including self-propelled vehicles and light infantry vehicles. It is structurally provided for the possibility of taking on board one and a half hundred personnel.

Modern flight and navigation equipment ("glass cabin") allows you to dramatically reduce the load on the crew, greatly expands the overview and provides high flight safety. At the navigator's workplace there is a personal display panel, on which the most important flight data is displayed in real time.

Oleg Ganovich, who is a professional test pilot, talks about the differences between the Ukrainian transporter An-70 and Il-476: "With the take-off, the new engines give excellent acceleration, also amazed the new reverse mechanism, thanks to which after landing, the speed can be extinguished much faster. We also liked the new indicators showing the speed of climb ... Pilots and engineers now have their own flight indicators that help to make decisions much faster even in difficult situations. "

Simplify work

Simply put, the new Il-476 transport aircraft helps its crew to receive and read flight and navigation information faster. Spatial position of the new generation aircraft can be determined quickly and practically without errors in any weather, during a flight over all types of terrain. In the previous car, all this was done solely by the navigator, the load on which sometimes increased enormously.

Now the Il-476 cockpit (photo is in the article) has so many indicators that all this information can be obtained by any pilot, being deprived of the need to be distracted by negotiations with the navigator.

All work on the domestic aircraft was carried out exclusively in electronic form, on the newest computer equipment and special programs. All this made it possible to minimize the probability of design errors and errors. In general, the old equipment, which still continues to be used in domestic aircraft manufacturing, many new parts for this aircraft design and produce is simply unrealistic.

Current state of the manufacturing plant

At present, the development of Aviastar-SP, where the new aircraft will be serially produced, is proceeding at a tremendous pace. It is reported that to date in the building hangars there are at least 13 machines at different stages of assembly. The government set the task to bring the release of at least 18 aircraft a year. In addition to the 39 planes mentioned above for the needs of the army, the military wants to order at least 50 more cars.

In addition, representatives of the Ministry of Emergencies showed interest in the new technology, which already plans to buy about six aircraft. According to representatives of the plant, it is also planned to purchase some departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service, as well as a number of foreign customers.

In addition, the plant is engaged in the assembly and repair of An-124-100 "Ruslan", which in our country is still a lot. In small quantities, Tu-204SM aircraft are produced. It is also planned to deploy the production of new MS-21s at the facilities of the enterprise. Simply put, the plant has enough orders to date. I am glad that most of them will strengthen the defense capacity of our country.