My dad was a pilot. I’ll always remember him telling me that for him the 154 remains the most beautiful passenger airplane ever created. Couldn’t agree more.
The Tu-154 is a great aircraft,and much maligned,and was designed for use in harsh and adverse conditions,including unpaved runways.Most of the hull losses were due to either maintenance issues and pilot error rather than the aircraft itself,which,unfortunately gave it a bad reputation.Shame there are so few flying today. Alrosa still are,which is great,and may they continue to do so❤😎👍.
the bad reputation was given by assholes because those of us who know about aviation know that it is a very capable as the best reactors in the history of the twentieth century ignorant people want new planes and DO NOT know that former SOVIET aircraft are EXACT BEAUTIFUL and made to serve In RUDE jobs, occidentakes are disposable like their countries at sunset ahh-? and so ugly only 727-200 is very beautiful but those hateful A-320s 737s only cheap for the airlines but without beauty of designs
@@darkstar2111 =Do not fool yourself and you heard it from the same recording of the black box once and several times Do not be ignorant go to slap the president POLAKO culero who was so foolish
Soviet aviation is very underrated. They produced some of the most robust and good looking aircraft ever flown. I regret not having been able to have taken any trips on them.
@MrSomebodyyyyit's stupid to call things crap just because they are incompatible with your economy, needs and values. Soviet aircraft suited the Soviet Union perfectly. They didn't suit the capitalist Russia and thus were replaced by the products of capitalism.
This is the only Soviet aircraft I ever had the opportunity to fly in. Exceptional performance, and fold-flat seats. The year was 2000 and was on Sibir (now S7) Airlines.
"Not obsolete by next Monday." 😭😭. The T-154 is my second fav of the Soviet era jet transport designs behind the IL-62. I absolutely love the way the mains do that 180deg rearward retract into the wing pods. Very cool. Your voice is perfect for these vids. Thanks for the upload.
Those main landing gear look like what might have really worked on the XB-70. McGovern said he would have built them, but I don't know where else the U.S. would get the titanium except from USSR of course.
I flew on one once. It was an internal military flight (provided for civilians) in central China. Very impressive. It was an experience I will never forget. It was a very steep takeoff and fast landing at a military base outside Beijing in 1997. We managed to loose a suitcase, but the staff at the base kept it safe. Count your cases on, then count them off. It had a very basic cabin interior, all seats faced aft. The drinks trolley had no wheels, so it was effectively a table. Took off on time & landed on time tho. 👍💯
The TU-154 was a solid and durable workhorse for many years - yeah they took some design cues from the 727 including the triple slotted flaps and engine layout but the engines were for years excess to requirements power-wise and they had triple wheeled main bogies to allow them to land on just about any surface. The engines sounded awesome as well.
This is my favorite airliner mainly because it can fly to places other planes can't go and also it simply looks cool, ha ha! I got to fly on a few of these with Aeroflot before they were pulled from service.
apart from that they were very feared at washintong n york mexico ankorage (alaska) They were not allowed to touch the terminals because they have MILITARY plates CCCP-86 all Il62s & il86 or IlW - CCCP 85 all ty154b2 M CCCP 65all ty134-a3 b-3 greetings from MEXICO north MONTERREY NL +
The il 86 was under powered because the ussr at the time had no high bypass turbofans, even though someone told me rolls Royce had talks with Soviet airlines to build a licensed copy of the Rb 211
Love how most soviet airliners of this period look like fighter jets. They're just sexier than Western planes. I mean, the BAC One Eleven is butt ugly.
Russian planes always had that so-ugly-it's-sexy look. I don't know if it's due to their specific requirements to operate in very harsh conditions, or because of the historical lack of modern CAD and advanced materials, or because their design methods and principles were generally different from those used in the West, but I definitely love it. The Concorde might be the gracious, beautiful, sexy woman of the skies, but it's counterpart the Tu-144 looks like part bomber, part fighter jet and part space shuttle, all blended together in Frankenstein's mind. It's a style we might never see again and I for one definitely miss it!
I quite like the BAC 1-11; I find the DC-9 ugly, although the DC-8 doesn’t look half as bad with the same cockpit. The VC-10 is just beautiful, but I have to agree the TU-104, 134 and so on are cool looking aircraft. Problem is a lot are riddled with accidents and incidents.
The BAC 1-11 was a tough, reliable airplane, with great instant spool-up Rolls Royce engines, and many new innovations for the era in which it was produced. It preceded the DC-9, and was perfect for its intended purpose, to carry about 80 passengers (100 on the longer 500 models) on shorter routes, much as the current CRJ series and Embraer aircraft do. Of course, I might be a bit biased, having logged about 9,000 in the type, about half in each seat.
Your videos are very interesting and informative! Got you a sub here. I am a lifelong aviation enthusiast (62 years old) and also a Cold War veteran (US Army 1984-88) and a degree holder in Russian and East European Studies. I enjoy your “on the other side of the ‘Iron Curtain’” perspective. Keep up the good work.
I flew with a Tu 154 from Siberia to Hanover Germany in 1995. It is one of the best and most beautiful airplanes I have ever flown with. Mother Russia, I miss and love you
The Tu-154 was bl...y loud and is no longer allowed to land on many airports - like the Boeing 727. So it was phased out like the Boeing 727. Another reason was a high fuel consumption.
I had been hoping that you would cover the Tu-154 - One of the most graceful jetliners ever! Used to see them around Heathrow until well into the naughties. Instantly recognisable with the iconic 3-pair bogies and those sexy drooping wings. Looks like a jet fighter assigned to family duty.
And in many respects, it was. This aircraft was essentially over engineered, and a lot of soviet military design went into many elements of its design. The aircraft was quite capable of travelling at the top end of subsonic speeds (transonic?) and I was indeed privileged to witness this during a night flight from Lagos to Tripoli which took off one hour late, but still arrived in Tripoli right on time. The descent from operational altitude into Tripoli was rather.....very exciting and since, unparalleled.
= Tilman Jason Schultz = I was only 11 years old and I am a woman and I fell in love with the IL62M aeroflot in Mexico City I flew to MONTERREY my land in Mexican Airlines 727-200 1976 and there I was parked on the platform and looked at it a thousand times and I did not understand what it said and what model it was -? no 707 dc-8 727 dc-9 or vc10 British also fly to MEXICO 3 times x week and ask in room D intl departures there was the aeroflot counter and he told me ´´our plane is SOVIETICO is an ILYUSHIN 62M CCCP-86478 I drew it and from there to today 2019 the idolaters there too (mexico city) I met the Ty-154b2 antonov 12 ilyushin 18D yakovlev 42 D all of Cubana the flight from 1975 to 2001 the visit of IL-62Ma was finished my country without any Cuban incident volo Many years the flight prohibited for all airlines in AMERIC = Havana - Saal (Cape Verde) Luanda Maputo Mozabyque - and Harare Simbawe 0 incidents in any transatlantic flight of the IL62 HISTORY and look at this link today 2019 in VENEZUELA PARKEADO ARRANGING Russya LOS DESTINATIONS OF YOUR FRIENDS for US hatred + =
Great aircraft - flown on a few with over in Far East Russia on KrasAir in the early 2000's - enjoyed the fact that the cabin crew all went to go for a cigarette once the seatbelt signs went out despite it being a non smoking flight.
I flew this plane in the mid-1980's, going from Montreal to Cuba and back. It struck me as being very sturdily built--even the interior appointments in the cabin (mirrors, etc.) were heavy and overbuilt. The seats were not very comfortable (thin padding). And that landing gear--it looked to me at the time that this plane had been built to land on dirt runways, and it turns out I was right! The TU 154 was quite a contrast to the Boeing equipment you usually encountered on U.S. airlines at that time.
still captivating in the 21st century guys and grown-ups to engineers and lovers who can SEE the super aerodynamic beauty of all their 60s models today still flying as usual
@@cytrynowy_melon6604 = that's your poor opinion-? but everyone's is that the TUPOLEV154b2 or M was the BEST of the 5 1.- yak-40 yak-42D boeing 727-200 Hawker Siddley Trident the TU-154 was the longest of all 48meters 11.50 high but it was also the longest range and power x reactor (Kuzhnetzov = 10,500kg thrust x 3, 5,700 kilometers autonomy you are myopic is the most beautiful reactor 2.- its strange way of folding its landing gear and its boggies 6. tires you are myopic
Delightful video, as usual! Sky is simply the best narration host! The TU-154 was such a beautiful aircraft. It’s longevity is a testament to its excellence. 💛😎
Thank you Sky! more people need to hear about the Tu-155. It appears that LNG airliners are no longer in development. Would have been very exciting to see a switch to LNG for subsonic transport. Guess I will have to put the TU-155 next to the Buran for aerospace dreams killed by the collapse of the USSR. Maybe you could do a "Broken Dreams" video sometime :)
I flew on one in 1985 or 86. New York to Guyana on Guyana Airways. The interior was spartan but the plane felt very solid. Awaiting new Russian planes, the MC-21 is coming soon.
The TU-154 was not a death trap. Indeed, for the years it was built and operated, it was and remains one of the most impressive passenger airliners I have ever flown on. The operational performance was amazing! Even the sounds of the engines were exhilarating!
Love Soviet aircraft, thank you for making these! And I love the way many have their main landing gear out on the wings and stow in pods. Wonder why more planes aren't like this? Seems more stable (spread further apart) AND saves lots of space in the belly for more cargo!
Believe it or not, I’ve trawled RUclips just to catch sight of those rear bogies tumbling head over heels as they stow aft into those bulbous prominent wing pods. Exhilarating to see! Such an amazing design - also reminiscent of a real life huge bird pulling itself into the sky, while tucking its legs neatly underneath itself for perfect streamlining. It’s equally fascinating watching those rear bogies deploy from their wing pods during the landing phase 🤓. And don't get me started on those unusual Anhedral wings, a design that seems more at home on a military fighter bomber aircraft. The TU-154 is doubtlessly the most attractive of all the T - Tailed Trijets.....and definitely the toughest of the lot.
Good designs tend to be shamelessly copied by others, so this may simply not be a good design. My suspicion is that it's a combination of aerodynamics and strength. Tumbling those bogies 180 degrees backwards like that requires a lot of articulation. More joints add more weight, maintenance and failure points, and reduce strength. I also suspect that increasing the size of the engine pods for the landing gear adds considerably more drag and turbulence around the wings versus bubbling out storage compartments from the main body where the airflow is less complex. Of course, the explanation could be even simpler: landing gears are outsourced to a handful of global manufacturers, who won't reinvent the wheel (heh) for each new aircraft but will simply adapt existing proven designs to cut costs and improve reliability.
Blade has it...it's a cool look to have the massive bogies retract rearward into the wings, and this design element was useful in the former USSR where the Tu-154 offered a combination of high capacity, long range and good landing performance on poor runways. Western aircraft did not need such massive landing gear, and so were able to stow in smaller belly spaces that resulted in a cleaner, lower-maintenance design.
@@blade-OT Landing gear are _produced_ by subcontractors, but the airliner makers dont just go and flip through their catalogue to see what gears are available. The subcontractors will build whatever the makers want, as long as it is worth their while. How do you think they got the Concorde's landing gear? Such a design is obviously built for that application, as were the 747's mains and DC10's middle gear. The B-47, B-52, Harrier, all gear that were obviously designed for a specific application, and I suspect such is the case with more planes than fewer. If more companies asked them to build Tu-154 style gear, they would be glad to do so. No one has asked, so there is no market, so they don't. Not that no one has asked because they don't make them!
For good reasons. Those pods add drag and interrupt airflow. They require a more complex, heavier and more expensive gear mechanism than needs more maintenance and is more likely to fail. More important, if you put the gear into the wings, the wing roots need to be strengthened to support all of the forces generated by supporting the weight of the plane on the gear, which is equivalent to many times the actual loaded weight of the plane. A typical airliners wing isn't stressed to more than 2-3, or 2-3 times the actual weight of the plane, _including_ the safety margin. But during hard landings, etc, the plane may see several times that on the main gear. If the gear are in the wings, the entire wing needs to be heavier and more expensive to safely support it. The wing of a 737 only needs to support several times its own (the wing plus one engine) weight on landing - basically the wing only needs to not fall off if the plane sets down a little hard. If the gear were in the wings, the whole structure would need to support the entire weight of the fuselage times however many G they think is sufficient safety margin. That is why out of all the airliners built since the 1940s almost _none_ of them put the gear in the wings, in spite of the modest benefits you list.
I flew the Tu-154 every chance I could. Aeroflot, Kazakhstan Airlines. Aeroflot now flies the Boring 737, complete with leather seats and new plane smell. Seating was always so arranged for decent amount of legroom, plus the seats (such as the ones in front of you) would fold forward. Usually a very comfortable flight.
The TU-154 holds an unhappy place in my heart. At the end of August 1998 I was booked on a flight from Quito, Ecuador to Havana. I was bumped when trying to board. As with most flights in Ecuador it was overbooked and I was told at the gate there was no seat left, even though I had a ticket with an assigned seat. While trying to book a flight to Guayaquil and get aboard another flight out of Educador I heard with all the other people in the airport that the flight had just crashed on takeoff. All but one of those on board was killed. I read a few months later that the cause of the crash was because of mechanical failure. The investigators supposedly blamed the failure to poor maintenance. Air Cubana didn't have the funds to replace worn screws? Something like that. I remember looking at the plane as it sat outside the gate. I assumed it was just a Boeing 727 at the time. It sure looked like one.
Very interesting . Well done . I flew it twice , once with Aeroflot (MOS-LED) and on Uzbekistan Airlines (TAS-Urguench) , an internal flight . I remember the the distinctive scream of the engines on landing . I think there was also the ability to apply reverse thrust in flight . Not too sure why .
Soviet planes tend to come in hot. In the event that the plane was landing on too short a runway, or just to give themselves some breathing room, pilots would apply reverse thrust just before touchdown. The Il-62 had this feature as well.
It suffers the same limitations of the Boeing 727, 3 older engines with little room to install newer engines. With the improvement in engine thrust and reliability most airlines choose 2 engine aircraft to reduce costs and fuel.
I once flew on one of those! In the late eighties took a trip to Budapest (leaving from Venice) and in one of the two trips (can't remember if going or coming back) the airplane was precisely that one. On the other flight it was its smaller cousin, the Tu-134, and that particular model still had the transparent nose, so it was one of the early ones! (But in that case it was all filled with avionics, so it probably had some upgrades).
Wonderful documentation. The Tu-154 is the best and most beautiful airliner in the world and it is sad, that this plane is in danger of extinction now.
For me the DC10 was the most beautiful airplane, but I deeply respect your favoring the 154. I had the distinct pleasure of flying the 154 in 1986 and also in 1989. Flights were from Moscow to Rostov Don, to Kiev, to Odessa, back to Moscow, then to Leningrad then Sheremetyevo. All flights were just " super ", absolutely perfect, I at the time told my travelling companion, this plane is better than the 727, greetings from Chicago ORD.
Beautiful airliner ! That seems to be a constant with Soviet made planes, even if they are sometimes inspired by foreign designs, they always end up being sexyer than their western counterpart in my eyes. Tu154 is a more elegant 727, Il96 a more elegant A340, Buran a more elegant space shuttle... Sad that in the commercial aviation industry they have been lagging behind in terms of ergonomics and efficiency to make a good impact on the market. I would enjoy seeing more of them on tarmacs.
This is very interesting. To get the Russian perspective on aviation issues like this is something I've not seen before, and it's much appreciated. I've worked with Russian aerospace engineers in my previous career (I'm retired), and it's clear that there was a lot of talent available back in those days.
I flew with these planes a couple of times back in the eighties, and I vividly recall the take off and climb performance of a nearly empty plane from Varna to Berlin. Amazing.
Vicker VC10 and Tu 154 can give each others high fives. Both are planes that were developed with special requirements of short/hot&high runways, thus sacrificed some economical efficiency to fit their jobs and were of little success as exports thus. When you mentioned the various classes in the seat layout, I started wondering what Marx and Engels would have thought of that… ^^)
You are correct. The TU-154 series was the aircraft of choice for Aeroflot’s Moscow - Lagos -Moscow flight schedules back in the day. With flights at least once a week for many years, Aeroflot never lost a single TU-154 flying to and from West African countries.
Eo Tunun = THE PROVISION OF THE idiot SEATS ARE NOT DESIGNED BY THE MANUFACTURERS the devouring airlines and money are the ones that require it and nobody can take you as if by your house in the air if there are spaces redicudso it is certain that you are fired and crashed in the Forward mamaparo you have to have where to cling to the reach of your arms for safeness or even support that you can understand perhaps on buses from 1040 to 2019 IF you have a lot of space -? or in the back seats of your AUTO ´´ idiot
Please put together a biography of the legendary pioneer Andrei Tupolev. I believe you have already gathered a lot of materiad on various Tupolev planes. So kindly fulfil this long felt need. Barring some old 3rd-rate Soviet footage there's no biography on this genius.
Flew it more than 30 times when I lived in Russia. Extremely smooth ride and great service. Everyone shared alcohol with me even though I was in first class most of the time.
Russians don’t drink alone, or so I’ve heard, and they only drink on special occasions. Meeting a new person who will share a drink is just such an occasion!
@@Justanotherconsumer you know, it’s refreshing to hear how Russians really are. Once I was at a bar and I was invited to drink with perfect strangers. It was the hotel lobby bar. Nevertheless, I didn’t drink alone. Yes, I can confirm this to be a fact; Russian don’t drink alone or like others to do so! You always toast for something; Salud, Cheers and To You, L Chayim, Nostrovia (seldom used). Peace!
Very good and interesting documentary on this iconic plane and some rare original footage, especially from the design phase. Well done and informative! Thanks for sharing this; very much enjoyed watching :-)
@@quoniam426 Yes it could. Concorde reached 20,700 metres altitude on March 16, 1973 in a test flight. Maximum service altitude was around 18,000 metres.
Regarding the stalls - It wasn't the engines that were blanked by the wings during the high angle of attack. It was the tail surfaces, specifically the horizontal stabilizer.
This comment is 4 years late, l am from Trinidad in the Caribbean,For informative purposes, Cuba was not the only country in the Americas that used TU 154, , Guyana Airways of Guyana used TU 154 in the 1980's.Their TU 154 landed a few times at Trinidad's Piarco International Airport.As a kid at the waving gallery I remember seeing that aircraft taxiing at the end of the runway.The pilots would activate the brakes and go full throttle on the engines for 5 minutes! It was loud,very very loud!! Then release the brakes! l remember just how fast the jet was on takeoff!Also Guyana Airways did have a IL 62 too!
12:50 pretty cool, looks like a big truck with a centrifugal VK-1 turbojet mounted on the front to blow snow off the runway. good use of surplus powerplants, I guess!
You sir should give classes on how to create a RUclips video. Another well thought out, well prepared video with a voice over narrative that flows like your are just explaining to your friends the information you have on the topic. So many youtube presenters think it’s ok to just wing it. Furthermore what a wonderfully plane. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Russia has always had good air designs even today. Not every plane produced can be a take over the world design. Still Russia has always been a leader in air design. How do we find out more about you? Your background and maybe education and other info?
I fly the Tushka in my X-Plane simulator. With this film i received a good info abt Flightlevel an speed. Thanks for that detailed information. When i fly between GDR and Russia the TU-154 is my prefered. Thanks for the report.
Great video, my favorite civil aviation aircraft, a real beauty. However no mention of the M model. Never had the opportunity to fly in one, they are uncommon in this part of the world (South America) I think Cubana had a few of them.
I have been there as a schoolchild. First flight in my life, in fact. Don't remember anything about the noise, only that i talked with my mom sitting in the next seat.
My dad was a pilot. I’ll always remember him telling me that for him the 154 remains the most beautiful passenger airplane ever created. Couldn’t agree more.
Pipped by the 727...?
@@IceMan-il7dx I have no doubt honestly. Still - it looks different enough and more vulgar/beautiful
Airbus,Boeing am I a joke to you?
@@IceMan-il7dx 727 pipped by 154, this came earlier!
@@36_snaps no doubt! they both are jokes!
You know your Russian accent made this videos so authentic, like a cherry on the top of a cake ;))))
Just like Wings of Russia series.
I love Russian accents speaking English.
@@exeuroweenie spasibo
DOSSE La-sheeuns
Boris Takenov.
The Tu-154 is a great aircraft,and much maligned,and was designed for use in harsh and adverse conditions,including unpaved runways.Most of the hull losses were due to either maintenance issues and pilot error rather than the aircraft itself,which,unfortunately gave it a bad reputation.Shame there are so few flying today.
Alrosa still are,which is great,and may they continue to do so❤😎👍.
Like the Omsk runway accident?
@@brianwong7285 ATC error.
Do you think an accident in Smolensk in 2010 was a pilot error?
the bad reputation was given by assholes because those of us who know about aviation know that it is a very capable as the best reactors in the history of the twentieth century ignorant people want new planes and DO NOT know that former SOVIET aircraft are EXACT BEAUTIFUL and made to serve In RUDE jobs, occidentakes are disposable like their countries at sunset ahh-? and so ugly only 727-200 is very beautiful but those hateful A-320s 737s only cheap for the airlines but without beauty of designs
@@darkstar2111 =Do not fool yourself and you heard it from the same recording of the black box once and several times Do not be ignorant go to slap the president POLAKO culero who was so foolish
Soviet aviation is very underrated. They produced some of the most robust and good looking aircraft ever flown. I regret not having been able to have taken any trips on them.
good looking ? yes . robust ? somewhat . but safe ? not at all
@@bigmedge727 was not much safer, tupolev had learnt from their mistakes
@@britishairways744 lol given TU’s record , they clearly didn’t learn from anyone’s mistakes
@MrSomebodyyyyit's stupid to call things crap just because they are incompatible with your economy, needs and values. Soviet aircraft suited the Soviet Union perfectly. They didn't suit the capitalist Russia and thus were replaced by the products of capitalism.
robust???? holy mother of russian propaganda. the comment section for this video is hillarious 😂
This is the only Soviet aircraft I ever had the opportunity to fly in. Exceptional performance, and fold-flat seats. The year was 2000 and was on Sibir (now S7) Airlines.
Just looked at their fleet . Sadly no more Russian planes .
My First flight was on a Tu 154
flight back to Manchester very comfortable
"Not obsolete by next Monday." 😭😭. The T-154 is my second fav of the Soviet era jet transport designs behind the IL-62. I absolutely love the way the mains do that 180deg rearward retract into the wing pods. Very cool. Your voice is perfect for these vids. Thanks for the upload.
Me too!
Those main landing gear look like what might have really worked on the XB-70. McGovern said he would have built them, but I don't know where else the U.S. would get the titanium except from USSR of course.
I flew on one once. It was an internal military flight (provided for civilians) in central China. Very impressive. It was an experience I will never forget. It was a very steep takeoff and fast landing at a military base outside Beijing in 1997. We managed to loose a suitcase, but the staff at the base kept it safe. Count your cases on, then count them off. It had a very basic cabin interior, all seats faced aft. The drinks trolley had no wheels, so it was effectively a table. Took off on time & landed on time tho. 👍💯
The TU-154 was a solid and durable workhorse for many years - yeah they took some design cues from the 727 including the triple slotted flaps and engine layout but the engines were for years excess to requirements power-wise and they had triple wheeled main bogies to allow them to land on just about any surface. The engines sounded awesome as well.
This is my favorite airliner mainly because it can fly to places other planes can't go and also it simply looks cool, ha ha! I got to fly on a few of these with Aeroflot before they were pulled from service.
I don't think a bad photo could ever be taken of this airplane. Its beautiful!
I miss the 154 and 134, even the IL62 and IL86... Soviet Airlines of that time had so much character
apart from that they were very feared at washintong n york mexico ankorage (alaska) They were not allowed to touch the terminals because they have MILITARY plates CCCP-86 all Il62s & il86 or IlW - CCCP 85 all ty154b2 M CCCP 65all ty134-a3 b-3 greetings from MEXICO north MONTERREY NL +
@@luchatrokaalvaradoguajardo5185 What do the US have to do with this?
@@aviationlba747Hes mentioning the places where the countries were sketched out about Soviet Airliners.
The il 86 was under powered because the ussr at the time had no high bypass turbofans, even though someone told me rolls Royce had talks with Soviet airlines to build a licensed copy of the Rb 211
If it looks good it will fly good. Tu-154 was a beautiful aircraft.
Самый красивый самолёт гражданского воздушного флота у русских 👍
The most beautiful aircraft of the Russian civilian air fleet 👍
I remember , as an airport worker , hearing how beautiful the landing this plane makes . One day , I witnessed it myself . They were damn right !
Reverse thrust, touch down... :D
Love how most soviet airliners of this period look like fighter jets. They're just sexier than Western planes. I mean, the BAC One Eleven is butt ugly.
Russian planes always had that so-ugly-it's-sexy look. I don't know if it's due to their specific requirements to operate in very harsh conditions, or because of the historical lack of modern CAD and advanced materials, or because their design methods and principles were generally different from those used in the West, but I definitely love it. The Concorde might be the gracious, beautiful, sexy woman of the skies, but it's counterpart the Tu-144 looks like part bomber, part fighter jet and part space shuttle, all blended together in Frankenstein's mind. It's a style we might never see again and I for one definitely miss it!
I quite like the BAC 1-11; I find the DC-9 ugly, although the DC-8 doesn’t look half as bad with the same cockpit.
The VC-10 is just beautiful, but I have to agree the TU-104, 134 and so on are cool looking aircraft. Problem is a lot are riddled with accidents and incidents.
The BAC 1-11 was a tough, reliable airplane, with great instant spool-up Rolls Royce engines, and many new innovations for the era in which it was produced. It preceded the DC-9, and was perfect for its intended purpose, to carry about 80 passengers (100 on the longer 500 models) on shorter routes, much as the current CRJ series and Embraer aircraft do. Of course, I might be a bit biased, having logged about 9,000 in the type, about half in each seat.
"9,000 hours"
I always thought theu all had that not washed in 20 years look even when brand new.
Your videos are very interesting and informative! Got you a sub here.
I am a lifelong aviation enthusiast (62 years old) and also a Cold War veteran (US Army 1984-88) and a degree holder in Russian and East European Studies. I enjoy your “on the other side of the ‘Iron Curtain’” perspective. Keep up the good work.
I flew with a Tu 154 from Siberia to Hanover Germany in 1995. It is one of the best and most beautiful airplanes I have ever flown with. Mother Russia, I miss and love you
Preferably one that would not become obsolete by next Monday ;-)
The Tu-154 was bl...y loud and is no longer allowed to land on many airports - like the Boeing 727. So it was phased out like the Boeing 727. Another reason was a high fuel consumption.
@@TheWuschelMUC He got that, I guessed. He just wrote it down to appreciate author's sense of humour in this expression.
I had been hoping that you would cover the Tu-154 - One of the most graceful jetliners ever! Used to see them around Heathrow until well into the naughties.
Instantly recognisable with the iconic 3-pair bogies and those sexy drooping wings. Looks like a jet fighter assigned to family duty.
And in many respects, it was. This aircraft was essentially over engineered, and a lot of soviet military design went into many elements of its design. The aircraft was quite capable of travelling at the top end of subsonic speeds (transonic?) and I was indeed privileged to witness this during a night flight from Lagos to Tripoli which took off one hour late, but still arrived in Tripoli right on time. The descent from operational altitude into Tripoli was rather.....very exciting and since, unparalleled.
=
Tilman Jason Schultz
= I was only 11 years old and I am a woman and I fell in love with the IL62M aeroflot in Mexico City I flew to MONTERREY my land in Mexican Airlines 727-200 1976 and there I was parked on the platform and looked at it a thousand times and I did not understand what it said and what model it was -? no 707 dc-8 727 dc-9 or vc10 British also fly to MEXICO 3 times x week and ask in room D intl departures there was the aeroflot counter and he told me ´´our plane is SOVIETICO is an ILYUSHIN 62M CCCP-86478 I drew it and from there to today 2019 the idolaters there too (mexico city) I met the Ty-154b2 antonov 12 ilyushin 18D yakovlev 42 D all of Cubana the flight from 1975 to 2001 the visit of IL-62Ma was finished my country without any Cuban incident volo Many years the flight prohibited for all airlines in AMERIC = Havana - Saal (Cape Verde) Luanda Maputo Mozabyque - and Harare Simbawe 0 incidents in any transatlantic flight of the IL62 HISTORY and look at this link today 2019 in VENEZUELA PARKEADO ARRANGING Russya LOS DESTINATIONS OF YOUR FRIENDS for US hatred + =
Been waiting for the TU154 video so long and realized I somehow missed it! Good work as usual! I really enjoy flying the TU154 in X-Plane :)
Great aircraft - flown on a few with over in Far East Russia on KrasAir in the early 2000's - enjoyed the fact that the cabin crew all went to go for a cigarette once the seatbelt signs went out despite it being a non smoking flight.
I flew this plane in the mid-1980's, going from Montreal to Cuba and back. It struck me as being very sturdily built--even the interior appointments in the cabin (mirrors, etc.) were heavy and overbuilt. The seats were not very comfortable (thin padding). And that landing gear--it looked to me at the time that this plane had been built to land on dirt runways, and it turns out I was right! The TU 154 was quite a contrast to the Boeing equipment you usually encountered on U.S. airlines at that time.
I've flown quite a few -B1 and -B2 series as a child. As far as the looks are concerned, it is still my favourite airliner. :)
Old russian airlines are designed with a striking soviet beauty.
still captivating in the 21st century guys and grown-ups to engineers and lovers who can SEE the super aerodynamic beauty of all their 60s models today still flying as usual
@@luchatrokaalvaradoguajardo5185 All trijets look good, doesn't matter if soviet or not.
@@cytrynowy_melon6604 = that's your poor opinion-? but everyone's is that the TUPOLEV154b2 or M was the BEST of the 5 1.- yak-40 yak-42D boeing 727-200 Hawker Siddley Trident the TU-154 was the longest of all 48meters 11.50 high but it was also the longest range and power x reactor (Kuzhnetzov = 10,500kg thrust x 3, 5,700
kilometers autonomy you are myopic is the most beautiful reactor 2.- its strange way of folding its landing gear and its boggies 6. tires you are myopic
@@cytrynowy_melon6604 = tu-154M -1984-2012 PAVEL SOLOVYEV power plant 11,000kg trhust x 3 727-200 3 Pratt &Whittney =7,200kg thrust x3
While all other civil aircrafts look almost the same, Soviet planes are different and they really look beautiful.
I had the pleasure of flying on the TU-154 on Air Koryo in 2012. A great airplane!
I've always been fascinated by the main gear retracting aft and folding, along with the wide track. Looks highly complex. Thanks for sharing.
Delightful video, as usual! Sky is simply the best narration host! The TU-154 was such a beautiful aircraft. It’s longevity is a testament to its excellence. 💛😎
Obviously Tu-154 The Russian Universally Reputed Aviation Technologies.
Thanks 154 - I learned to ski in 1996 Bulgaria...'cause of You 😲
Thank you Sky! more people need to hear about the Tu-155. It appears that LNG airliners are no longer in development. Would have been very exciting to see a switch to LNG for subsonic transport. Guess I will have to put the TU-155 next to the Buran for aerospace dreams killed by the collapse of the USSR. Maybe you could do a "Broken Dreams" video sometime :)
I used to see Cubana Tu-154s at the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica.
I saw them in Nassau. It looked like Pizarro to Superman, i.e. TU-154 to 727.
Bizarro...@@aerlial360
I flew on one in 1985 or 86. New York to Guyana on Guyana Airways. The interior was spartan but the plane felt very solid. Awaiting new Russian planes, the MC-21 is coming soon.
Omg THE best airliner ever❤️❤️❤️love the tu-154❤️❤️❤️
bhadbhabiefanaccount 33 it was a fucking death trap!
@@chrispaw1 that doesn't matter
The TU-154 was not a death trap. Indeed, for the years it was built and operated, it was and remains one of the most impressive passenger airliners I have ever flown on. The operational performance was amazing! Even the sounds of the engines were exhilarating!
A beautiful Soviet aircraft and on face value looks very similar to the British VC-10, both extremely beautiful
Love Soviet aircraft, thank you for making these! And I love the way many have their main landing gear out on the wings and stow in pods. Wonder why more planes aren't like this? Seems more stable (spread further apart) AND saves lots of space in the belly for more cargo!
Believe it or not, I’ve trawled RUclips just to catch sight of those rear bogies tumbling head over heels as they stow aft into those bulbous prominent wing pods. Exhilarating to see! Such an amazing design - also reminiscent of a real life huge bird pulling itself into the sky, while tucking its legs neatly underneath itself for perfect streamlining. It’s equally fascinating watching those rear bogies deploy from their wing pods during the landing phase 🤓.
And don't get me started on those unusual Anhedral wings, a design that seems more at home on a military fighter bomber aircraft.
The TU-154 is doubtlessly the most attractive of all the T - Tailed Trijets.....and definitely the toughest of the lot.
Good designs tend to be shamelessly copied by others, so this may simply not be a good design. My suspicion is that it's a combination of aerodynamics and strength. Tumbling those bogies 180 degrees backwards like that requires a lot of articulation. More joints add more weight, maintenance and failure points, and reduce strength. I also suspect that increasing the size of the engine pods for the landing gear adds considerably more drag and turbulence around the wings versus bubbling out storage compartments from the main body where the airflow is less complex. Of course, the explanation could be even simpler: landing gears are outsourced to a handful of global manufacturers, who won't reinvent the wheel (heh) for each new aircraft but will simply adapt existing proven designs to cut costs and improve reliability.
Blade has it...it's a cool look to have the massive bogies retract rearward into the wings, and this design element was useful in the former USSR where the Tu-154 offered a combination of high capacity, long range and good landing performance on poor runways. Western aircraft did not need such massive landing gear, and so were able to stow in smaller belly spaces that resulted in a cleaner, lower-maintenance design.
@@blade-OT Landing gear are _produced_ by subcontractors, but the airliner makers dont just go and flip through their catalogue to see what gears are available. The subcontractors will build whatever the makers want, as long as it is worth their while. How do you think they got the Concorde's landing gear? Such a design is obviously built for that application, as were the 747's mains and DC10's middle gear. The B-47, B-52, Harrier, all gear that were obviously designed for a specific application, and I suspect such is the case with more planes than fewer. If more companies asked them to build Tu-154 style gear, they would be glad to do so. No one has asked, so there is no market, so they don't. Not that no one has asked because they don't make them!
For good reasons. Those pods add drag and interrupt airflow. They require a more complex, heavier and more expensive gear mechanism than needs more maintenance and is more likely to fail. More important, if you put the gear into the wings, the wing roots need to be strengthened to support all of the forces generated by supporting the weight of the plane on the gear, which is equivalent to many times the actual loaded weight of the plane. A typical airliners wing isn't stressed to more than 2-3, or 2-3 times the actual weight of the plane, _including_ the safety margin. But during hard landings, etc, the plane may see several times that on the main gear. If the gear are in the wings, the entire wing needs to be heavier and more expensive to safely support it. The wing of a 737 only needs to support several times its own (the wing plus one engine) weight on landing - basically the wing only needs to not fall off if the plane sets down a little hard. If the gear were in the wings, the whole structure would need to support the entire weight of the fuselage times however many G they think is sufficient safety margin. That is why out of all the airliners built since the 1940s almost _none_ of them put the gear in the wings, in spite of the modest benefits you list.
Excellent job, nice video! I like so much the jazz music in this videos, keep it, congratulations!
I flew the Tu-154 every chance I could. Aeroflot, Kazakhstan Airlines. Aeroflot now flies the Boring 737, complete with leather seats and new plane smell. Seating was always so arranged for decent amount of legroom, plus the seats (such as the ones in front of you) would fold forward. Usually a very comfortable flight.
The TU-154 holds an unhappy place in my heart. At the end of August 1998 I was booked on a flight from Quito, Ecuador to Havana. I was bumped when trying to board. As with most flights in Ecuador it was overbooked and I was told at the gate there was no seat left, even though I had a ticket with an assigned seat. While trying to book a flight to Guayaquil and get aboard another flight out of Educador I heard with all the other people in the airport that the flight had just crashed on takeoff. All but one of those on board was killed. I read a few months later that the cause of the crash was because of mechanical failure. The investigators supposedly blamed the failure to poor maintenance. Air Cubana didn't have the funds to replace worn screws? Something like that. I remember looking at the plane as it sat outside the gate. I assumed it was just a Boeing 727 at the time. It sure looked like one.
Wow, what a sad but interesting story.
Very interesting . Well done . I flew it twice , once with Aeroflot (MOS-LED) and on Uzbekistan Airlines (TAS-Urguench) , an internal flight . I remember the the distinctive scream of the engines on landing . I think there was also the ability to apply reverse thrust in flight . Not too sure why .
Soviet planes tend to come in hot. In the event that the plane was landing on too short a runway, or just to give themselves some breathing room, pilots would apply reverse thrust just before touchdown. The Il-62 had this feature as well.
It suffers the same limitations of the Boeing 727, 3 older engines with little room to install newer engines.
With the improvement in engine thrust and reliability most airlines choose 2 engine aircraft to reduce costs and fuel.
Very cool plane!! What a glorious engine sound!
I once flew on one of those! In the late eighties took a trip to Budapest (leaving from Venice) and in one of the two trips (can't remember if going or coming back) the airplane was precisely that one. On the other flight it was its smaller cousin, the Tu-134, and that particular model still had the transparent nose, so it was one of the early ones! (But in that case it was all filled with avionics, so it probably had some upgrades).
Wonderful documentation. The Tu-154 is the best and most beautiful airliner in the world and it is sad, that this plane is in danger of extinction now.
For me the DC10 was the most beautiful airplane, but I deeply respect your favoring the 154. I had the distinct pleasure of flying the 154 in 1986 and also in 1989. Flights were from Moscow to Rostov Don, to Kiev, to Odessa, back to Moscow, then to Leningrad then Sheremetyevo. All flights were just " super ", absolutely perfect, I at the time told my travelling companion, this plane is better than the 727, greetings from Chicago ORD.
@@dc10fomin65
Thank you. I also respect your DC10 love. Also a three-holer. ^^
when you say efficiency, then i remembered that Kuznetsov NK-12 even consume less fuel per power than Modern Europrop TP-400
Beautiful airliner ! That seems to be a constant with Soviet made planes, even if they are sometimes inspired by foreign designs, they always end up being sexyer than their western counterpart in my eyes. Tu154 is a more elegant 727, Il96 a more elegant A340, Buran a more elegant space shuttle...
Sad that in the commercial aviation industry they have been lagging behind in terms of ergonomics and efficiency to make a good impact on the market. I would enjoy seeing more of them on tarmacs.
This is very interesting. To get the Russian perspective on aviation issues like this is something I've not seen before, and it's much appreciated. I've worked with Russian aerospace engineers in my previous career (I'm retired), and it's clear that there was a lot of talent available back in those days.
I flew with these planes a couple of times back in the eighties, and I vividly recall the take off and climb performance of a nearly empty plane from Varna to Berlin. Amazing.
U r lucky man!!! I wish I can fly any plane! 👍💪🖤❤️
The tu154 is my fav Russian aircraft, it has a beautiful shape to it and sounds great
On your "global penetration" map you missed Guyana, South America. Guyana Airways operated a Tu-154b and then a Tu-154m in the early 1980's!
Vicker VC10 and Tu 154 can give each others high fives. Both are planes that were developed with special requirements of short/hot&high runways, thus sacrificed some economical efficiency to fit their jobs and were of little success as exports thus.
When you mentioned the various classes in the seat layout, I started wondering what Marx and Engels would have thought of that… ^^)
You are correct. The TU-154 series was the aircraft of choice for Aeroflot’s Moscow - Lagos -Moscow flight schedules back in the day. With flights at least once a week for many years, Aeroflot never lost a single TU-154 flying to and from West African countries.
Eo Tunun
= THE PROVISION OF THE idiot SEATS ARE NOT DESIGNED BY THE MANUFACTURERS the devouring airlines and money are the ones that require it and nobody can take you as if by your house in the air if there are spaces redicudso it is certain that you are fired and crashed in the Forward mamaparo you have to have where to cling to the reach of your arms for safeness or even support that you can understand perhaps on buses from 1040 to 2019 IF you have a lot of space -? or in the back seats of your AUTO ´´ idiot
YEEEEEEEEEE- My favourite soviet airliner ❤️❤️❤️❤️ TU154 FOREVER
Please put together a biography of the legendary pioneer Andrei Tupolev. I believe you have already gathered a lot of materiad on various Tupolev planes. So kindly fulfil this long felt need. Barring some old 3rd-rate Soviet footage there's no biography on this genius.
had the pleasure to ride on IL62 many moons ago
and also had the pleasure to fly on IL86 the 1st wide body many moons ago
Flew on these a few times in 80's. The service, the plane, the smell. Looking back things look rosy...
It's a contest between this and the Tri Star for best looking tri jet ever...
I agree. Not that I personally like the trijet look, but these two are definitely what defines it.
Today I flew Tu-154 in RFS. Thanks to Rortos for adding this jet.
Watch your stuff basically daily, sometimes having to rewatch. Awesome content man, always well researched and presented. Wish u best fam
Also maybe not be obsolete by next Monday... that is gold right there
Flew it more than 30 times when I lived in Russia. Extremely smooth ride and great service. Everyone shared alcohol with me even though I was in first class most of the time.
Russians don’t drink alone, or so I’ve heard, and they only drink on special occasions.
Meeting a new person who will share a drink is just such an occasion!
@@Justanotherconsumer you know, it’s refreshing to hear how Russians really are. Once I was at a bar and I was invited to drink with perfect strangers. It was the hotel lobby bar. Nevertheless, I didn’t drink alone. Yes, I can confirm this to be a fact; Russian don’t drink alone or like others to do so! You always toast for something; Salud, Cheers and To You, L Chayim, Nostrovia (seldom used). Peace!
Very good and interesting documentary on this iconic plane and some rare original footage, especially from the design phase. Well done and informative! Thanks for sharing this; very much enjoyed watching :-)
Flew it twice. Surprising, it was as smooth as a magic carpet!
For some reason these videos are so soothing to watch
13:37 you probably meant twelve kilometers not twenty. Twenty would be some 60 000 feet.
yes, 40k feet is 12km ..
Was looking for this comment.
Even Concorde couldn't fly that high...
@@quoniam426 Yes it could. Concorde reached 20,700 metres altitude on March 16, 1973 in a test flight. Maximum service altitude was around 18,000 metres.
Regarding the stalls - It wasn't the engines that were blanked by the wings during the high angle of attack. It was the tail surfaces, specifically the horizontal stabilizer.
I just love this plane! It looks so sexy and interesting. I was always fascinated by this plane as a child.
I think you want to be alone with this plane?
The most beautiful airliner ever built!
And now am getting a book about the Tu-154 thanks Skyship
Sky; whenever I want to know anything about aircraft I check with you first.
I don't care what anyone says, I think this is such an elegant looking plane. It's sleeker than the 727.
Remember how we met in this plane a DC-10 of Turkish, rolling out of the hangar.
It looked like a starship compared to the Tu.
They finally got rid of the bomber nose... I guess they'd advanced to the point where navigation wasn't a matter of finding a road and following it...
This comment is 4 years late, l am from Trinidad in the Caribbean,For informative purposes, Cuba was not the only country in the Americas that used TU 154, , Guyana Airways of Guyana used TU 154 in the 1980's.Their TU 154 landed a few times at Trinidad's Piarco International Airport.As a kid at the waving gallery I remember seeing that aircraft taxiing at the end of the runway.The pilots would activate the brakes and go full throttle on the engines for 5 minutes! It was loud,very very loud!! Then release the brakes! l remember just how fast the jet was on takeoff!Also Guyana Airways did have a IL 62 too!
12:50 pretty cool, looks like a big truck with a centrifugal VK-1 turbojet mounted on the front to blow snow off the runway. good use of surplus powerplants, I guess!
I really enjoy starting up and flying this beauty on flight sims
You sir should give classes on how to create a RUclips video. Another well thought out, well prepared video with a voice over narrative that flows like your are just explaining to your friends the information you have on the topic. So many youtube presenters think it’s ok to just wing it. Furthermore what a wonderfully plane. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Russia has always had good air designs even today. Not every plane produced can be a take over the world design. Still Russia has always been a leader in air design. How do we find out more about you? Your background and maybe education and other info?
I have always loved T-tails. They have issues but they just look fast.
Very interesting video mate, thank you for enlightening me in great detail!!!
I fly the Tushka in my X-Plane simulator. With this film i received a good info abt Flightlevel an speed. Thanks for that detailed information. When i fly between GDR and Russia the TU-154 is my prefered. Thanks for the report.
Beautiful I love Soviét planes from CCCP AEROFLOT !
The Tu-154: Master of the Soviet Sky. King of the Lawn Darts.
The most beautiful plane of all!
Most beautiful of the trijets, along with the L1011s.
Remember seeing this old lady as a young boy in Düsseldorf (germany) from Aeroflot 🤩
Well done.
I flew on one from Moscow to Brazzaville in 1992. Then from Brazzsville to Malta and then Moscow, finally to London on an IL-86 to London.
On my flight sim, been flying this plane and I love it. Easy to control, flies smooth…… WHO the hell knew it’s 50+years old?
It’s only a game 🙄
I saw it taxiing in Budapest Airport. It looked like a Lamborghini among family cars.
Thank you again. I really look forward to your videos.
I think the TU-154 is the most beautiful aircraft.
one of the most beautifull aeroplanes....
Great video, my favorite civil aviation aircraft, a real beauty. However no mention of the M model. Never had the opportunity to fly in one, they are uncommon in this part of the world (South America) I think Cubana had a few of them.
The way you explain is just amazing!
yo sky, thanks for the great vids, but at 13:30, the flight ceiling should be 12km, not 20km. anyways safe fights and fast landings
I remember this model had an accident where i live (Quito). It was operated by Cubana de Aviación.
Why didnt you tell more about the crashes?
I love your content. Thank you.
When I think of a Soviet-era passenger jet aircraft: this one. 👍🏻❤️
To be honest, just cut out the narration and continuously play the sound of its mighty engines at takeoff.
@ 4:57 Low noise levels. 😂
That made me burst out laughing. If you've ever been on a TU-154 you know.
I have been there as a schoolchild. First flight in my life, in fact. Don't remember anything about the noise, only that i talked with my mom sitting in the next seat.
What about Yak-40 and Yak-42, the other trijets of the USSR
The Soloviev engines made a cool sound
Yes they did - like something straight out of Gerry Anderson’s original Thunderbirds TV series 😃👍
@@datathunderstorm Their whistle is unique. They sound great at any throttle.
I love this airplane! Very fast only taking off is like train ride :)