| Ilyushin Il-96 |
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The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-range Russia n 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 Winglet s, 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 235 passengers in a three-class configuration is about 4,850 nautical miles (9,000 km), allowing flights from Moscow to US west coast cities, a far improvement over the Ilyushin Il-86 , but still inferior to the performance of the Airbus A340 and the later versions of the Boeing 777 . It is used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a VIP plane. The aircraft, however, has a nickname of "Poor man's Boeing 767 " by Russian Media. 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 aircrafts 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. So far, neither airline made good on that promise. 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 . 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 without Title} . 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 without Title} . 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. It is 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. Other versions
SPECIFICATIONS (IL-96-300)
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