He has an excellent English vocabulary, too. Very talented content creator! I wish I understood more Russian to see what his videos in Russian are like.
The design of the wings of this aircraft are perhaps the most brilliant aircraft design I've ever seen. That shape deflects debris away from the engine intake and also from interfering with the elevators. It's really such a shame that we had (have and I hope not) the Cold War because imagine the amazing planes we would have built had we been smart enough to work together instead of against one another!
Sorry but the Wings of the Airbus 380 are a Masterpiece of Engininiering. Look so fragile and still can hold on that Behemoth of an airplane. But you are right,this Wings look Awesome,and are Awesome.
I flew as a passenger in 1993 from Stockholm to St Petersburg and landed on a really snowy airfield. On the return trip, we had the fortune to fly with her Oslo before returning to Stockholm. I remember it as being a charming flight, even though I was feeling really ill. It wasn't air sickness or something like that. I got searched by airport security in St Petersburg with them pointing AK47 at me. I was understandingly nervous after that. I got a pretty glasfiber lamp in a shop and it showed as something bad on their x-ray machines. At least they laughed at the guy that screamed bomb after seing the tv screen. I wasn't laughing. I thought, well,at least I got to be 18 years old. The staff aboard the Aeroflot machine treated me very nicely and switched me to first class. It was a cool experience after all.
@Danilo Metzger Well live and learn, don't bring potentially disturbing items in your luggage. I like the Russian mindset in the west they would have been on alert during that discovery and search but even after it was found there was no danger the officials still would be pricks (especially in the USA) while the Russians showed deprecating behavior and a sensor humor after they learned no danger was present.
@@watershed44 it was supposed to be checked luggage but we arrived late since my ticket was missing. We searched everywere and didn't find it. We had to buy a new ticket for me to get aboard. After all this, my father wanted to buy a burger at a local burger place in the airport in Sweden. He reached for his wallet, opened it and found my ticket. D'oh. So I didn't need to go through all this after all. I could laugh at it anyhow. I agree that the russians have a sence of humor that the us doesn't. But I have made a US agent laugh. I returned from my home country Chile via Miami and needed to stay at a hotel for a night. Dirt cheap flight but the agent thought I might stay. He asked me wy I didn't choose to stay in London for a night instead. I asked him, whay would you do? Stay in rainy London or sunny Miami? Hmmm. He laughed and let me in. Next day I continued to Sweden, about 30 hours later.
CSA operated the IL-62 to Singapore when I was just a young apprentice with the local airline's engineering department. We were invited onboard to tour the cockpit and I remembered observing how much more spacious and bright its cockpit was compared to the Boeings. It was so much easier to get into the pilot's seat because there was no control column in the way. The bright green paintwork of the instrument panels were quite unusual.
I'm glad I had great opportunity to fly with these old soviet giants in late 80s, in Il62, Tu134 and Tu154. I also spoke with pilots and they all praised natural and easy handling of Tu154, but they also told me that Il62 was very heavy and demanding to fly, like old military aircrafts. The best aviation experience I've ever had was, when CSA crew of almost brand new Tu 154M allowed me to join them in a cockpit for night approach and landing to Moscow. I was little kid these days but still can remember it very well.
I was a passenger in one of those from Cubana de Aviacion in the middle of 1990's. The only thing I remember is that when the flaps were deployed there was a huge noise and the whole thing shook.
I always loved the simple, straightforward reliable engineering solutions of Soviet vehicles. British engineers carefully balanced the VC10 and found solutions to problems that were caused by solutions to other problems which were in turn caused by solutions to initial problems. Soviets balanced the IL-62 for handling, found the c.o.g. was behind the main gear and instead of redesigning everything they simply said "Just put a retractable support in the tail" A direct solution that didn't cause other problems. I think people who called it a crutch were just envious of the incredibly simplistic solution to what they thought was a complex problem lol
The 727 had an even simpler solution: The engineer installed a four foot aluminum pole into a fitting under the tail and this prevented the tail from touching the ground if the CG were to shift aft during loading or unloading.
space-race: they needed a instrument to write aboard the capsules in outer space... The Americans spend a fortune inventing and developing what became the Fisher space-pen (with a tiny cartridge go CO2...) The Russians just brought a lead pencil...
@@GAUROCH2 while it would seem the sensible thing to do, the lead pencil will fragment into miniscule particles spreading through the capsule. Could these particles cause issues?...they wouldn't want to find out the hard way. The Yanks ultimately` did a brilliant job in getting to, landing on, and exiting the Moon first go. Their attention to detail is to be admired, not that I am denigrating the Russians though. The BBC did a superb audio series about the Moon Landing called 13 Minutes To The Moon - a magnificent series of 7 or 8 programs showing the ppl and obstacles overcome. It is really worth listening to.
As always I learned a lot. As a youngster, I dismissed the iL-62 as a “Commie” VC-10 imitation. Instead you show it to be a successful and pragmatic solution to Aeroflot’s needs. Excellent!
Same with the Tu-144. Actually, the Tu-144 flew higher, faster and had a lower stall speed. However, the egos of the two governments and ideologies behind their designs meant that Concorde's one crash killed it off 3 years after, whereas the Tu-144's crash turned it into a mostly cargo-carrying aircraft and then slowly retired after 20 years.
@@akshaygowrishankar7440 TU-144 was a nasty unbearable piece of rushed trash. Loud as hell, constantly requiring maintenance and ended up being used for post at one point. The Concorde was based on people, whereas the 144 remained as an ego booster.
@@bmc9504 but in several aspects, it was better. It was cheaper, wider, faster, flew higher, and could fly with minimal reduction in range. But in most aspects of refinement and aesthetics, Concorde is better.
The engine layout was its Achilles heel. One engine catastrophic failure wood knock off the other 3. This happened a lot more often than expected. The engine placement and Soviet rush to keep the plane in the air by cutting corners contributed to fatal crashes. I flew one of those in 1984.
@@notyou6950 This engine layout seems like a workaround to me. You design the supports for a certain weight and thrust and then you only need to adjust the nacelles to put more or less engines, depending on what you have at the time. Some ekranoplan vessels had this layout with 8 engines! I wonder how it would behave with two more modern engines instead of the 4 original ones
There is a interesting episode involving the Il-62 here in Brazil. In 04/09/1982 (after the start of the Falkland war), a Il-62M from Cubana de Aviación, transporting a Cuban diplomat, Emilio Aragonés Navarro, was intercepted over Brazil. Apparently the Cubans were trying to beat the arrival in Argentina of the American State Secretary Alexander Haig (coming from the UK). Since at the time Brazil didn't had diplomatic relations with Cuba, the overflight was denied. So they thought it was a good idea to try to do the trip anyway, because over Brazil was night and a heavy thunderstorm was occurring over the Brazilian airbase were the Mirage IIIE fighters were operating. But the Cuban plane was detected long before it was at the range of the fighters, and those managed to catch it inside the thunderstorm, forcing it to land at Brasilia international airport, were it was received by the military and it was discovered that it only had as passengers the diplomat, his his wife and a little boy (his grandson). It was released the next day.
Great video! In the mid 1990s I began my own journeys to Russia, and eventually went into an aircraft brokerage business. In 2001 I met Nikolai Talikov who eventually became head of the Ilyushin OKB. In 2002 while in Farnborough a friend from Russia pointed out Mr. Genrich Novozhilov to me. A month or so later while at an event opening the Gidroaviasalon at Gelendzhik I spotted Mr. Novozhilov watching the entertainers from Rostov. Introducing myself in Russian, he switched the conversation to English with a very good Oxford accent. He passed away a year or so ago. It's a small world, and I got to meet the man who was Ilyushin OKB General Designer when the IL-62 was developed. Rest In Peace sir!
*The French upgrade thier republic to the 5th version.* To be honest, that's just how France works. You need to install periodic updates to keep the firmware running. If you keep using the old version for too long without updates, it slows down initially with strikes, then you start getting protests & eventual revolution.
Excellent presentation! I have always been intrigued by the IL-62M and used to watch the park at the Pan American World Airways Worldport at JFK when I worked as a ticket agent for Pan Am. I now get to see them at the Havana airport (HAV/MUHA) when I taxi past the Cubana maintenance ramp in my 737. (I stop, set the parking brake, and take lots of pictures). The Soviet Union and the U.S. aircraft manufacturers had similar design philosophies: design rugged aircraft of relatively simple design that would have both civil and military applications. While the VC-10, L-1011, A380 and other "advanced" designs have been retired, the rugged IL-62M and the B-707 still fly. Thank you for an outstanding presentation!
Never knew about the 'crutch' feature! Such a simple solution rather than the overly complex Vickers, both stunning aircraft. Thanks for an amazing insight into this Soviet wonder!
I flew on it in 2000 in Domodedovo Airlines ;) It must have much higher take off speed than Boeing's because I remember this plane accelerating on a tarmac for so long while engines scream until its almost a tunnel vision outside. And oh the leg room on those!
I have been waiting for this specific story of the IL-62 (finally it has been posted). Thank You for this story and have a "fast flight and soft landing" on this quarentine. Best regards from México.
Thank you for this video. Growing up in the 1960s I experienced the subtle to real tension existing between the US and the Soviet Union mainly I suppose by what we were being taught in school. I first remember seeing the IL62 at Kennedy Airport in the 1970s and being really impressed by the intimidating downward tail wing configuration with that distinctive point. Then... after some years married to a refugee from Vietnam we decided to visit her native country. Our first visit was in 1988 and we would go every year till moving to Vietnam in 1995 where we reside today. In February 1990 we decided to travel to Vietnam by way of Aeroflot IL-62 routed to Moscow then to Bombay then to Hanoi then to Ho Chi MInh City and of course back the same way a few weeks later. I don't recall any in flight entertainment but quite frankly there was not much in the western airlines back then either. Everything went fine and all landings were smooth as silk. While we did not leave the airport in Moscow it was still the time of the Soviet Union. Our move to Vietnam had nothing to do with politics and really all to do with an interesting lifestyle. My profession was risk management and eventually did a fair amount of work for the Vietnamese Russian petroleum joint venture Vietsovpetro which provided a few opportunities to visit Russia which I thoroughly enjoyed. Peace through understanding!
Peace through understanding. I couldn’t say it better myself! I’m envious that you got to have those experiences. You may not have gotten off the Il-62 in Moscow on that trip, but did you ever get to visit the Soviet Union on any other occasion? Obviously the central planning, and the political repression within the USSR didn’t work out so well, and they could not have been pleasant to have lived under. I don’t romanticize the USSR, but I have always been fascinated by it. I was only a few months old in December 1991 when it was formally dissolved, but I grew up playing hockey, and became fascinated with the USSR after learning about the feats of their legendary hockey team. I love the Soviet iconography, and the Socialist Realism artistic style, and the architectural style. Obviously in practice, the Soviet regime was absolutely nothing like it’s propaganda portrayed it, but it’s propaganda is very inspiring, and I can understand why many people, especially during the Khrushchev era, when the worst of Stalin’s excesses were rolled back, and the standard of living, and availability of consumer goods began to increase, many people truly believed. I thinks it’s absolutely fascinating how a regime that was extremely authoritarian, and oppressive, also instilled a sense of hope in its people. By the time Gorbachev came along, and started trying to push for the reforms that Soviet state needs to enact during the Khrushchev era in order for it to have been able to survive, it was too late. The events of the previous decades, and the clandestine influx of information from the west via samizdat, and other such practices had lifted the veil to the extent that too many people had begun to see through the propaganda, and see the regime for what it was. I’m an American, so obviously I’m biased, but I personally believe that until such time as our technological innovation has eliminated resources scarcity for all practical purpose, communism won’t actually work, and the people entrusted with the management & distribution of the wealth & resources, will always end up with the lions share of them because that is how human beings operate; and in believing that the best possible system is the sort of Western European mixed system of Social Democracy, which combines free-markets & expanded state programs to provide for the less fortunate, and mitigate what would otherwise be a detrimental level of wealth inequality, like that we see currently in the states where the concentration of wealth upwards has actually limited the potential growth we are actually able to capitalize on. However, I’ve spent time in Belarus, and in more rural places like Gomel, the last vestiges of the social culture of the Soviet Era still remain. People were extremely kind there, and extremely welcoming. They thought it was incredibly cool that an American had learned to speak Russian, and that he cared to visit their country, let alone anything outside of Minsk. I feel like in Russia, at least in the metropolitan areas (Moscow & St. Petersburg are the only places I’ve been), that sort of aspect of the culture was kind of killed off by all the trauma & struggle of the 1990s, and the sort of cowboy capitalism the oligarchs brought to Russia during that time. That is not to say that Russians weren’t nice people, they definitely were for sure, and I enjoyed my time there, but random strangers I met in restaurant & bars weren’t inviting me into their homes for tea, or dinner the way they did in Belarus. Speaking to older people in Russia about that phenomenon, they pretty much unanimously agreed that during the Soviet Era, society as a whole was far more hospitable, and welcoming, and there was very much a sense of everyone being in it together, rather than competing against one another. I’d say that is actually the one truly good thing that came from the Soviet Era, and I think that is probably why the Soviet collapse happened as smoothly as it did. Obviously in some countries there was violence & bloodshed, but in the perspective of history, it was probably the safest collapse of an empire in recorded history. It is a shame that so much of that mentality has been lost in Russia & Eastern Europe today. I’d very much be interested in hearing about your time in Vietnam, and also in the USSR if you were ever able to visit. Thank you for sharing your story.
I really liked this aircraft. The fact that it was simplified, yet airworthy and sturdy, showed that there were less things to go wrong while in flight with all of the fancy equipment that the VC-10 had. This meant less maintenance. This was a strong air frame and could land on surfaces that would have damaged the jets of the West. This jet is a classic and has proved itself going the distance. Hopefully the MC-21 sees success throughout the world in the single aisle market.
Probably the only large Western aircraft capable of rough-field operations from that period (a bit later) was the Airbus A300, and likely not to the same degree. I rememver a lot was made about this when they entered service in Australia with TAA.
@@shebbs1 "Probably the only large Western aircraft capable of rough-field operations from that period (a bit later) was the Airbus A300, and likely not to the same degree." A bit later Airbus introduced double-bogeys on the smaller A320. Although Air India was the only carrier that purchased that option.
I think the Il-62 is a nice aircraft too, but I suspect there were a lot more things to go wrong on it than on the VC10, probably a lot more maintenance as well for the Il-62.
Both the Boeing 737-200 and the Boeing 727 have been used in rough-field situations that the Il-62 never saw. The Il-62 was only ever flown from normal large airports.
Back around 1990, I worked at Toronto Intl Airport and used to attend when Polish LOT airlines used to fly their IL-62s in. We learned the most important rule: always stand on the outside of the gate, even if it was pouring rain. When the door swung open, an overwhelming stench of sewage and what smelled like rotting food would blast out, leaving us gagging. As I was a recreational pilot, I used to talk to the station chief, who was a former Air Canada pilot. I was a little concerned about the halo of small cracks around EVERY rivet - I asked the SC how many cycles the airframe had on it, and he snapped something in Polish at the engineer, who brought out a huge leather-bound book. I forget the number, but it was WAY up there. I also almost started an international incident on one belonging to Aeroflot. We boarded in full dress uniform because it was a new “welcome to Canada” measure. My partner said the Aeroflot F/As were attractive, so we boarded just after the passengers got off. We were giving the girls (who, yes, were easy on the eyes) some of the baseball caps and pins we had been given to give to kids, when a guy in a rumpled suit, who was not either an FA or a pilot/engineer, but the girls were clearly afraid of (a political officer, perhaps?) stepped out and saw us and went nuts. When we explained that we were RCMP officers, he started screaming “Federal Police?! GET OFF! GET OFF!” The FAs scattered in terror and we let ourselves be ushered off the aircraft with him yelling “Forbidden! Send official protest!” In broken English. So I didn’t get a date, but I’m sure that I was the subject of a report to Moscow. ;-))
That is hilarious. The FA's on these flights were most likely daughters of some politburo pricks, since going out to the west was a highly prized job. Most certainly the whole crew was under the watchful eye of a Zampolit (ever seen "Moscow on the Hudson" movie with Robin Williams?). I flew to the US in 1984 via Montreal on one of these things. The flights to NY were suspended at the time due to Reagan's sanctions against Poland for the Martial Law coup. We might have passed each other then;-)
This is a fantastic video. Great internal/external detail on the plane itself and the story of how Ilyushin successfully dealt with the various engineering trade-offs in the design of the aircraft was especially interesting, especially contrasted with their British counterparts. A fascinating look at the history of a plane not so familiar to those of us in the West.
Ok ok ok :) So, as I am wathing I can't not comment. So the avionics were not that modern. When PLL LOT took delivery of its first units of Il-62 in the early '70 they updated the radio equimpent with western tech, what was concidered as an offence by the eastern "towarzysze". The simple controlls came out to be to simple, as there were no double steering systems. That is concidered one of the factors in both LOT's and Interflugs fatal crasches of 62'nds. Lack of slats has its advantages - no denying - but due to that the plane has higher approach speed and required a larger spread from other planes on landings - at the time no problem, today conjuction on approahes is high, so the smaller spread of planes the better. NEVER THE LESS I LOVE THIS PLANE and I am very gratefull for this episode from You Sky! THANK YOU! Ok, so maybe another IL-62 film? Maybe tell us about operational details, numer of planes delivered over the years, still active units. So many things You can talk about concidering this magnificant machine! :)))
Breathtaking plane 😍 My first book about aviation had a page dedicated to it (I was around 9 years old) and I thought it was the most beautiful plane in that book. I still love its aesthetics
Way back in the early 70's, I had a copy of "Janes Civilian Aircraft", which I treasured as a 15 year old. In that copy was some of the older Soviet aircraft which I found so different than what we were used to in the rest of the world. Looking at their aircraft and the size of the country, plus the "satellite" neighbors, Poland, Romania etc it was imperative their engineering tended more towards ruggedness and reliability.
Yeah, that is one thing modern youth won't have the experience of. they have the internet and access to a vast amount of information, just an incredible amount, on any subject they feel like looking up. None of them will understand the importance a beloved book had to people back when that was the only way to find information on a subject you were interested in. I still have my much battered, dog-eared and stained paperback "Encyclopedia of Aircraft of WW2" that I read cover to cover countless times, among others. I remember how excited I was when I first found that book. Before that the only ones I had ever read were some airplane books my 6th Grade teacher loaned me, and of course the Naval Aviation News newsletters that our school library received every month. they saved them all for me because they knew I was an aviation geek. I read them all cover to cover several times, and saved them all in a stack. I think I threw them away later, which I wish now I hadn't done.
Love those old teal cockpits! I heard some rumors about the reason behind using teal, but I cannot imagine any modern aircraft using such an antiquated colour scheme. It's just one of those things that scream classic 60s!
McDonnel Douglas used the same teal color in the DC-9. We called it "puke green". I went to New York City public school, where the classrooms were painted the same color. It is supposed to aid in concentration.
In the 1980's and 1990's I flew as a passenger many times on IL62s...specifically the IL62Ms. First , a couple of times Montreal to Moscow and return on Aeroflot and later, many times, Toronto to Havana and return, Toronto to Veredero and return and Toronto to Santiago de Cuba and return on Cubana. It was a truly wonderful and beautiful aircraft....fast, long ranged, smooth and extremely quiet inside, with nicely appointed interiors and unlike most modern airliners nowadays, with very comfortable seating with plenty of legroom. I definitely miss the IL62 and am sad to see that most of them are now etired.
@@goclunker "Its total hull loss rate (7.7%) is lower than those of the Boeing 707 (16.4%) and DC-8 (14.9%), and near that of the VC10/Super VC10 (= 7.8% if one excludes the three examples destroyed by terrorists) although the VC10 was only in civilian service for 16 years (versus 48 years for the Il-62, as at 2015)"
Cubana still flies very CLASSIC former Soviet-era aircraft! One day we parked at a hardstand in Cancun right next to a Cubana de Aviacion YAK-40-D. My first officer and I went outside to do the walkaround and we asked the Captain if we could come aboard and see his airplane. The Cubana crew was very obliging and we had a tour of this rare bird. I offered to reciprocate and show them our B737-700W, but their "political crewmember" did not permit it. Instead we offloaded several bags of Coca-Cola products and gave it to the Cubana crew. I still enjoy flying into HAV and seeing the IL-62Ms in various stages of dismantling on the maintenance ramp.
I flew on one of these (a later variant I'm sure) from Shannon to Washington DC back in the early nineties, just after the fall of the USSR (it was actually a Moscow to Washington, and I just boarded at the stopover in Shannon). I flew Aeroflot because I was a grad student with no money, and needed the cheapest flight home I could get. I was surprised at what a comfortable plane it was to fly on. The layout, with all the engines in the tail, really did make for a quieter cabin.
A few years ago, I was outdoors in Tokyo when one of these was climbing out of Haneda airport. Everyone looked up, because it was easily two or three times as loud as any plane that we were used to. It's no wonder that these are mostly retired now.
i love this video, one of the only videos explaining all about the IL-62 , i loved to fly this plane in flight simulator, i wish i could travel in it one day (probably north korea lol)
A 27 minute video on the Il-62 is something I have wanted to see for months! Thank you. I love your videos, so I encourage you to keep making them. Just don't go to the Museum until the pandemic is over. SARS is spreading in Russia and I need you to stay alive so I have something to watch while I'm stuck at home.
Not SARS, but COVID-19, another coronavirus and yet another that may have come from bats. The Chinese have to stop chowing down on weird animals like bats and those anteater looking things.
@@sarjim4381 A different coronavirus from the early 2000s SARS Epidemic, yes. The Coronavirus responsible for the ongoing one is SARS-CoV-2, CoV meaning coronavirus. The ongoing pandemic is SARS. The WHO initially advised against using the term SARS because they thought people would be scared, and promoted "COVID-19". People weren't scared so they ignored warnings to stay home and now lots of them have SARS. Also, they're called pangolins, and they're not closely related to anteaters. Finally, the transmission that occurred in the infamous market was between humans. Many of the first cases to be detected were from there, but that was not the starting point of the epidemic. Finally, please stop being racist. Some cultures probably find what you eat to be repulsive.
Il62 did fulfill its role as the first Soviet transatlantic jet (and first transatlantic jet for Eastern Block operators. I flew on it a number of times, both within Europe and to US and Canada. OK for its time, if not quite as sophisticated as the Western equivalents (and I flew on most the competitors at the time: 707/720, 747, VC10, DC10, Tristar and A300). I believe that the author barely mentioned the high number of accidents (look it up on Wikipedia) a significant number of which were not due to the overall design, but due to shoddy servicing of the engines and failure of engine parts resulting in destructon of the tail control mechanisms and consequent loss of aircraft. Most of the foreign operators got rid of them as soon as they could afford western equivalents. Russians love their creations and are not the most objective source of unbiased info :-(
My first flight to US in 1982 coming back I did the IL-62 of CSA from New York to Prague ( the outflight was a TAROM Boeing 707 from Vienna to NY) as I remember back it was no problem flight and thinking back I am really happy to organized that flight from Budapest which was really unic in that time. As later from mid-90-ies working for a US multinational many planes I used countlessly ....but the first sunrise I have seen during a transatlantic flight that was that IL-62 flight from NY to Prague ........never forget...
I just wish they had more money and resources to get some paint on the outsides, and to get their aircraft put under cover. they won't last forever sitting out like that.
Perhaps they should charge more for the tickets because on the outside these planes look a little drab, and with the paint fading off this looks more like a graveyard than a museum. Shame to have so many nice planes looking like junk
The IL62 was very much loved at LHR during the 1960s and 1970s while I was there (On noisy Comet-4Bs) albeit thought of as a VC10 copy, I now learn it wasn't. Great very helpful video. Thanks for posting :)
So happy that I had the chance to fly on this amazing aeroplane in December 1989 from Prague to La Habana via Montreal-Mirabel, and the return nonstop, on the former Czechoslovak airline, CSA.
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of criminal lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, improper heat treatment of parts, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, startling negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km away from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in (good Lord, get this),...APRIL 2008 (!!!), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain in that context, the very existence of Polish disasters, 20 years after those disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed with a dose of negligence, revealing the lack of homework of the storyteller. For instance, as a manufacturer (making decisions) it stipulates Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced the plane's body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov (for NK-84 engines) and Soloviev factory (for D30KU engines). Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau's cooperation in regard to disasters as satisfactory and its findings as “objective”. Problems were since the beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public knowledge and opinion and records were secret, kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane (still manufactured and sold), which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of the official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides curiously with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by the Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a broad number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on an engine or box with the engine itself (engine were kept unguarded on the hangar's floor, where anybody, even visitor could simply stop and read the tag), to documentation in various departments of the company (again easily accessible to anyone - as logbooks simply were lying unguarded on desks in hangars, where absolutely anybody who wished could read it, without being asked any questions). As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, any memory of altering those numbers,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope not) by flying dangerous planes. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were supplying “special” engines to service the official delegation flight of the Polish Communist Party to China (once delegation returned, engines were demanded back). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question.
Thank you for this. Yours is a fascinating first hand testimony of the times and processes. From what I know the maintenence intervals of the Soviet made engines were less than half of the western made constructions. I have read much about both disasters but never knew about near cresh incidents. These were never made public and the passangers were probably threatened by the secret police to keep their mouth shut.
@@KamilMB The third one is DDR-SEC in Merseburg at the Luftfahrt-Technik-Museumspark. Some other Interflug jets are also on display there. Other IL-62s are Lady Agnes in Stölln (registration DDR-SEG) and the one in Leipzig. (registration DDR-SEF)
@@jkarhiaho Thanks for this info. So two of them are close. Do You know why DDR-SEF is not on google street-view? It is on the satelite view, and in 3D even, but as You go down to street-view it is not there. The photos are from early 2000' (old cars on parking where Il shoud be), and they have it on them that they are from 2017...
@@KamilMB Well, DDR-SEF stood for a long time at Leipzig-Halle airport and was moved to it's current location in 2010. So the street view is from before 2010. The "2017" means nothing in Google Maps/Earth.
I love little quirky features such as the skylight window in the galley. I would never have known about that! Similar little goodie is that Qantas 747's (and others I presume) have an access door to a section of the cargo hold where the crew could check up on livestock (typically horses) in transport! We used to take breaks on the turbo prop fleet to have a play with any dogs on the forward hold. A lovely way to break up a long sector!
All of mine KC-135s were built between 1957 and 1964. We still fly them and we still plan on flying them for a long time. Now, that’s a successful design. Sometimes time stamps don’t really impress me, but that’s just an opinion. However, my grandpa flew IL-28s for 33 years and never complained. So there is bias.
From Poland's perspective it was a very faulty plane. Two of the biggest crashes on our soil involved il-62s. In both cases the engines were at fault, because of the ils construction, had one of them exploded it damaged the rest and also the stabilizer making the plane impossible to fly. Both investigations concluded that engine construction must be improved but it never happened. First crash happened before the M, the second was the 'improved' version.
W obu przypadkach silniki zawiniły z powodu PRZEKROCZENIE REZUSÓW między przeglądowych. Ale o tym już antyrosyjska/antyradziecka propaganda zapomina... W Locie były duże kłopoty finansowe, stąd oszczędności i w konsekwencji katastrofy - niestety. Polecam poszukać hasła "lider" w odniesieniu do silników naszych 62'jek. Pozdrawiam :)
@@KamilMB bzdura, silniki w drugim przypadku mialy nielegalne zmiany w lozyskach sprezarek bedace bezposrednia przyczyna awarii. Rosjanie tak bardzo nie chcieli sie przyznac do bledu ze po drugiej katastrofie Polacy dodali specjalny komputer do monitorowania pracy silnikow i jest znany przynajmniej jeden przypadek kiedy ten system uratowal LOT przed utrata kolejnego samolotu.
@@Bucefal76montując co drugi wałek w łożysku trudno nazwać nielegalna zmiana, bardziej kryminalna możne. Mojej mamy koleżanka z dzieciństwa zginęła w lesie kabackim. fakt ze były ćwiczenia wojskowe w tym czasie tez nie pomógł.
Not construction but making. In both cases of the crash the engines was faulty because of very poor manufacturing. It had nothing to do with design or construction.
In Poland there was a saying about Ilyushin - 'Chcesz być pyłem, lataj iłem'. Which translates 'If you want to be dust, fly on IL'. One of them crashed near Warsaw after a turbine in its engine cracked under stress, cutting through second engine and its tail on way out
Not one but two crashed for same reasons. First one crashed in 1979. It was IL-62. The second one crashed in 1987, IL-62M. Copernicus, and Kosciuszko. RIP.
I believe that the Il-62 was the aircraft involved in the worst aircraft accident in German history. Although the flight number is a mystery, what's certain is that an Interflug flight from East Berlin to Bugas, Bulgaria, caught fire during the flight and crashed around Königs Wusterhausen in August 1972, while the aircraft was trying to return to East Berlin to make an emergency landing
Excellent video, thanks! My wife and I flew on a LOT IL-62 back in 1985, non-stop from Chicago to Warsaw and back. As an aviation buff, I was fascinated and will always remember that flight.
i flew in 1992 from Moscow to Mexico City via Shannon and Miami (coming from Rome with a Tu.154) really a great experience. on return trip I flew again the Il-62 and from Moscow To Rome a Il-86. So happy!!!
Thanks for this - I was lucky enough to fly on IL62M from Khabarovsk to Moscow and back on Domodedovo Airlines and from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Seoul back in the early 2000s. I never got the chance to fly on a VC-10 to compare.
Spasiba! Sky this by far is one of my favorite videos. I thought it was the CSA aircraft that did the grass landing. The IL-62m from CSA was my very first flight from Czech to US. I love that you have a great museum to add to your videos. Your archive is great but, to see one and show us what you want to see is one of a kind. Keep up the great work my friend!
17:31... After a single engine failure, 2 neighborhood engines were damaged too... together with non-doubled steering - see LOT crashes from 1980 and 1987.
Agree. It’s so sad that the creator of this video did not mention about design flaw of the engige shaft and promote this plane as super secure which back than was not, due to design flaw and horrible maintenance. 2 biggest plane crash in Poland happend beacause of this plane.
Great video, I remember a IL 62 would take off out of San Francisco every Sunday going to Vladivostok. Loved the black smoke exhaust trails and the sound of those loud engines. Great memories.
I love this channel. I particularly enjoy the reviews and walk-throughs of the Russian designed planes. This narrator guy, "Sky", really knows his stuff and his ability to describe and explain all the features and specific details of each plane is impressive. Another great episode from Skyships Eng! Thanks...
An outstanding video! You depth of knowledge always provides something new I've never known about such Soviet era aircraft. Thank you for an excellent documentary about my favorite Soviet airliner.
I had the opportunity to fly on the Il-62 on a school trip to Russia in 1980 (yes, really - a UK school sent a bunch of students to the Soviet Union in the middle of the Cold War!). I remember it being relatively comfortable and quiet.
I really like your presentation Sky. Lots of details and history. Great job! I would love to visit this museum some day. Is one able to enter these aircraft? I served aboard the USS Constellation (CV-64) in the mid 1980’s. Our Tomcats intercepted TU-95’s and TU-16’s and TU-22M’s. All were of concern with their anti-ship cruise missilery but especially the TU-22M’s Mach 1.2 speed. My favorite will always be the TU-95 (I called it the flying eggbeater). What a great engineering achievement, the apex of turboprop aircraft. Must have been long loud missions out of the Khorol East Soviet Naval Aviation base. Always liked all the Soviet airliners too. Love the pragmatic engineering the design team employed for the IL-96.
The C-130 Hercules would like to have a chats with you - a turboprop used all over the world and has spent some 60 years in production and is still being made.
I flew on the Il-62 from Singapore to Moscow, and a stop-over in Delhi during the 1970s with Aeroflot. I thought it a very smooth aircraft to travel in. Nice memories. 💐🇦🇺
8:21 Because there was only one carrier, they did not feel the need to brand the interior and they could just use pleasing colours. I like that aspect of Soviet aviation.
Johan Cruijff once said "To do things the simple way is the most beautiful thing, but it is the hardest thing to do!" The Il-62 was always one of my favorite planes. I used to live directly below the flight path of these and several other interesting Russian airliners. This bird was even louder than Concord, Il-76 or a VC10 but its quad-engine sound was pure melody! "Skyship Eng" has done a great job as always. I would suggest covering the flight control system in greater detail as its quite unusual and remarkable. AFAIK the control surfaces have no hydraulics and are linked by cable. In a sense they are "aerodynamically boosted" using "servo flaps". These are small trailing edge flaps on the main control surfaces. On some small aircraft the flight controls are connected only to the "Servo flaps" and the entire control surface is otherwise left to pivot freely. Does anyone know if the Il-62 used this arrangement? Does anyone know how much physical effort was required on the flight controls or how effective the servo-flaps were in reducing the load on the pilot?
Didn't you spot the water being ejected from the nose tank on takeoff? This was to stop it sitting on its tail when full of fuel. The water was filled by the Heathrow fire section who thought it was a pain. The water was dumped after takeoff.
The best engine sound ever :) I remember the IL62M when we used to fly as kids every year with Czechoslovak airlines between Prague and Cairo via Beirut and later visa Larnaca in the early 80s. What a thrill as a kid walking up the stairs, seeing that wing, the T shaped tail and engines when standing by the door...
I agree with you. Not only is the writing great, but the video is extremely well produced. There are lots of statistics but we don't drown in them. This guy is first-rate. I would love to know more about him.
I don't agree, I don't like aircrafts with a T-tail. I always thought it's ugly (just as much as it's dangerous). Give me a A-340 or a DC-8 instead any day (preferably the former of course).
Always liked the look of this plane . My first flight of my life was on Czechoslovakian airlines in the early 80’ from Prague to JFK NY with stopover in Montreal.
@@petr7694 you’re right it was very obvious that even with ČSA titles they kept the registration CCCP-86666 until ČSA bought another one entirely OK-YBA
Spaceeba :). I wish my Russian was as good as your English! Thank you for your analysis of the Ilyushin design. I would like to point out that the VC-10 was really designed for "hot and high" operation to various areas of the British Commonwealth and thus had to have a very complex wing design to have adequate short take off performance. I do appreciate the Soviet-era designs for their simplicity of operation and maintenance.
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of critical lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in April 2008), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain Polish disasters, 20 years after disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed neglectfully revealing serious lacks. For instance, as a manufacturer it lists Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced plane body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov than a Soloviev factory. Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau findings in regard to disasters - “objective”. Problems in investigation cooperation (or its lack) were since beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public opinion and records were kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane, which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a vast number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on engine or box with the engine itself, kept on the ground, where anybody passing could have simply read it, to documentation in various departments of the company. As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, such records or accounts,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope note) by flying them. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were sending “special” engines to service official delegation flight of Polish Communist Party to China (which they demanded back after their return). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question. Who knows.
1) Fabulous job, IMO. Thank you. 2) I am not Russian. But there is no airplane 'graveyard' I would rather visit (by miles) then the one you shot this film at. 3) I am amazed how good the interior condition of the plane is. Peace.
I remember some aviators riding a Cubana Il-62 & that despite being obsolete & outclassed, the aircraft were comfortable. Especially on takeoff & landing. This surprised my younger self because I grew up thinking Soviet aircraft were durable but very austere. Thanks for giving the insight on it's design. I have a whole new view on the Il-62.
Calling an extra landing leg a crutch isn't far off, since it helps something unstable not fall over. But insisting there's a more sophisticated solution it is like sticking a big flywheel onto your grandpa to replace a simple walking stick. Sometimes simple is good, and any engineer who states otherwise is likely working under a sunk-cost fallacy, and doesn't want to admit their overly complicated solution wasn't the best use of resources.
@@nottoday3817 a more correct analogy is the time someone tried to create a continuously variable bike transmission to solve one problem: the minuscule inconvenienece of the gear change
I am Indian and reside in Austria. My father served in Indian Airforce.therefore passion for Aircrafts is family affair. I see your videos. today first time i saw you. My regards to you from Vienna, Austria.
Make a detailed video about Il-76, I always feels like it deserves more attention. People ignores coz its a cargo and in military it stays in the shadows of bombers and fighters. But IMO its the true beast and will be the longest serving aircraft in Russia when Tu-95 retires.
@@skyem5250 I know, I think there's a version for VIP passengers as well. To carry them in rough airfields. I remember Putin landing on Arctic airfield on an Il-76!
SO happy to see people shooting at Monino. I was lucky enough to visit there a few years ago and it was one of the most unique things I've had the chance to do. I was so happy there! Also when I was there they were also testing the raising and lowering of the nose on the Tu-144.
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of critical lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in April 2008), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain Polish disasters, 20 years after disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed neglectfully revealing serious lacks. For instance, as a manufacturer it lists Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced plane body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov than a Soloviev factory. Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau findings in regard to disasters - “objective”. Problems in investigation cooperation (or its lack) were since beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public opinion and records were kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane, which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a vast number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on engine or box with the engine itself, kept on the ground, where anybody passing could have simply read it, to documentation in various departments of the company. As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, such records or accounts,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope note) by flying them. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were sending “special” engines to service official delegation flight of Polish Communist Party to China (which they demanded back after their return). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question. Who knows.
I flew on an Aeroflot IL-62 from Heathrow to Colombo, Sri Lanka via Moscow & Abu Dhabi out and Karachi, Tashkent & Moscow back in 1982. It was a very cheap way of getting there and back. £200 return as my memory serves me correctly which even for then was cheap. The one thing I initially found alarming but then got used to was the constant change in pitch in the engines on the final descent and slight roller coaster approach during descents. Unlike most western contemporaries like the VC-10 there were no extendable leading edge slats so I assume they didn't have this additional tool to control lift, hence the constant changes in engine power. It was iconic but didn't have the grace, elegance and sophistication of the VC-10.
The Soviets were not concerned, like Westerners, about shrinking the size of cockpit crews. They saw a benefit to keeping people employed, rather than making them redundant.
I love this guys voice so much. It is the perfect amount of Russian accent. I can listen to him all day.
@Gallant Zodiac The man is Russian! END OF STORY! HAHAHAHAHA!
He has an excellent English vocabulary, too. Very talented content creator! I wish I understood more Russian to see what his videos in Russian are like.
@@RobJaskula they are quite good, just as detailed, and very balanced presentation
He even has a dedicated channel in russian ROFL !
This guy, along with Bobby from "sailing doodles", are the coolest guys on RUclips!
The design of the wings of this aircraft are perhaps the most brilliant aircraft design I've ever seen. That shape deflects debris away from the engine intake and also from interfering with the elevators. It's really such a shame that we had (have and I hope not) the Cold War because imagine the amazing planes we would have built had we been smart enough to work together instead of against one another!
You obviously know absolutely nothing about aviation.
It is precisely because of the need to work AGAINST each other that allowed to create innovative solutions.
The other Soviet made well designed in my point of view is Tu 154.
UK had this design as well
Edit : Vickers VC-10
Sorry but the Wings of the Airbus 380 are a Masterpiece of Engininiering.
Look so fragile and still can hold on that Behemoth of an airplane.
But you are right,this Wings look Awesome,and are Awesome.
I flew as a passenger in 1993 from Stockholm to St Petersburg and landed on a really snowy airfield. On the return trip, we had the fortune to fly with her Oslo before returning to Stockholm. I remember it as being a charming flight, even though I was feeling really ill. It wasn't air sickness or something like that. I got searched by airport security in St Petersburg with them pointing AK47 at me. I was understandingly nervous after that. I got a pretty glasfiber lamp in a shop and it showed as something bad on their x-ray machines. At least they laughed at the guy that screamed bomb after seing the tv screen. I wasn't laughing. I thought, well,at least I got to be 18 years old. The staff aboard the Aeroflot machine treated me very nicely and switched me to first class. It was a cool experience after all.
Holy shit!
@Danilo Metzger
Well live and learn, don't bring potentially disturbing items in your luggage.
I like the Russian mindset in the west they would have been on alert during that discovery and search but even after it was found there was no danger the officials still would be pricks (especially in the USA) while the Russians showed deprecating behavior and a sensor humor after they learned no danger was present.
@@christophercook723 yes I did. I was like "cool, russian helicopters. Like a trash museum"
@@watershed44 it was supposed to be checked luggage but we arrived late since my ticket was missing. We searched everywere and didn't find it. We had to buy a new ticket for me to get aboard. After all this, my father wanted to buy a burger at a local burger place in the airport in Sweden. He reached for his wallet, opened it and found my ticket. D'oh. So I didn't need to go through all this after all. I could laugh at it anyhow. I agree that the russians have a sence of humor that the us doesn't. But I have made a US agent laugh. I returned from my home country Chile via Miami and needed to stay at a hotel for a night. Dirt cheap flight but the agent thought I might stay. He asked me wy I didn't choose to stay in London for a night instead. I asked him, whay would you do? Stay in rainy London or sunny Miami? Hmmm. He laughed and let me in. Next day I continued to Sweden, about 30 hours later.
They most likely used AK-74, as AK-47 didn't used in 1990 as it was outdated
CSA operated the IL-62 to Singapore when I was just a young apprentice with the local airline's engineering department. We were invited onboard to tour the cockpit and I remembered observing how much more spacious and bright its cockpit was compared to the Boeings. It was so much easier to get into the pilot's seat because there was no control column in the way. The bright green paintwork of the instrument panels were quite unusual.
Bright green paintwork was to make the cockpit more calm to crew.
You mean ČSA?
I'm glad I had great opportunity to fly with these old soviet giants in late 80s, in Il62, Tu134 and Tu154. I also spoke with pilots and they all praised natural and easy handling of Tu154, but they also told me that Il62 was very heavy and demanding to fly, like old military aircrafts. The best aviation experience I've ever had was, when CSA crew of almost brand new Tu 154M allowed me to join them in a cockpit for night approach and landing to Moscow. I was little kid these days but still can remember it very well.
Giants?
You're lucky to be alive lol
Dalibor Zak.
The IL-62 was a death-trap and you are lucky to be here to tell us your tale!
Praised it because those pilots never flew a Western made aircraft.
I was a passenger in one of those from Cubana de Aviacion in the middle of 1990's. The only thing I remember is that when the flaps were deployed there was a huge noise and the whole thing shook.
I always loved the simple, straightforward reliable engineering solutions of Soviet vehicles.
British engineers carefully balanced the VC10 and found solutions to problems that were caused by solutions to other problems which were in turn caused by solutions to initial problems.
Soviets balanced the IL-62 for handling, found the c.o.g. was behind the main gear and instead of redesigning everything they simply said "Just put a retractable support in the tail"
A direct solution that didn't cause other problems.
I think people who called it a crutch were just envious of the incredibly simplistic solution to what they thought was a complex problem lol
The 727 had an even simpler solution: The engineer installed a four foot aluminum pole into a fitting under the tail and this prevented the tail from touching the ground if the CG were to shift aft during loading or unloading.
Simple solutions to complicated problems are usually the most clever, cost saving and more difficult to imagine.
@MrLewisbate Obviously you didn't watch the video.
space-race: they needed a instrument to write aboard the capsules in outer space...
The Americans spend a fortune inventing and developing what became the Fisher space-pen (with a tiny cartridge go CO2...)
The Russians just brought a lead pencil...
@@GAUROCH2 while it would seem the sensible thing to do, the lead pencil will fragment into miniscule particles spreading through the capsule. Could these particles cause issues?...they wouldn't want to find out the hard way. The Yanks ultimately` did a brilliant job in getting to, landing on, and exiting the Moon first go. Their attention to detail is to be admired, not that I am denigrating the Russians though. The BBC did a superb audio series about the Moon Landing called 13 Minutes To The Moon - a magnificent series of 7 or 8 programs showing the ppl and obstacles overcome. It is really worth listening to.
As always I learned a lot. As a youngster, I dismissed the iL-62 as a “Commie” VC-10 imitation. Instead you show it to be a successful and pragmatic solution to Aeroflot’s needs. Excellent!
Me too, I always thought IL63 was shamely copying the VC10 but this video just changed my perspective .
Oh god, grow up.
Same with the Tu-144. Actually, the Tu-144 flew higher, faster and had a lower stall speed. However, the egos of the two governments and ideologies behind their designs meant that Concorde's one crash killed it off 3 years after, whereas the Tu-144's crash turned it into a mostly cargo-carrying aircraft and then slowly retired after 20 years.
@@akshaygowrishankar7440 TU-144 was a nasty unbearable piece of rushed trash. Loud as hell, constantly requiring maintenance and ended up being used for post at one point. The Concorde was based on people, whereas the 144 remained as an ego booster.
@@bmc9504 but in several aspects, it was better. It was cheaper, wider, faster, flew higher, and could fly with minimal reduction in range. But in most aspects of refinement and aesthetics, Concorde is better.
Quad rear-engine layout was so cool. Love the IL-62 and VC-10!
These planes were beauties
There's also the lockheed jetstar
Did you ever hear a VC10 takeoff? DAMN! they made a ton of noise. Very impressive and memorable experieince.
The engine layout was its Achilles heel. One engine catastrophic failure wood knock off the other 3. This happened a lot more often than expected. The engine placement and Soviet rush to keep the plane in the air by cutting corners contributed to fatal crashes. I flew one of those in 1984.
@@notyou6950 This engine layout seems like a workaround to me. You design the supports for a certain weight and thrust and then you only need to adjust the nacelles to put more or less engines, depending on what you have at the time. Some ekranoplan vessels had this layout with 8 engines!
I wonder how it would behave with two more modern engines instead of the 4 original ones
I once saw a Cubana IL-62 here, in Mexico. Quite a rare sight. And beautiful, in its own way.
There is a interesting episode involving the Il-62 here in Brazil. In 04/09/1982 (after the start of the Falkland war), a Il-62M from Cubana de Aviación, transporting a Cuban diplomat, Emilio Aragonés Navarro, was intercepted over Brazil.
Apparently the Cubans were trying to beat the arrival in Argentina of the American State Secretary Alexander Haig (coming from the UK). Since at the time Brazil didn't had diplomatic relations with Cuba, the overflight was denied. So they thought it was a good idea to try to do the trip anyway, because over Brazil was night and a heavy thunderstorm was occurring over the Brazilian airbase were the Mirage IIIE fighters were operating.
But the Cuban plane was detected long before it was at the range of the fighters, and those managed to catch it inside the thunderstorm, forcing it to land at Brasilia international airport, were it was received by the military and it was discovered that it only had as passengers the diplomat, his his wife and a little boy (his grandson). It was released the next day.
Great video! In the mid 1990s I began my own journeys to Russia, and eventually went into an aircraft brokerage business. In 2001 I met Nikolai Talikov who eventually became head of the Ilyushin OKB. In 2002 while in Farnborough a friend from Russia pointed out Mr. Genrich Novozhilov to me. A month or so later while at an event opening the Gidroaviasalon at Gelendzhik I spotted Mr. Novozhilov watching the entertainers from Rostov. Introducing myself in Russian, he switched the conversation to English with a very good Oxford accent. He passed away a year or so ago. It's a small world, and I got to meet the man who was Ilyushin OKB General Designer when the IL-62 was developed. Rest In Peace sir!
*The French upgrade thier republic to the 5th version.*
To be honest, that's just how France works. You need to install periodic updates to keep the firmware running. If you keep using the old version for too long without updates, it slows down initially with strikes, then you start getting protests & eventual revolution.
Ha ha. Computer jokes, but not a complete computer joke.
It’s like CSGO
Thankfully newer versions are backwards compatible, which reduces the need to continually upgrade legacy systems, especially for enterprise users.
Plus Parisians need the odd catalyst to burn their old furniture in flaming barricades
Also France is not backwards compatible.
Excellent presentation! I have always been intrigued by the IL-62M and used to watch the park at the Pan American World Airways Worldport at JFK when I worked as a ticket agent for Pan Am. I now get to see them at the Havana airport (HAV/MUHA) when I taxi past the Cubana maintenance ramp in my 737. (I stop, set the parking brake, and take lots of pictures). The Soviet Union and the U.S. aircraft manufacturers had similar design philosophies: design rugged aircraft of relatively simple design that would have both civil and military applications. While the VC-10, L-1011, A380 and other "advanced" designs have been retired, the rugged IL-62M and the B-707 still fly. Thank you for an outstanding presentation!
Never knew about the 'crutch' feature! Such a simple solution rather than the overly complex Vickers, both stunning aircraft. Thanks for an amazing insight into this Soviet wonder!
"The main gear steadily endured this mockery..."
Very well-said.
I flew on it in 2000 in Domodedovo Airlines ;)
It must have much higher take off speed than Boeing's because I remember this plane accelerating on a tarmac for so long while engines scream until its almost a tunnel vision outside. And oh the leg room on those!
I have been waiting for this specific story of the IL-62 (finally it has been posted). Thank You for this story and have a "fast flight and soft landing" on this quarentine. Best regards from México.
Thank you for this video. Growing up in the 1960s I experienced the subtle to real tension existing between the US and the Soviet Union mainly I suppose by what we were being taught in school. I first remember seeing the IL62 at Kennedy Airport in the 1970s and being really impressed by the intimidating downward tail wing configuration with that distinctive point. Then... after some years married to a refugee from Vietnam we decided to visit her native country. Our first visit was in 1988 and we would go every year till moving to Vietnam in 1995 where we reside today. In February 1990 we decided to travel to Vietnam by way of Aeroflot IL-62 routed to Moscow then to Bombay then to Hanoi then to Ho Chi MInh City and of course back the same way a few weeks later. I don't recall any in flight entertainment but quite frankly there was not much in the western airlines back then either. Everything went fine and all landings were smooth as silk. While we did not leave the airport in Moscow it was still the time of the Soviet Union. Our move to Vietnam had nothing to do with politics and really all to do with an interesting lifestyle. My profession was risk management and eventually did a fair amount of work for the Vietnamese Russian petroleum joint venture Vietsovpetro which provided a few opportunities to visit Russia which I thoroughly enjoyed. Peace through understanding!
Thanks for this. Peace through understanding. Hope you are doing well in Vietnam. Best, from Ireland..
Peace through understanding. I couldn’t say it better myself! I’m envious that you got to have those experiences. You may not have gotten off the Il-62 in Moscow on that trip, but did you ever get to visit the Soviet Union on any other occasion? Obviously the central planning, and the political repression within the USSR didn’t work out so well, and they could not have been pleasant to have lived under. I don’t romanticize the USSR, but I have always been fascinated by it. I was only a few months old in December 1991 when it was formally dissolved, but I grew up playing hockey, and became fascinated with the USSR after learning about the feats of their legendary hockey team. I love the Soviet iconography, and the Socialist Realism artistic style, and the architectural style. Obviously in practice, the Soviet regime was absolutely nothing like it’s propaganda portrayed it, but it’s propaganda is very inspiring, and I can understand why many people, especially during the Khrushchev era, when the worst of Stalin’s excesses were rolled back, and the standard of living, and availability of consumer goods began to increase, many people truly believed. I thinks it’s absolutely fascinating how a regime that was extremely authoritarian, and oppressive, also instilled a sense of hope in its people. By the time Gorbachev came along, and started trying to push for the reforms that Soviet state needs to enact during the Khrushchev era in order for it to have been able to survive, it was too late. The events of the previous decades, and the clandestine influx of information from the west via samizdat, and other such practices had lifted the veil to the extent that too many people had begun to see through the propaganda, and see the regime for what it was. I’m an American, so obviously I’m biased, but I personally believe that until such time as our technological innovation has eliminated resources scarcity for all practical purpose, communism won’t actually work, and the people entrusted with the management & distribution of the wealth & resources, will always end up with the lions share of them because that is how human beings operate; and in believing that the best possible system is the sort of Western European mixed system of Social Democracy, which combines free-markets & expanded state programs to provide for the less fortunate, and mitigate what would otherwise be a detrimental level of wealth inequality, like that we see currently in the states where the concentration of wealth upwards has actually limited the potential growth we are actually able to capitalize on. However, I’ve spent time in Belarus, and in more rural places like Gomel, the last vestiges of the social culture of the Soviet Era still remain. People were extremely kind there, and extremely welcoming. They thought it was incredibly cool that an American had learned to speak Russian, and that he cared to visit their country, let alone anything outside of Minsk. I feel like in Russia, at least in the metropolitan areas (Moscow & St. Petersburg are the only places I’ve been), that sort of aspect of the culture was kind of killed off by all the trauma & struggle of the 1990s, and the sort of cowboy capitalism the oligarchs brought to Russia during that time. That is not to say that Russians weren’t nice people, they definitely were for sure, and I enjoyed my time there, but random strangers I met in restaurant & bars weren’t inviting me into their homes for tea, or dinner the way they did in Belarus. Speaking to older people in Russia about that phenomenon, they pretty much unanimously agreed that during the Soviet Era, society as a whole was far more hospitable, and welcoming, and there was very much a sense of everyone being in it together, rather than competing against one another. I’d say that is actually the one truly good thing that came from the Soviet Era, and I think that is probably why the Soviet collapse happened as smoothly as it did. Obviously in some countries there was violence & bloodshed, but in the perspective of history, it was probably the safest collapse of an empire in recorded history. It is a shame that so much of that mentality has been lost in Russia & Eastern Europe today. I’d very much be interested in hearing about your time in Vietnam, and also in the USSR if you were ever able to visit. Thank you for sharing your story.
@@theoriginalt-paine3776think about it, is real life in America anything like its propaganda image...?
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
Did the Vietnamese Airlines buy Russian planes?
Love that Aqua Teal color in the cockpit. It's so Russian.
it’s really fancy in my opinion. a beautiful color for a charming aircraft.
I loved the blue in the forward cabin area.
I really liked this aircraft. The fact that it was simplified, yet airworthy and sturdy, showed that there were less things to go wrong while in flight with all of the fancy equipment that the VC-10 had. This meant less maintenance. This was a strong air frame and could land on surfaces that would have damaged the jets of the West. This jet is a classic and has proved itself going the distance. Hopefully the MC-21 sees success throughout the world in the single aisle market.
Probably the only large Western aircraft capable of rough-field operations from that period (a bit later) was the Airbus A300, and likely not to the same degree. I rememver a lot was made about this when they entered service in Australia with TAA.
@@shebbs1 "Probably the only large Western aircraft capable of rough-field operations from that period (a bit later) was the Airbus A300, and likely not to the same degree."
A bit later Airbus introduced double-bogeys on the smaller A320. Although Air India was the only carrier that purchased that option.
I think the Il-62 is a nice aircraft too, but I suspect there were a lot more things to go wrong on it than on the VC10, probably a lot more maintenance as well for the Il-62.
Both the Boeing 737-200 and the Boeing 727 have been used in rough-field situations that the Il-62 never saw. The Il-62 was only ever flown from normal large airports.
Even the vic-10 was apparently pretty reliable
Back around 1990, I worked at Toronto Intl Airport and used to attend when Polish LOT airlines used to fly their IL-62s in. We learned the most important rule: always stand on the outside of the gate, even if it was pouring rain. When the door swung open, an overwhelming stench of sewage and what smelled like rotting food would blast out, leaving us gagging. As I was a recreational pilot, I used to talk to the station chief, who was a former Air Canada pilot. I was a little concerned about the halo of small cracks around EVERY rivet - I asked the SC how many cycles the airframe had on it, and he snapped something in Polish at the engineer, who brought out a huge leather-bound book. I forget the number, but it was WAY up there. I also almost started an international incident on one belonging to Aeroflot. We boarded in full dress uniform because it was a new “welcome to Canada” measure. My partner said the Aeroflot F/As were attractive, so we boarded just after the passengers got off. We were giving the girls (who, yes, were easy on the eyes) some of the baseball caps and pins we had been given to give to kids, when a guy in a rumpled suit, who was not either an FA or a pilot/engineer, but the girls were clearly afraid of (a political officer, perhaps?) stepped out and saw us and went nuts. When we explained that we were RCMP officers, he started screaming “Federal Police?! GET OFF! GET OFF!” The FAs scattered in terror and we let ourselves be ushered off the aircraft with him yelling “Forbidden! Send official protest!” In broken English. So I didn’t get a date, but I’m sure that I was the subject of a report to Moscow. ;-))
That is hilarious. The FA's on these flights were most likely daughters of some politburo pricks, since going out to the west was a highly prized job. Most certainly the whole crew was under the watchful eye of a Zampolit (ever seen "Moscow on the Hudson" movie with Robin Williams?). I flew to the US in 1984 via Montreal on one of these things. The flights to NY were suspended at the time due to Reagan's sanctions against Poland for the Martial Law coup. We might have passed each other then;-)
This is a fantastic video. Great internal/external detail on the plane itself and the story of how Ilyushin successfully dealt with the various engineering trade-offs in the design of the aircraft was especially interesting, especially contrasted with their British counterparts. A fascinating look at the history of a plane not so familiar to those of us in the West.
Ok ok ok :) So, as I am wathing I can't not comment. So the avionics were not that modern. When PLL LOT took delivery of its first units of Il-62 in the early '70 they updated the radio equimpent with western tech, what was concidered as an offence by the eastern "towarzysze". The simple controlls came out to be to simple, as there were no double steering systems. That is concidered one of the factors in both LOT's and Interflugs fatal crasches of 62'nds. Lack of slats has its advantages - no denying - but due to that the plane has higher approach speed and required a larger spread from other planes on landings - at the time no problem, today conjuction on approahes is high, so the smaller spread of planes the better.
NEVER THE LESS I LOVE THIS PLANE and I am very gratefull for this episode from You Sky! THANK YOU!
Ok, so maybe another IL-62 film? Maybe tell us about operational details, numer of planes delivered over the years, still active units. So many things You can talk about concidering this magnificant machine! :)))
Breathtaking plane 😍 My first book about aviation had a page dedicated to it (I was around 9 years old) and I thought it was the most beautiful plane in that book. I still love its aesthetics
Way back in the early 70's, I had a copy of "Janes Civilian Aircraft", which I treasured as a 15 year old. In that copy was some of the older Soviet aircraft which I found so different than what we were used to in the rest of the world.
Looking at their aircraft and the size of the country, plus the "satellite" neighbors, Poland, Romania etc it was imperative their engineering tended more towards ruggedness and reliability.
Yeah, that is one thing modern youth won't have the experience of. they have the internet and access to a vast amount of information, just an incredible amount, on any subject they feel like looking up. None of them will understand the importance a beloved book had to people back when that was the only way to find information on a subject you were interested in. I still have my much battered, dog-eared and stained paperback "Encyclopedia of Aircraft of WW2" that I read cover to cover countless times, among others. I remember how excited I was when I first found that book. Before that the only ones I had ever read were some airplane books my 6th Grade teacher loaned me, and of course the Naval Aviation News newsletters that our school library received every month. they saved them all for me because they knew I was an aviation geek. I read them all cover to cover several times, and saved them all in a stack. I think I threw them away later, which I wish now I hadn't done.
Love those old teal cockpits! I heard some rumors about the reason behind using teal, but I cannot imagine any modern aircraft using such an antiquated colour scheme. It's just one of those things that scream classic 60s!
Reminded me of kitchen and bathroom design colors popular in the 1960s: avocado and harvest gold.
McDonnel Douglas used the same teal color in the DC-9. We called it "puke green". I went to New York City public school, where the classrooms were painted the same color. It is supposed to aid in concentration.
In the 1980's and 1990's I flew as a passenger many times on IL62s...specifically the IL62Ms. First , a couple of times Montreal to Moscow and return on Aeroflot and later, many times, Toronto to Havana and return, Toronto to Veredero and return and Toronto to Santiago de Cuba and return on Cubana. It was a truly wonderful and beautiful aircraft....fast, long ranged, smooth and extremely quiet inside, with nicely appointed interiors and unlike most modern airliners nowadays, with very comfortable seating with plenty of legroom. I definitely miss the IL62 and am sad to see that most of them are now etired.
Except when they crashed and killed everyone
@@goclunker "Its total hull loss rate (7.7%) is lower than those of the Boeing 707 (16.4%) and DC-8 (14.9%), and near that of the VC10/Super VC10 (= 7.8% if one excludes the three examples destroyed by terrorists) although the VC10 was only in civilian service for 16 years (versus 48 years for the Il-62, as at 2015)"
Cubana still flies very CLASSIC former Soviet-era aircraft! One day we parked at a hardstand in Cancun right next to a Cubana de Aviacion YAK-40-D. My first officer and I went outside to do the walkaround and we asked the Captain if we could come aboard and see his airplane. The Cubana crew was very obliging and we had a tour of this rare bird. I offered to reciprocate and show them our B737-700W, but their "political crewmember" did not permit it. Instead we offloaded several bags of Coca-Cola products and gave it to the Cubana crew. I still enjoy flying into HAV and seeing the IL-62Ms in various stages of dismantling on the maintenance ramp.
@@goclunker il62 was far safer than Boeing 707, stop spreading lies you overpatriotic american
I flew on one of these (a later variant I'm sure) from Shannon to Washington DC back in the early nineties, just after the fall of the USSR (it was actually a Moscow to Washington, and I just boarded at the stopover in Shannon). I flew Aeroflot because I was a grad student with no money, and needed the cheapest flight home I could get. I was surprised at what a comfortable plane it was to fly on. The layout, with all the engines in the tail, really did make for a quieter cabin.
You did great homage to the IL-62. Well done! I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation, and learned a few things along the way too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation. I've known for a long time that the Ilyushin design bureau were at the top of their game.
A few years ago, I was outdoors in Tokyo when one of these was climbing out of Haneda airport. Everyone looked up, because it was easily two or three times as loud as any plane that we were used to. It's no wonder that these are mostly retired now.
i love this video, one of the only videos explaining all about the IL-62 , i loved to fly this plane in flight simulator, i wish i could travel in it one day (probably north korea lol)
A 27 minute video on the Il-62 is something I have wanted to see for months! Thank you. I love your videos, so I encourage you to keep making them. Just don't go to the Museum until the pandemic is over. SARS is spreading in Russia and I need you to stay alive so I have something to watch while I'm stuck at home.
Not SARS, but COVID-19, another coronavirus and yet another that may have come from bats. The Chinese have to stop chowing down on weird animals like bats and those anteater looking things.
@@sarjim4381 A different coronavirus from the early 2000s SARS Epidemic, yes. The Coronavirus responsible for the ongoing one is SARS-CoV-2, CoV meaning coronavirus. The ongoing pandemic is SARS. The WHO initially advised against using the term SARS because they thought people would be scared, and promoted "COVID-19". People weren't scared so they ignored warnings to stay home and now lots of them have SARS.
Also, they're called pangolins, and they're not closely related to anteaters.
Finally, the transmission that occurred in the infamous market was between humans. Many of the first cases to be detected were from there, but that was not the starting point of the epidemic.
Finally, please stop being racist. Some cultures probably find what you eat to be repulsive.
This was a great presentation, one of your best! I learned so much, and have gained a greater level of respect for airliner designs of the Soviet era.
Il62 did fulfill its role as the first Soviet transatlantic jet (and first transatlantic jet for Eastern Block operators. I flew on it a number of times, both within Europe and to US and Canada. OK for its time, if not quite as sophisticated as the Western equivalents (and I flew on most the competitors at the time: 707/720, 747, VC10, DC10, Tristar and A300). I believe that the author barely mentioned the high number of accidents (look it up on Wikipedia) a significant number of which were not due to the overall design, but due to shoddy servicing of the engines and failure of engine parts resulting in destructon of the tail control mechanisms and consequent loss of aircraft. Most of the foreign operators got rid of them as soon as they could afford western equivalents. Russians love their creations and are not the most objective source of unbiased info :-(
My first flight to US in 1982 coming back I did the IL-62 of CSA from New York to Prague ( the outflight was a TAROM Boeing 707 from Vienna to NY) as I remember back it was no problem flight and thinking back I am really happy to organized that flight from Budapest which was really unic in that time. As later from mid-90-ies working for a US multinational many planes I used countlessly ....but the first sunrise I have seen during a transatlantic flight that was that IL-62 flight from NY to Prague ........never forget...
seriously the people in Monino do an AMAZING job. I went there last year and you can see the dedication. so many machines you cannot enjoy enough...
I just wish they had more money and resources to get some paint on the outsides, and to get their aircraft put under cover. they won't last forever sitting out like that.
Perhaps they should charge more for the tickets because on the outside these planes look a little drab, and with the paint fading off this looks more like a graveyard than a museum. Shame to have so many nice planes looking like junk
The IL62 was very much loved at LHR during the 1960s and 1970s while I was there (On noisy Comet-4Bs) albeit thought of as a VC10 copy, I now learn it wasn't. Great very helpful video. Thanks for posting :)
So happy that I had the chance to fly on this amazing aeroplane in December 1989 from Prague to La Habana via Montreal-Mirabel, and the return nonstop, on the former Czechoslovak airline, CSA.
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of criminal lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, improper heat treatment of parts, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, startling negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km away from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in (good Lord, get this),...APRIL 2008 (!!!), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain in that context, the very existence of Polish disasters, 20 years after those disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed with a dose of negligence, revealing the lack of homework of the storyteller. For instance, as a manufacturer (making decisions) it stipulates Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced the plane's body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov (for NK-84 engines) and Soloviev factory (for D30KU engines). Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau's cooperation in regard to disasters as satisfactory and its findings as “objective”. Problems were since the beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public knowledge and opinion and records were secret, kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane (still manufactured and sold), which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of the official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides curiously with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by the Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a broad number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on an engine or box with the engine itself (engine were kept unguarded on the hangar's floor, where anybody, even visitor could simply stop and read the tag), to documentation in various departments of the company (again easily accessible to anyone - as logbooks simply were lying unguarded on desks in hangars, where absolutely anybody who wished could read it, without being asked any questions). As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, any memory of altering those numbers,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope not) by flying dangerous planes. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were supplying “special” engines to service the official delegation flight of the Polish Communist Party to China (once delegation returned, engines were demanded back). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question.
Thank you for this. Yours is a fascinating first hand testimony of the times and processes. From what I know the maintenence intervals of the Soviet made engines were less than half of the western made constructions. I have read much about both disasters but never knew about near cresh incidents. These were never made public and the passangers were probably threatened by the secret police to keep their mouth shut.
It's a great thing that three of Interflug's IL-62s have been preserved. It's such a cool jetliner!
@Timothy Simpson Lady Agnes had one go around on landing. She landed on the second attempt.
3? One is Lady Anges on that field i northern Germany, the other one is in Leipzig, and the third one is where?
@@KamilMB The third one is DDR-SEC in Merseburg at the Luftfahrt-Technik-Museumspark.
Some other Interflug jets are also on display there.
Other IL-62s are Lady Agnes in Stölln (registration DDR-SEG) and the one in Leipzig. (registration DDR-SEF)
@@jkarhiaho Thanks for this info. So two of them are close. Do You know why DDR-SEF is not on google street-view? It is on the satelite view, and in 3D even, but as You go down to street-view it is not there. The photos are from early 2000' (old cars on parking where Il shoud be), and they have it on them that they are from 2017...
@@KamilMB Well, DDR-SEF stood for a long time at Leipzig-Halle airport and was moved to it's current location in 2010. So the street view is from before 2010. The "2017" means nothing in Google Maps/Earth.
I love little quirky features such as the skylight window in the galley. I would never have known about that! Similar little goodie is that Qantas 747's (and others I presume) have an access door to a section of the cargo hold where the crew could check up on livestock (typically horses) in transport! We used to take breaks on the turbo prop fleet to have a play with any dogs on the forward hold. A lovely way to break up a long sector!
But Sky, the TU-114 was still a magnificent bird! And I loved the matchless sound of those huge turboprops. Cheers, cherished brother. 💛😎
This sound was very impressive. But with constant flights, it would be terribly annoying)
And you should make a video about this aircraft after this famous video, Skyships Eng.
The flying eggbeater!
Its military version, the Tu-95, is still going strong.
The Bear is so loud it has been heard by *submerged* submarines during naval exercises!
All of mine KC-135s were built between 1957 and 1964. We still fly them and we still plan on flying them for a long time. Now, that’s a successful design. Sometimes time stamps don’t really impress me, but that’s just an opinion. However, my grandpa flew IL-28s for 33 years and never complained. So there is bias.
From Poland's perspective it was a very faulty plane. Two of the biggest crashes on our soil involved il-62s. In both cases the engines were at fault, because of the ils construction, had one of them exploded it damaged the rest and also the stabilizer making the plane impossible to fly. Both investigations concluded that engine construction must be improved but it never happened. First crash happened before the M, the second was the 'improved' version.
W obu przypadkach silniki zawiniły z powodu PRZEKROCZENIE REZUSÓW między przeglądowych. Ale o tym już antyrosyjska/antyradziecka propaganda zapomina... W Locie były duże kłopoty finansowe, stąd oszczędności i w konsekwencji katastrofy - niestety. Polecam poszukać hasła "lider" w odniesieniu do silników naszych 62'jek. Pozdrawiam :)
@@KamilMB bzdura, silniki w drugim przypadku mialy nielegalne zmiany w lozyskach sprezarek bedace bezposrednia przyczyna awarii. Rosjanie tak bardzo nie chcieli sie przyznac do bledu ze po drugiej katastrofie Polacy dodali specjalny komputer do monitorowania pracy silnikow i jest znany przynajmniej jeden przypadek kiedy ten system uratowal LOT przed utrata kolejnego samolotu.
@@KamilMB ndidn3jriiwhsu8dbe djej2ibejdjw ejrijejjed jeieije iwifhen2ke jdkfjenwns jsjdj kwiedujen sjdjekkw3jdi. Rjjrjd djei2hrbd dnjewj
@@Bucefal76montując co drugi wałek w łożysku trudno nazwać nielegalna zmiana, bardziej kryminalna możne. Mojej mamy koleżanka z dzieciństwa zginęła w lesie kabackim. fakt ze były ćwiczenia wojskowe w tym czasie tez nie pomógł.
Not construction but making. In both cases of the crash the engines was faulty because of very poor manufacturing. It had nothing to do with design or construction.
I like the blue / green paint in the cockpit. Looks soothing.
In Poland there was a saying about Ilyushin - 'Chcesz być pyłem, lataj iłem'. Which translates 'If you want to be dust, fly on IL'.
One of them crashed near Warsaw after a turbine in its engine cracked under stress, cutting through second engine and its tail on way out
Not one but two crashed for same reasons. First one crashed in 1979. It was IL-62. The second one crashed in 1987, IL-62M. Copernicus, and Kosciuszko. RIP.
@@sanderus421 The first one actually crashed in 1980 not 1979
Or even better : „lepsza kiła od Iła” - „better syphilis than Il”
I believe that the Il-62 was the aircraft involved in the worst aircraft accident in German history. Although the flight number is a mystery, what's certain is that an Interflug flight from East Berlin to Bugas, Bulgaria, caught fire during the flight and crashed around Königs Wusterhausen in August 1972, while the aircraft was trying to return to East Berlin to make an emergency landing
Excellent video, thanks! My wife and I flew on a LOT IL-62 back in 1985, non-stop from Chicago to Warsaw and back. As an aviation buff, I was fascinated and will always remember that flight.
You were fortunate. Two Il-62 crashed near Warsaw in 1980 and 1987.
i flew in 1992 from Moscow to Mexico City via Shannon and Miami (coming from Rome with a Tu.154) really a great experience. on return trip I flew again the Il-62 and from Moscow To Rome a Il-86. So happy!!!
Thanks for this - I was lucky enough to fly on IL62M from Khabarovsk to Moscow and back on Domodedovo Airlines and from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Seoul back in the early 2000s. I never got the chance to fly on a VC-10 to compare.
Spasiba! Sky this by far is one of my favorite videos. I thought it was the CSA aircraft that did the grass landing. The IL-62m from CSA was my very first flight from Czech to US. I love that you have a great museum to add to your videos. Your archive is great but, to see one and show us what you want to see is one of a kind. Keep up the great work my friend!
Been fortunate to see a Rada Cargo IL62 operating recently in Otopeni, Romania. A blast from the past.
I managed to upload it.
17:31... After a single engine failure, 2 neighborhood engines were damaged too... together with non-doubled steering - see LOT crashes from 1980 and 1987.
Agree. It’s so sad that the creator of this video did not mention about design flaw of the engige shaft and promote this plane as super secure which back than was not, due to design flaw and horrible maintenance. 2 biggest plane crash in Poland happend beacause of this plane.
This video is obviously a true labor of love.
Great video, I remember a IL 62 would take off out of San Francisco every Sunday going to Vladivostok. Loved the black smoke exhaust trails and the sound of those loud engines. Great memories.
Your Channel is probably the best Aviation channel I could ever find
U r right
I love this channel. I particularly enjoy the reviews and walk-throughs of the Russian designed planes. This narrator guy, "Sky", really knows his stuff and his ability to describe and explain all the features and specific details of each plane is impressive. Another great episode from Skyships Eng! Thanks...
An outstanding video! You depth of knowledge always provides something new I've never known about such Soviet era aircraft. Thank you for an excellent documentary about my favorite Soviet airliner.
I had the opportunity to fly on the Il-62 on a school trip to Russia in 1980 (yes, really - a UK school sent a bunch of students to the Soviet Union in the middle of the Cold War!). I remember it being relatively comfortable and quiet.
I got to fly across the Atlantic on one these. It had so much leg room and comfortable seats.
I love how you found pictures of Sterling Airways Caravelle
I really like your presentation Sky. Lots of details and history. Great job! I would love to visit this museum some day. Is one able to enter these aircraft?
I served aboard the USS Constellation (CV-64) in the mid 1980’s. Our Tomcats intercepted TU-95’s and TU-16’s and TU-22M’s. All were of concern with their anti-ship cruise missilery but especially the TU-22M’s Mach 1.2 speed. My favorite will always be the TU-95 (I called it the flying eggbeater). What a great engineering achievement, the apex of turboprop aircraft. Must have been long loud missions out of the Khorol East Soviet Naval Aviation base.
Always liked all the Soviet airliners too. Love the pragmatic engineering the design team employed for the IL-96.
The C-130 Hercules would like to have a chats with you - a turboprop used all over the world and has spent some 60 years in production and is still being made.
I flew on the Il-62 from Singapore to Moscow, and a stop-over in Delhi during the 1970s with Aeroflot. I thought it a very smooth aircraft to travel in. Nice memories. 💐🇦🇺
8:21 Because there was only one carrier, they did not feel the need to brand the interior and they could just use pleasing colours. I like that aspect of Soviet aviation.
sIMPLICITY is genious
Communism vs Capitalism
I like your personal appearance in the video. They get better every time!
Excellent use of the English language and clearly presented information. Two thumbs up!!!
I agree!
Especially since this channel is originally Russian
Johan Cruijff once said "To do things the simple way is the most beautiful thing, but it is the hardest thing to do!" The Il-62 was always one of my favorite planes. I used to live directly below the flight path of these and several other interesting Russian airliners. This bird was even louder than Concord, Il-76 or a VC10 but its quad-engine sound was pure melody!
"Skyship Eng" has done a great job as always. I would suggest covering the flight control system in greater detail as its quite unusual and remarkable. AFAIK the control surfaces have no hydraulics and are linked by cable. In a sense they are "aerodynamically boosted" using "servo flaps". These are small trailing edge flaps on the main control surfaces. On some small aircraft the flight controls are connected only to the "Servo flaps" and the entire control surface is otherwise left to pivot freely. Does anyone know if the Il-62 used this arrangement? Does anyone know how much physical effort was required on the flight controls or how effective the servo-flaps were in reducing the load on the pilot?
In my teenage spotting days at LHR, i considered the most exotic types to be Aeroflot Il-62 (and Aerolineas Argentina DC-8.)
Didn't you spot the water being ejected from the nose tank on takeoff? This was to stop it sitting on its tail when full of fuel. The water was filled by the Heathrow fire section who thought it was a pain. The water was dumped after takeoff.
The best engine sound ever :) I remember the IL62M when we used to fly as kids every year with Czechoslovak airlines between Prague and Cairo via Beirut and later visa Larnaca in the early 80s. What a thrill as a kid walking up the stairs, seeing that wing, the T shaped tail and engines when standing by the door...
And I still remember how me and my grandma would travel in Czech KAROSA buses.
haha.. I am the karosa generation as well... When still in school and uni,, :))))))))))@@zome631
The sexiest Commercial aircraft Russia ever produced.
Agreed. Possibly even the sexiest narrowbody airliner IMO. And I say this as an American, proud of the US aviation industry.
I disagree. TU-154 is prettier and sexier.
the USSR*
haha no kidding. It's definitely one of the sexiest aircraft out there.
Tell it to people who lost their life in it.
I agree with you. Not only is the writing great, but the video is extremely well produced. There are lots of statistics but we don't drown in them. This guy is first-rate. I would love to know more about him.
Along with the B727 I think this is one of the best looking jets!
I don't agree, I don't like aircrafts with a T-tail. I always thought it's ugly (just as much as it's dangerous). Give me a A-340 or a DC-8 instead any day (preferably the former of course).
I think its ugly. I dont think t tail planes look bad just the quadruple rear engine ones
When my family and I left Cuba at the end of the 70s, we left on a Cubana Airlines IL62. It was the flagship of the Cuban airline for many years
Thank you for giving us this video in English!
The VC10 remains my favourite airliner even today.
Quiet, spacious and much more comfortable than today's aircraft.
remember first 3 at fairford brize not ready for them happy days saw the landing at brooklands go vc10 go.
Finally a video about this plane 😍😍
I love it
😍😍😍😍😍😍
You finally made what im talked all the time :3
Sky, you must be the best aviation channel around. Very informative, never boring, a good dose of humor and that pleasant accent of course!
I love the retro jets, they are just beautiful!!!!
The romantic days of flying.....
I never realized how utilitarian the IL62 was. I love this.
Always liked the look of this plane . My first flight of my life was on Czechoslovakian airlines in the early 80’ from Prague to JFK NY with stopover in Montreal.
As you probably know, the Il-62 was literally forced upon the state-owned ČSA during the political aftermath of the Russian invasion in 1968.
@@petr7694 you’re right it was very obvious that even with ČSA titles they kept the registration CCCP-86666 until ČSA bought another one entirely OK-YBA
Spaceeba :). I wish my Russian was as good as your English! Thank you for your analysis of the Ilyushin design. I would like to point out that the VC-10 was really designed for "hot and high" operation to various areas of the British Commonwealth and thus had to have a very complex wing design to have adequate short take off performance. I do appreciate the Soviet-era designs for their simplicity of operation and maintenance.
THANK YOU! I have been waiting for you to make a video about the Il-62; you exceeded my expectations.
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of critical lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in April 2008), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain Polish disasters, 20 years after disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed neglectfully revealing serious lacks. For instance, as a manufacturer it lists Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced plane body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov than a Soloviev factory. Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau findings in regard to disasters - “objective”. Problems in investigation cooperation (or its lack) were since beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public opinion and records were kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane, which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a vast number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on engine or box with the engine itself, kept on the ground, where anybody passing could have simply read it, to documentation in various departments of the company. As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, such records or accounts,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope note) by flying them. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were sending “special” engines to service official delegation flight of Polish Communist Party to China (which they demanded back after their return). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question. Who knows.
1) Fabulous job, IMO. Thank you.
2) I am not Russian. But there is no airplane 'graveyard' I would rather visit (by miles) then the one you shot this film at.
3) I am amazed how good the interior condition of the plane is.
Peace.
would love to visit this museum...especially the tu-144
I remember some aviators riding a Cubana Il-62 & that despite being obsolete & outclassed, the aircraft were comfortable. Especially on takeoff & landing. This surprised my younger self because I grew up thinking Soviet aircraft were durable but very austere. Thanks for giving the insight on it's design. I have a whole new view on the Il-62.
Calling an extra landing leg a crutch isn't far off, since it helps something unstable not fall over. But insisting there's a more sophisticated solution it is like sticking a big flywheel onto your grandpa to replace a simple walking stick. Sometimes simple is good, and any engineer who states otherwise is likely working under a sunk-cost fallacy, and doesn't want to admit their overly complicated solution wasn't the best use of resources.
true
Kinda like how NASA spent a ton of money developing a pen that works in zero G. The Soviets just used pencils in space!
@@therealsnow I'm pretty sure the myth has been debunked dozens of times
@@nottoday3817 a more correct analogy is the time someone tried to create a continuously variable bike transmission to solve one problem: the minuscule inconvenienece of the gear change
There's an Ilyushin Il-62 sitting at the Jose Marti International Airport in Cuba, just outside of Havana.Saw it a few weeks ago. March 2020
You are the man, I keep waiting for your videos, really appreciate your work and time
I am Indian and reside in Austria. My father served in Indian Airforce.therefore passion for Aircrafts is family affair. I see your videos. today first time i saw you. My regards to you from Vienna, Austria.
Make a detailed video about Il-76, I always feels like it deserves more attention. People ignores coz its a cargo and in military it stays in the shadows of bombers and fighters. But IMO its the true beast and will be the longest serving aircraft in Russia when Tu-95 retires.
I would also love to see an Il-76 video. It's not just a cargo plane. It's also used as a tanker for in-flight refueling and as an engine testbed.
@@skyem5250 I know, I think there's a version for VIP passengers as well. To carry them in rough airfields. I remember Putin landing on Arctic airfield on an Il-76!
@@skyem5250 As well as an AWACS version, adapted by Beriev.
SO happy to see people shooting at Monino. I was lucky enough to visit there a few years ago and it was one of the most unique things I've had the chance to do. I was so happy there!
Also when I was there they were also testing the raising and lowering of the nose on the Tu-144.
Thank you for this exciting look into the beautiful IL-62. I learned a lot from your insight.
Spasiba ! :-) My ever first flight experience in life was with an IL62 from Romanian TAROM back in 73 or 74!
I was working on IL-62 and IL-62M for Polish Airlines. The plane was not terrible and was liked among crews in 70-ties and early 80-ties, even outdated compared to western designs, especially in electronics. On the transatlantic trip, the plane was burning 11 tons of fuel in the first hour. Only after 5 hours of flight, it was reaching economical 5 tons per hour consumption. Fully loaded (and that how it was usually operated by Polish Airlines), it needed the full length of the runway for a takeoff. The really serious problem was (of course you cannot hear anything other from Polish Airline employee), quality of engines, both Kuznetsov and Soloviev (second used later on M version). Serviced exclusively in USSR only, both designs were plagued by scandalous lacks in quality and precision of manufacturing and nothing short of critical lacks in quality control. As two Polish disaster investigations revealed, those lacks ranged from, nonmetallic inclusion in the material of critical parts, lack of any finish besides coarse on part requiring micro-metric finish precision, unorthodox violating technical norms modifications, negligence in manufacturing, and nonexistent quality control. Interestingly, the Soviets had denied faults and the role of those faults (in their engines) in two Polish disasters for a considerable time. The official position was, that discovered by Polish Disaster Commissions engines faults were not the cause of the disaster, but it results. Even it was an obvious lie since the beginning, as Soviet explanation, despise of a number of signatures of important “scientific” and government officials, could not explain things like, finding parts of the engine over 150 km from the disaster site, Soviet denial was finally and fully withdrawn only after, in two separate incidents (in Polish airlines), engines suffered catastrophic explosions while in flight, which did not end in disaster. Both planes landed safely. As disaster did not happen, engine faults simply could not be blamed on disaster anymore. In yet another interesting twist of fate, after surfacing of the following video on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/-xltGZk4aHY/видео.html (ground inspection after a successful emergency landing of Cuban IL-62M in April 2008), when it seemingly became apparent that despise Polish disasters, engine problems were never corrected, even 20 years after, another campaign of denial took place, involving this time internet trolls, forcing untruthful claims on international Internet forums (Wikipedia and other), even what appears to be the clandestine operation of Russian intelligence agencies. This time on public forums, Russians attempted to claim, that presented by them record (which according to them is 100% trustworthy), of operation of IL-62 and IL-62M, indicated both planes as considerably safer than any western counterpart of the same time. To explain Polish disasters, 20 years after disasters, all of the sudden some documents of Polish Secret Police of communist-era were “discovered”, which claimed, Polish Airlines in unorthodox agreement with the manufacturer (which grant it a free hand in decision making), decided to extend the time of operation of engines between checkups, beyond originally recommended by the manufacturer. The story itself is constructed neglectfully revealing serious lacks. For instance, as a manufacturer it lists Ilyushin Bureau, which did not produce engines, it produced plane body hence it would not be the one making the decision. That would be a job for Kuzniecov than a Soloviev factory. Matter of fact Polish commission found very little to complain about the body of the plane and described Ilyushin Bureau findings in regard to disasters - “objective”. Problems in investigation cooperation (or its lack) were since beginning with engine manufacturers and particularly bearing manufacturers. Anyway, the problems of such claims are as follow. As Soviet disasters were kept secret from public opinion and records were kept by the Soviet state only, it is only unverifiable say of new Russian now government that presented records are full and truthful. While IL-62 was still operated in 2008, revelations coming from the Cuban incident were quite unfavorable for the reputation of the plane, which does create an agenda for the Russian government to be less than fully revealing. Revelations regarding engine operating time limits come not from work of official Polish Disaster Commission, not in the time of the investigation, but from records of communist secret police which not that much had ties with Soviet intelligence (KGB and GRU back in communist times), but were rather composed of operatives of both. On top, the timing of “discovery”, 20 years after disasters, coincides with the time of the Cuban incident. Even Secret Police theory was never publicly addressed by any serious investigation by Polish state to my knowledge (they simply ignored it), the existence of such practice would have to be common knowledge in Polish Airlines, reflected not only in vast volumes of documentation but vast accounts of human witnesses memory. Hours of servicing of engines were not kept secret in Poland. Every, even basic level worker could have easily check them, or actually, to say more precisely, did check them, as knowing and operating with those numbers were part of normal work routine for a vast number of people from of all levels of the company. Those hours were listed in numerous places, starting from a tag on engine or box with the engine itself, kept on the ground, where anybody passing could have simply read it, to documentation in various departments of the company. As following and keeping those hours was part of a job, the work of many people required constant checking and familiarity with them. From my side, as a former employee, even not directly involved in engine servicing itself, I can only say, such records or accounts,... are simply not existing. So here they are. My two pennies, while on the subject. Was not trying to make it an attack on Russia. My sympathy simply goes not to people who manufacture the engines, but to common, average people who fly them, including Russians. They are the ones whose lives will be affected (hope note) by flying them. There is one more aspect of the story, purely speculative. Are the Russian engines really that bad? Hard to tell for sure! For sure the Cuban incident happened. For sure Soviets were aware of engine lacks way before they admitted it, as they were sending “special” engines to service official delegation flight of Polish Communist Party to China (which they demanded back after their return). The plane suffered no disasters or incidents in Polish Airlines for 8 years. Two disasters (and two additional incidents without disaster) happened in the time of “Solidarity” in Poland, where Poland definitely was perceived in the USSR as an enemy. Could it be this perception played role in Polish disasters??? I don't know the answer to this question. Who knows.
Today there is only one example of this beauty still flying and it is a cargo variant.
There are still 8 flying birds in the service of russian government, 1 in Iran and 4 in North Korea.
I flew on an Aeroflot IL-62 from Heathrow to Colombo, Sri Lanka via Moscow & Abu Dhabi out and Karachi, Tashkent & Moscow back in 1982. It was a very cheap way of getting there and back. £200 return as my memory serves me correctly which even for then was cheap. The one thing I initially found alarming but then got used to was the constant change in pitch in the engines on the final descent and slight roller coaster approach during descents. Unlike most western contemporaries like the VC-10 there were no extendable leading edge slats so I assume they didn't have this additional tool to control lift, hence the constant changes in engine power. It was iconic but didn't have the grace, elegance and sophistication of the VC-10.
That was pretty interesting. My favorite plane is the Tupolev TU-114, but the Illyushin IL-62 is pretty cool!
The Soviets were not concerned, like Westerners, about shrinking the size of cockpit crews. They saw a benefit to keeping people employed, rather than making them redundant.
13:40 This is probably the last place I expected to see an Olsen Gang reference.
Me too.
Indeed, I like his refreshing kind of humor.
@@sevenlux7093 Olsen Gang will never stop being hilarious even if it isn't as topical anymore.
That aircraft, for its engineering as well as esthetics, really is like art. She’s gorgeous and smart.