If the transport system is the blood of any world economy, then passenger transportation can be called the "plasma" of this very blood. The better, faster and better the state is able to move people across its territory, the fewer “bear corners” remain, the easier it is to establish interaction between the entire state apparatus. They perfectly understood this in the USSR. The result of the work of many design bureaus was IL 62M.
The passenger plane, which was a breakthrough at that time, proved that Soviet industry was not only capable of producing military equipment on an impressive scale.
Main characteristics
The aircraft is characterized by a rear engine and a special suspension design. It was developed in the legendary design bureau named after Ilyushin and subsequently patented in nine countries. These included the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan. It is not surprising that IL 62M became so famous, the star on the fuselage of which was a kind of guarantee of high quality.
The machine is characterized by an extremely rational distribution of masses, due to which its mass is almost identical to aircraft with engines under the wing. A distinctive feature of the IL 62M, the characteristics of which we are considering, is an unusual, stepwise implementation of the leading edges of the wings (in the form of a beak). This allowed the aircraft to provide excellent stability, including critical angles of attack. The wing was also made using the latest coffer technology, which implies cheap pressing. This allowed not only to facilitate, but also significantly strengthen the entire structure.
The plumage is made according to the T-shaped scheme, and its overall dimensions are much less than almost all analogues. Despite some of the shortcomings of this approach, this implementation made it possible to significantly improve the controllability and reliability of the new machine, from the construction of which unnecessarily bulky and far from always reliable solutions were removed.
Fuel tanks are located on the entire wingspan, including the center section. Aircraft IL 62M is unique at least in that it allows you to take off with one failed engine. A car can fly and land, generally having two failed engines. Multiple redundancy of all systems, borrowed from space and military equipment, can increase the reliability of the entire avionics by an order of magnitude.
Reasons for developing a new machine
The growth of freight and passenger transportation in the USSR fell in the second half of the 50s, when aircraft with gas turbine propulsion systems began to be commissioned. These machines made it possible to transport a large amount of cargo at a time, and this could be done as soon as possible. This is precisely the reason why, from 1950 to 1959, the volume of these cargo transportation increased immediately ten times.
It is not surprising that economists and civil aviation specialists almost immediately received an order to create a cheap and unpretentious aircraft as soon as possible, allowing people and goods to be transported within the entire Union.
Successes of KB Ilyushin
Only Ilyushin Design Bureau at that time already had sufficient experience and resources, and therefore it was his specialists who were the first to start designing a new type of aircraft. Already in 1960, Ilyushin himself turned to the Soviet government with a proposal to create a machine, which would later be called IL 62M. It was supposed to equip the aircraft with RD-23-600 engines, the development of which was carried out under the guidance of the talented S.K. Tumansky.
Estimated Features
At first, the designers suggested that the aircraft could carry from 50 to 150 passengers. The range was planned to "accommodate" within the limits of 4500-8500 km. Engines designers wanted to place in the rear. In general, the IL-18 concept should have been based on the IL-18 concept. Also, the French car "Caravel" with its location of stabilizers at half the height of the keel served as inspiration.
Since even the supposed concept of the future IL 62M was well worked out, the Council of Ministers of the USSR quickly accepted this proposal. The decision envisaged the development of an aircraft that could fly a distance of at least 4,500 km in economy class, with 165 passenger seats. It was also envisaged to create a “luxury” car of the first class. Its flight range was already 6,700 km and 100 ... 125 seats for passengers, respectively. At the same time, the design bureau under the leadership of Kuznetsov was instructed to create a new NK-8 engine.
Layout Features
For the first time in the history of all Soviet aircraft construction, a scheme with a tail engine layout was chosen. This was not done by chance. The fact is that as a result of using such a design solution, it was possible to obtain a “clean” wing with excellent aerodynamics. These characteristics were vital for the aircraft, which was supposed to be released even on long-distance airways of the country.
In addition, such a scheme involved mounting a more reliable and simple mechanization of the wing. Given that the engines were located at a considerable distance from the tanks, passenger safety increased sharply if for some reason a fire broke out. In addition, which is also extremely important during long-haul flights, the noise level in the passenger compartment was significantly reduced, and the negative impact on the aircraft structure of an outgoing jet formed by extremely high-temperature gases was reduced to almost zero.
Since the power plants were located as close as possible to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, it was possible to minimize the extremely dangerous yaw effect that arose when one of the motors failed. Finally, the same scheme suggested the rejection of an excessively large tail unit, which made it possible to significantly reduce the total mass of the machine (theoretically).
Today it is safe to say that the creation of TU passenger aircraft is not least the merit of the Ilyushin Design Bureau. It was the specialists of this design bureau for the first time in domestic aircraft construction that not only embodied a new development concept in metal, but also brought it to perfection.
The disadvantages of the new layout
But there were also shortcomings in the variant with the tail arrangement of the engine, and some of them were quite significant. Firstly, the mass of the aircraft eventually increased, since it was necessary to additionally strengthen the entire tail. In addition, the wings were no longer unloaded by engines (they can reduce stresses in the material).
Secondly, due to the location of the motors so far, it was necessary to significantly extend the entire fuel equipment, which negatively affected the overall reliability of the design. Finally, due to the “jamming” of the engines on the tail, the entire alignment of the aircraft changed dramatically, which also caused many problems for both the designers and the pilots who operated this aircraft.
Why was this scheme adopted?
It's all about comparing positive and negative points. When the engineers examined in detail the outline designs of the IL 62M, whose characteristics were disruptive for their time, they nevertheless made a positive decision to launch the production of the rear-mounted version. In fairness, it is worth saying that this happened after a tense debate. And you can understand the specialists: in order to implement this scheme, it was necessary to solve a lot of the most difficult questions on the layout.
So, specially for IL 62M (the Ministry of Emergencies especially appreciated it) a unique navigation system was created that allows you to fly and land the aircraft in the most adverse weather and meteorological conditions. For the first time, a completely automatic control system was used, which for aircraft of this size and carrying capacity is not even ordinary today. The highest reliability and unpretentiousness - these are the main distinguishing features of the IL 62M. The USSR (86513 board - one of the few sad exceptions) once again managed to create a really simple, but excellent car.
Basic performance characteristics
- The full wingspan, meters - 43.2.
- The total surface area of the wing, m² - 279.55.
- The maximum length of the fuselage, meters - 53.12.
- The main body length, meters - 49.00.
- The average height of the hull, meters - 12.35.
- Sweep of the wing, degrees - 32.5 ° (line 25% of the chords).
- The flight range is maximum, kilometers - 10,000-11,050.
- Maximum flight weight, tons - 161.6 (165/167 for modifications).
- Base chassis, meters - 24.48.
- The maximum track of the chassis, meters - 6.8.
- Cruising speed - 850 km / h.
- The maximum speed is 870 km / h.
- Ceiling altitude, kilometers - 12.
What is the difference between cars with the "M" index from their predecessors?
These aircraft, which are a modification of the simple IL-62, have D-30KU turbofan engines. They are much more economical and better comply with international environmental standards. The keel and stabilizers of these machines were given the best, in terms of aerodynamics, shape. Through the installation of a new reversing device, engineers were able to significantly reduce air resistance in flight. By increasing the capacity of the onboard fuel system, these machines can make longer flights.
Some of the flight equipment was also replaced, and more electronics were added to the aircraft structure. In addition, at the request of pilots, a modern air conditioning system was added to the cockpit. It allowed to significantly reduce the degree of fatigue of pilots during long flights, especially on international routes.
Finally
The machine has been repeatedly tested for compliance with all international standards. Until now, IL 62M, whose cabin is familiar to many natives of the USSR, is operated both domestically and on international lines. For the first time in the history of domestic civil aircraft manufacturing, most of these aircraft were manufactured for export, and some countries preferred to rent these aircraft for their domestic transportation. Such is the history of the IL 62M aircraft.