IL 62M aircraft: specifications, history and photos

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

If the transport system is the blood of any economy in the world, then passenger transportation can be called the "plasma" of this very blood. The better, faster and better the state is able to move people across its territory, the fewer “bear corners” remain, the easier it is to establish interaction between the entire state apparatus. This was well understood in the USSR. The result of the work of many design bureaus was IL 62M.

A breakthrough passenger plane at that time proved that the Soviet industry was capable of not only producing military equipment on an impressive scale.

Key Features

The aircraft is characterized by rear engines and a special suspension design. It was developed in the legendary Ilyushin Design Bureau and subsequently patented in nine countries. They included Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan. It is not surprising that the IL 62M became so famous, the star on the fuselage of which was a kind ofhigh quality guarantee.

The machine is distinguished by an extremely rational distribution of masses, due to which its mass is almost identical to aircraft with engines under the wing. A distinctive feature of the IL 62M, the characteristics of which we are considering, is an unusual, stepped realization of the leading edges of the wings (in the form of a beak). This made it possible to provide the aircraft with excellent stability, including critical angles of attack. The wing was also made using the latest caisson technology, which involves cheap pressing. This made it possible not only to lighten, but also significantly strengthen the entire structure.

Plumage is made according to the T-shaped scheme, and its weight and size characteristics are much less than almost all analogues. Despite some shortcomings of this approach, this implementation made it possible to significantly improve the controllability and reliability of the new machine, from the design of which unnecessarily bulky and far from always reliable solutions were removed.

Fuel tanks are located on the entire wing span, including the center section. The IL-62M aircraft is unique, if only because it allows you to take off with one failed engine. The car can fly and land, generally having two failed motors. Multiple redundancy of all systems, borrowed from space and military technology, makes it possible to increase the reliability of all avionics by an order of magnitude.

Reasons for developing a new machine

The growth of passenger and freight traffic in the USSR falls on the second half of the 50s, whenintroduced aircraft with gas turbine propulsion systems. These machines made it possible to transport a large amount of cargo at a time, and this could be done in the shortest possible time. This was the reason that from 1950 to 1959 the volume of these cargo transportations grew tenfold at once.

It is not surprising that economists and civil aviation specialists almost immediately received an order to create a cheap and unpretentious aircraft as soon as possible, allowing the transportation of people and goods within the territory of the entire Union.

Successes of Ilyushin Design Bureau

Only the Ilyushin Design Bureau by that time already had sufficient experience and resources, and therefore it was its specialists who were the first to start designing a new type of aircraft. Already in 1960, Ilyushin himself turned to the USSR government with a proposal to create a machine, which would later receive the name IL 62M. It was supposed to equip the aircraft with RD-23-600 engines, the development of which was carried out under the guidance of the talented S. K. Tumansky.

Intended Features

At first, the designers assumed that the aircraft could carry from 50 to 150 passengers. The range was planned to "fit" within 4500-8500 km. The designers wanted to place the engines in the tail section. In general, the IL-62M prototype was supposed to be based on the IL-18 concept. Also inspired by the French car "Caravel" with its stabilizers at half the height of the keel.

Since even the conjectural concept of the future IL 62M was excellentworked out, the Council of Ministers of the USSR quickly accepted this proposal. The resolution called for the development of an aircraft that could fly a distance of at least 4,500 km in economy class, while having 165 passenger seats. It was also envisaged the creation of a "luxury" car of the first class. Its flight range was already 6700 km and 100 … 125 seats for passengers, respectively. At the same time, the Design Bureau under the leadership of Kuznetsov was instructed to create a new NK-8 engine.

Layout Features

For the first time in the history of the entire Soviet aircraft industry, a scheme with a tail engine was chosen. This was not done by accident. The fact is that as a result of using such a design solution, it was possible to obtain a "clean" wing with excellent aerodynamics. These characteristics were vital for the aircraft, which was supposed to be released even on the country's long-distance air routes.

In addition, such a scheme involved the installation of a more reliable and simple wing mechanization. Given that the engines were located at a considerable distance from the tanks, the safety of passengers increased dramatically if, for some reason, a fire broke out. In addition, which is also extremely important on long flights, the noise level in the passenger compartment was significantly reduced, and the negative impact on the aircraft structure of the outgoing jet stream formed by extremely high-temperature gases was reduced to almost zero.

Since the power plants were located as far as possibleclose to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, it was possible to minimize the extremely dangerous yaw effect that occurred when one of the engines failed. Finally, the same scheme involved the rejection of an excessively large tail, which made it possible to significantly reduce the total mass of the machine (theoretically).

Today we can say with confidence that the creation of TU passenger aircraft is not least the merit of the Ilyushin Design Bureau. It was the specialists of this design bureau who, for the first time in the domestic aircraft industry, not only embodied a new development concept in metal, but also brought it to perfection.

Disadvantages of the new layout

But the tail-engined variant also had disadvantages, some of which were quite significant. Firstly, the mass of the aircraft eventually increased, as it was necessary to additionally strengthen the entire tail section. In addition, the wings were no longer unloaded by the engines (they allow you to reduce the stress in the material).

Secondly, due to the placement of the engines so far, it was necessary to significantly lengthen the entire fuel equipment, which negatively affected the overall reliability of the design. Finally, due to the "pressing" of the engines on the tail, the entire alignment of the aircraft changed dramatically, which also caused a lot of problems for both the designers and the pilots who operated this aircraft.

Why was this scheme adopted anyway?

It's all about balancing the good and the bad. When the engineers examined in detail the draft diagrams of the IL 62M,the characteristics of which turned out to be breakthrough for their time, they nevertheless made a positive decision to put into production exactly the version with the rear engine. In fairness, it should be said that this happened after a tense debate. And the specialists can be understood: in order to implement this scheme, many difficult layout issues had to be resolved.

So, especially for the IL 62M (the Ministry of Emergency Situations especially appreciated this) a unique navigation system was created that allows you to fly and land the aircraft in the most adverse weather and meteorological conditions. For the first time, a completely automatic control system was used, which, even today, is not something ordinary for aircraft of this size and carrying capacity. The highest reliability and unpretentiousness are the main distinguishing features of the IL 62M. The USSR (86513 board is one of the few sad exceptions) once again managed to create a really simple but excellent car.

Basic performance characteristics

• Full span, meters - 43, 2.
• Total wing surface area, m² - 279.55.
• Maximum fuselage length, meters - 53, 12.
• Main hull length, meters - 49.00.
• Average body height, meters - 12, 35.
• Wing sweep, degrees - 32, 5° (25% chord line).
• Maximum flight range, kilometers - 10,000-11,050.
• Maximum flight weight, tons - 161.6 (165/167 for modifications).
• Chassis base, meters - 24, 48.
• Maximum chassis track, meters- 6, 8.
• Cruising speed - 850 km/h.
• The speed limit is 870 km/h.
• Height ceiling, kilometers - 12.

What is the difference between cars with the index "M" from their predecessors?

These aircraft, which are modifications of the simple Il-62, have D-30KU turbofan engines. They are much more economical and better comply with international environmental regulations. The keel and stabilizers of these machines were given the best form in terms of aerodynamics. By installing a new reversing device, engineers were able to significantly reduce air resistance in flight. By increasing the capacity of the onboard fuel system, these machines can make longer flights.

Some of the flight equipment was also replaced, more electronics were added to the aircraft design. In addition, due to the numerous requests of the pilots, a modern air conditioning system was added to the cockpit. It made it possible to significantly reduce the degree of fatigue of pilots during long flights, especially on international routes.

In closing

The machine has been repeatedly tested for compliance with all international standards. Until now, IL 62M, whose interior is familiar to many natives of the USSR, is operated both domestically and on international lines. For the first time in the history of domestic civil aircraft construction, most of these aircraft were made for export, and some countries preferred to rent these aircraft for their domestic transportation. Such is the storyaircraft IL 62M.