Heavy transport aircraft are dual-use products. Both the national economy and the army need them, and sometimes it is impossible to carry out humanitarian operations without them. Today it is difficult to imagine helping a distant country that has become a victim of a natural disaster (earthquake, flood or volcanic eruption) without a huge flying hospital or airship capable of delivering tens of tons of food, equipment and medicine in a matter of hours. And the rescuers themselves also need to be brought along with special equipment. Such a ship in our time has become the Il-76MD-90A, the “younger brother” of the “seventy-sixth”, which has already managed to see different continents. But first of all, these aircraft were created for military purposes.
Prototype
It so happened in the USSR that most of the transport aircraft were designed by the design bureau of O.K. Antonov. This team has created many very successful and reliable aircraft that have become the workhorses of Aeroflot and the Air Force, including champions in size and carrying capacity. But at the end of the sixties, due to changes taking place in world politics, a need arose for means of delivering large quantities of equipment and people over long distances. Moreover, it had to be done quickly. The propeller-driven Antonovs still carried the main load during landing operations, but the Ministry of Defense set the task of creating a large-capacity jet aircraft. The project was entrusted to the design bureau named after. S. V. Ilyushina. So in the early 70s this fast and beautiful giant appeared - Il-76.
Why are there tanks and infantry fighting vehicles at the aircraft factory?
This was done as part of the work of the Model Commission, which took place for almost three weeks - from May 12 to May 31, 1969. It was headed, one might say, by the main customer and the main interested person: the commander of the Military Transport Aviation of the USSR Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Georgy Pakilev, who had just been appointed to this post. He very meticulously examined the layout, according to the recollections of employees of the Ilyushin Design Bureau, literally crawling headlong into every crevice to make sure how reliable and convenient the placement of people and equipment would be.
Loading BMD-2 onto military transport Il-76.
Here it is worth making a digression and saying that his direct participation in the creation of the Il-76, with which military transport aviation was rearmed under the leadership of Pakilev, was not in vain for him. After retiring in 1980, he went to work at the S.V. Ilyushin Aviation Complex, where he headed the operational department, still delving into the issues of how a particular aircraft should be controlled and maintained and how this happens in practice. And quite deservedly, after the death of Georgy Pakilev, his name in 2009, at the request of the current commander of the VTA, was assigned to one of the Il-76MD aircraft of the 708th military transport aviation regiment, based in Rostov-on-Don.
But let's go back to 1969, to the days of the work of the mock-up commission at OKB-240. The real equipment was used for the mock-up of the future Il-76. In order not to juggle numbers and not to force themselves to finish on production aircraft what was not completed on the model, Strela’s designers and engineers built a model not just in full size, but with a real power floor set. This made it possible to drive real samples of equipment in service onto it, place soldiers and paratroopers on the seats, measure the dimensions of the remaining passages and experiment with fastening devices.
According to the recollections of the Ilyushin residents, almost an entire division was concentrated on the territory of the design bureau, located on the edge of the Frunze Central Airfield near the Airport metro station, for these two weeks. There were tanks, armored personnel carriers, recently commissioned BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and BMD-1 airborne combat vehicles that had just entered service, various kinds of artillery pieces and self-propelled guns, rocket launchers, tractors and army vehicles of all classes...
What made these tests especially poignant was the fact that they were carried out almost in the center of Moscow: seven kilometers to the Kremlin, and a kilometer less to the US Embassy. And although the territory of the OKB, like the plant, was carefully guarded, like any other secret territory in the Soviet Union, it was difficult to completely exclude unwanted attention to the concentration of military equipment in such a place. However, as far as can be judged today, Western intelligence services learned about the appearance of a new heavy military transport aircraft in the USSR only when it had already begun making regular flights.
And also about why the IL-76 turned out to be so adapted to the tasks for which it was created. As Genrikh Novozhilov recalls in one of his interviews, “A huge contribution to the creation of the Il-76 was made by the commander of the Airborne Forces, Vasily Filippovich Margelov. He invited us to Kaunas for two days, showed us what the Airborne Forces were, and told us what he would like to see on this plane. Then Vasily Filippovich told me: if you make four landing streams on the Il-76, I will erect a monument to you during my lifetime. We fulfilled this wish of Margelov; from the Il-76 you can land in four streams: two streams go into the right and left side hatches, and two streams go through the ramp. Of course, he didn’t erect a monument to me. Vasily Filippovich's highest award was to kiss him in front of the line. When the IL-76 came out for testing, he kissed me and handed me a bayonet with the engraving “40 years of the Airborne Forces.”
The release of equipment during exercises in the Pskov air assault division.
By the way, another funny episode is connected with the work of that Model Commission, which ultimately turns into everyday inconvenience for those who had and still have to use the Il-76. Genrikh Novozhilov also spoke about it: “When the full-size model of the aircraft with a combat floor where the equipment was moored was ready, we placed a normal toilet on it. Representatives of the Ministry of Defense arrived, looked at the layout and said: “Genrikh Vasilyevich, why do we need a toilet on an airplane that is planned to be operated from the ground? We don’t have a machine to drain it. You make us a bucket, secure it and make a curtain - they flew in, whistled for the soldier, and he poured everything into the nearest ditch.” Conveniences never appeared on the “seventy-sixth”, with the exception of the modification of the Il-76T, created for civil aviation, and its further iterations. Moreover, it had to be installed there, taking away space from the crew compartment. As a result, as the rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who had to use this establishment, say, for example, “you enter there in a half-bent state, and you see a high toilet on the side of you, which you need to climb on - and at the same time bend even more.”
"Senior" and his brothers
The machine was so successful that various modifications (more than two dozen in number) for a wide variety of purposes were built on its basis: from ordinary transport vehicles to flying space training centers. The medical version "Scalpel MT" accommodates an operating room, intensive care unit and other intensive care units. The A-50 is our answer to Avax; it is capable of long flights along borders, during which the aircraft conducts reconnaissance of the tactical and strategic situation in a wide border area. The top-secret A-60 is a carrier of laser beam weapons. There is a flying tanker option. Both polar and fire variants have been created. The IL-76 is recognizable, it cannot be confused with any other aircraft, those who are in trouble are waiting for it, and the ill-wishers of our country know that if “Candides” appeared in the sky (as NATO aviation experts classified them, the word means “sincere”, or “straightforward”), then things take a serious turn. Such a strong man really doesn’t need any tricks.
Each time the modifications concerned upgrading avionics, increasing the power of the power plant, and using additional equipment. The last and deepest of them received the index Il-76MD-90A. The characteristics of this aircraft fully comply with the latest requirements regarding efficiency, noise, environmental friendliness and safety, and externally it is difficult to distinguish it from the prototype, which turned out to be so conceptually successful that, obviously, this aircraft will have a long celestial destiny.
The first rollout of the new modification of the aircraft to the test airfield took place in 2011. Initially, its name corresponded to the “product” number, and sounded like “IL-476”. The Il-76MD-90A appeared a little later, in September 2012, when a military-style light gray test model took off from the runway of the factory airfield near Ulyanovsk.
Traffic lights and siren in Il-76
Everywhere where the plane exits for landing, there are traffic lights... :))
To the left and right of the ramp, the traffic lights are green and red with the inscriptions “Go” on green and “Clears” on red. And at the side doors there are traffic lights: yellow is the “Get ready” command, green is the “Go” command and red is the “Hang up” command. When the yellow traffic light turns on, a short siren turns on at the same time, and when the green traffic light turns on, a long roaring siren turns on along with it, and it roars with terrible force until everyone leaves the plane... :))
The flight to the drop site... everyone is sleeping... in the parachutes... the smooth and calm hum of the engine encourages memories, reflections and imperceptibly leads you to sleep... if the flight is long, then this is the time to get some sleep, relieve the fatigue of the early rise and the tiring pre-launch wait in the parachutes... sleep to the lullaby of the hum of the IL-76 engines... The siren in the IL-76 is the kind of sound that instantly makes everyone sleepy... The command “Get ready” is a short siren, but it wakes up all the paratroopers. The command “Go” the siren roars heart-rendingly endlessly... accompanying each paratrooper to Heaven...
Not a single paratrooper will ever forget this siren... just the sound of it makes you want to leave the plane faster...
Main external differences
In the first post-Soviet years, IL-76MD modification aircraft were built at the Tashkent Aviation Plant named after. V. Chkalov, however, economic difficulties hampering the development of Uzbek mechanical engineering prompted Russian customers to look for production facilities in their country. They were found in Ulyanovsk, on.
Changes in the design, despite the external similarity with the previous model, were quite serious. A specialist will immediately recognize the IL-76MD-90A by its new extended wing. The landing gear has also undergone modifications, they are designed to carry 60 tons of payload plus the weight of the aircraft itself, filled with fuel, in addition, they are designed to take into account a serious margin of safety. The requirements are high, since one of the specified technical conditions was to create the possibility of operating a transport aircraft not only on concrete, but also on unpaved runways.
The fuselage, including the glazing of the pilot's and navigational cabins, remained virtually unchanged externally. Another thing is the equipment hidden under the casing.
For soil and concrete
Since the requirement for the possibility of using the Il-76 from unpaved airfields was put forward by the military as a basic condition from the very beginning, it was necessary to ensure that the aircraft had the ability to have a short range during takeoff and landing. Achieving such a capability from a 170-ton vehicle was not easy, but OKB-240 managed it.
First of all, the aerodynamic layout of the moderately swept wing with highly effective mechanization worked for this: the aircraft did not need much time either to accelerate to “jump” into the air, or to quickly slow down when landing. Secondly, four bypass turbojet engines had sufficient thrust to provide the Il-76 with increased thrust-to-weight ratio, which ensured a fast and “short” takeoff, and the same engines, due to effective reversing devices, perfectly braked it during landing. Finally, the chassis braking systems, strengthened and protected from contamination, also helped the Il to quickly stop during landing. As a result, the takeoff mileage was only 1,700 meters, and even less during landing: only 900. Such indicators made it possible to use unpaved airfields for operating the Il-76.
Parachutists landing from the military transport Il-76.
True, in the midst of work on creating the aircraft, as Genrikh Novozhilov recalls, the military suddenly changed their requirements. This happened at the same meeting with Dmitry Ustinov, where there was a conversation about the features of the chassis of the new car: “After my speech at the same meeting, to my surprise, Andrei Antonovich Grechko, who was then the Minister of Defense, suddenly said: “Well, actually We will only operate ten percent of these machines from the ground. Isn’t it possible to increase the carrying capacity and landing load due to the fact that we will fly not only from the ground, but also from concrete?” We did this, and the plane ceased to be just a ground plane, but became universal.”
Taking into account all the changes in requirements, modifications and experiments, calculations and recalculations, is it any wonder that it took five long years to go from the order to begin research work on a medium military transport aircraft to the embodiment of the machine in metal. The first prototype of the Il-76, which had serial number 01-01, was assembled at the Moscow Machine-Building Plant, on the same outskirts of Khodynskoe Field, where cars and armored vehicles were once driven into the model of the future “truck”. Work on it was completed in February 1971, and on March 25, a few days before the opening of the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, the brand new Il-76 with tail number USSR-86712 took to the skies for the first time - from there, from Khodynka, more precisely, from the Frunze Central Airfield . The general designer of MMZ Strela, Novozhilov, invited his teacher and inspirer of the creation of the machine, Sergei Ilyushin, who had already retired, but had not lost interest in the affairs of his “company,” to look at this unique spectacle.
Engines
First of all, the efficiency of aircraft depends on the engine. The Il-76MD-90A aircraft is equipped with four PS-90A-76 turbojet engines (in honor of which it received its additional indices in the name), creating a thrust of 14.5 thousand kgf. In turbo mode, it can reach 16 tons, but in this case, fuel consumption during takeoff will increase significantly. In flight mode at cruising speed, 3300 kgf is sufficient, and during landing braking, a reverse thrust of 3600 kgf can be created. Kerosene consumption is reduced by 12% compared to the previous model and amounts to 0.59 kg/kgf*h in specific terms. Thanks to the new power plant, it was possible to bring the main parameters of the Il-76MD-90A aircraft into line with international environmental and economic standards. The characteristics of the aircraft comply with ICAO standards.
Fuel tanks hold more than a hundred thousand liters of aviation kerosene.
IL-76 LANDING OF PERSONNEL, MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND CARGO
EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS No. 11/2009, pp. 33-36
IL-76: LANDING OF PERSONNEL, MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND CARGO
N.D. Talikov,
Deputy General Director -
General designer
OJSC Aviation Complex named after S.V. Ilyushin"
The article uses photos by A. Nagaev, N. Nilov, V. Ulyanov,
as well as from the author’s archive.
Ending.
For the beginning, see “TV” No. 7.10/2009.
"North Pole" and Antarctica
In the mid-1980s. we received an unofficial assignment from the Airborne Forces to study the possibility of landing cargo on parachute platforms of the PGS-500 type, which were previously used when landing supply cargo from the An-12. The era of these aircraft was ending, and a huge number of PGS-500 platforms had accumulated in the warehouses of the Airborne Forces. The industry continued to produce them as planned, but the need for them was minimal.
When studying this issue, we turned to specialists from the Scientific Research Institute of Automation, which at one time developed these systems. But, frankly speaking, we did not see the sparkle in their eyes.
At the end of 1985, the leadership of the State Committee for Hydrometeorology approached us with an offer to help supply the North Pole drifting stations. The ice situation was extremely unfavorable: it was impossible to supply the stations either from icebreakers or from helicopters. Since 1982, the supply of stations was carried out by employees of the specially created group “Expark”. This group was led by the famous paratrooper A.Z. Sidorenko is a participant in many unique parachute expeditions, including the landing on Lenin Peak in 1967. But this group carried out cargo drops on P-7 parachute platforms. After the landing, it was simply impossible to take the platform back, and it was flooded in the ocean when the station was closed. This method of delivering goods had a fairly high cost - and then, although it was still Soviet times, money was also counted.
We came up with a proposal to deliver cargo by Il-76 aircraft, dropping them on parachute cargo systems. Of course, this was an adventurous proposal, since no one had ever performed a single drop from an Il-76 aircraft. However, one of the leaders of the State Hydrometeorological Committee, the famous polar explorer Hero of the Soviet Union E.I. Tolstikov agreed with this proposal.
There was nowhere to retreat. We quickly prepared design documentation for the aircraft’s special equipment for landing modified systems, which were named PGS-500A. The equipment was developed by leading design engineers V.V. Arkhipov and A.A. Lukin and under the leadership of the new head of the airborne transport equipment department V.A. White. The platforms were refined by specialists from the Expark group under the leadership of V.V. Arkhipova. In an extremely short time, the pilot production of our enterprise produced this equipment. At the end of 1985, cargo landing specialists from our company, together with the Expark group, flew to Tiksi (Yakutia). From here we had to fly and drop cargo at stations SP-26 and SP-27.
The crew commander of the Il-76MD USSR-76623 aircraft was Honored Test Pilot of the USSR S.G. Bliznyuk, the navigator was Honored Test Navigator of the USSR V.A. Shchetkin. The head of the expedition was appointed deputy of the flight development complex I.B. Vorobyova.
The first landing of cargo on the PGS-500A ended extremely unsuccessfully for us. Four platforms with cargo were broken. Realizing our mistake, we changed the scheme for mooring cargo on the platform and, after performing a control release of two platforms, flew to the SP-26 station.
The aircraft carried 26 equipped PGS-500A platforms, which were installed in two streams, 13 platforms on each side. The platforms could be dropped one at a time, several from each side, or from two sides at the same time; it was even planned to reset all 26 platforms at the same time. Everything depended on the size of the landing site. Decommissioned parachutes for personnel were used as parachute systems.
The work was carried out in polar night conditions. Experts from the Expark group prepared cargo for landing in severe frosts.
All resets went through with very good results. For several more years, we carried out such work together with specialists from the Expark group. Cargo was delivered to the drifting stations SP-28, SP-29, SP-30, SP-31 and to many island stations.
It became more difficult with the landing of cargo on the PGS-YUOR parachute cargo systems from the Il-76TD aircraft to the Antarctic Vostok station, carried out in November 2005 by the crew of the State Scientific Research Institute of Civil Aviation (crew commander - Honored Test Pilot of the Russian Federation R.T. Yesayan, navigator - E.G. Pushkov).
The uniqueness of this work was that the landing site at the Vostok station was located from the departure airfield (Novolazarevskaya station) at a distance of almost 2500 km (and the flight took place over a non-landmark area) and at an altitude of 3488 m above sea level. At the same time, the outside air temperature at the landing site was -53°C. The preparation of cargo for landing and work in the cargo cabin of the aircraft during landing was carried out by specialists from the Advanced Technologies enterprise under the leadership of A. V. Smetannikov.
The landing of cargo closed the issue of mothballing the Vostok station and made it possible to continue scientific research there.
In 2006-2008 Such flights were carried out regularly, but, unfortunately, this method of landing was not adopted.
Theme "Buran"
I would like to mention several more works on airdropping cargo from an Il-76 aircraft, performed by specialists from our company.
The first of them is the creation of the main multi-dome parachute system 17Yu12 for the “rescue” of detachable parts of space rockets (weighing up to 53 tons), developed at the Scientific Research Institute of Automation (now the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Scientific Research Institute of Parachute Engineering) in collaboration with the Design Bureau named after. NE. Ilyushin and (theme “Buran”). This topic was dealt with in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated February 17, 1976 and the approved schedule dated December 18, 1982.
One of the important and defining stages of the work was flight testing to develop the 17Yu12 parachute system. According to the technical specifications of the Scientific Research Institute of Automation, the designers designed unique landing equipment for a mock-up cargo with a total weight of 20 to 60 tons, the length of which was 10.4 m and the height was 2.7 m.
In accordance with the technical specifications, which were once completed by the Air Force, the Il-76MD aircraft was intended for airdropping military cargo and equipment with a total weight of up to 42 tons, and the weight of a monocargo should be no more than 21 tons. This mass was included in the aircraft's strength limitations. The design bureau specialists faced a question: how to safely parachute a monocargo from an aircraft, the weight of which is almost 3 times the maximum permissible for this type of aircraft? It was possible to strengthen the structure of the Il-76MD. But calculations showed that such measures led to the creation of an almost new aircraft, which was simply unacceptable for performing one job.
A group of OKB specialists, headed by leading design engineer V.V. Smirnov, as a result of execution in 1984-1986. large volume of calculations, developed a unique technique for landing cargo in the mode of creating its “reduced weight”. The term “reduced gravity” suggests that it is practically impossible to carry out a cargo landing by creating a long-term “weightlessness” mode (pure zero overload). In solving this problem, the group made extensive use of its own research results when creating a methodology for piloting the Il-76K and Il-76MDK laboratory aircraft, which are currently used for training and conducting medical and biological research on spacecraft crews, testing units, systems and equipment of spacecraft. aircraft in conditions of short-term weightlessness. These aircraft were created at the Design Bureau named after. NE. Ilyushin and TAPOiCh based on IL-76 and IL-76MD.
It must be said that as a result of theoretical calculations, four methods of dropping cargo from the Il-76 were proposed, three of which involved dropping the aircraft in horizontal flight mode, countering the moments of force arising from the movement of the cargo through the cargo cabin with elevator deflections of varying intensity. Such techniques were familiar to the flight crew, since the usual airdrop of cargo from an Il-76 is performed in almost the same way. But when dumping using these methods, vertical overloads arise, which in the cargo hatch area reach values of up to 1.5 d, which is quite acceptable for cargo masses of up to 21-23 tons, since the strength of the aircraft was designed for these overloads. In the case of dropping a load weighing up to 60 tons, the aircraft structure needed significant strengthening to absorb the resulting loads.
Therefore, a fourth method appeared and calculations were carried out for dropping the load in the “reduced weight” mode. In this case, the aircraft flies along a parabolic trajectory. At a given altitude, the aircraft with the cargo hatch open is switched to climb mode with a vertical speed of 7-10 m/s. At the same time, the pilot parachute is regularly put into operation, the lock for securing the platform with the load is opened, and the platform itself is held in its original position by a special safety device. After filling the pilot chute, the aircraft commander deflects the steering wheel into a dive all the way, thereby creating a “zero” vertical overload, and in the process of deflecting the steering wheel presses the “Reset-2” button, additionally installed on his steering wheel to turn off the safety device that holds the platform in its original position. position The platform, under the influence of the load from the pilot chute, moves towards the edge of the cargo hatch. Until the cargo leaves the aircraft, the elevator is strictly held in the dive-deflected position. At the signal that the platform with cargo is leaving the cargo compartment, the commander energetically takes the helm and brings the aircraft out of the descent with optimal vertical overload. After the aircraft enters horizontal flight, the aircraft is balanced, then the cargo hatch is closed.
This methodology was approved on August 12, 1986 by General Designer G.V. Novozhilov, and then agreed with the main co-executors of the work, including the State Corporation Research Institute of the Air Force named after. V.P. Chkalova.
This technique was filed as an application for the invention “Method of piloting an aircraft during airdropping of cargo” with priority dated January 2, 1986. According to this application, on December 1, 1986, author’s certificate No. 245955 was issued (authors V.V. Smirnov and N.D. . Talikov).
According to calculations, it turned out that there was no need to carry out major work to strengthen the structure of both the aircraft itself and its airborne transport equipment. A slight strengthening of the aircraft structure was carried out only to accommodate the forces acting in the cargo hatch area during loading and lifting of the ramp with the platform and the cargo installed on it with a total weight of 60 tons. As a result, the weight of the aircraft increased by a little more than 50 kg.
The first drop on the “Buran” theme took place on September 11, 1987 from the Il-76MD USSR-86871 aircraft (crew commander - A.M. Tyuryumin).
In the period from September 1987 to February 1988, five flights were carried out with the landing of cargo weighing 20-22 tons, in which the proposed drop technique was tested. These flights showed a very high convergence of flight results and theoretical calculations.
July 22, 1990 the crew of the Honored Test Pilot of the USSR I.R. Zakirov dropped the heaviest cargo in the history of domestic aviation from an Il-76MD aircraft: its mass was 44,600 kg. It’s a shame that they didn’t think about registering this achievement, at least as a domestic record.
A total of 12 flights were carried out under this program from the Kirovskoye airfield in Crimea. The discharges were carried out at the Cha-uda training ground of the Feodosia branch of the Air Force State Research Institute. The leading engineer of the aircraft during these tests was I.I. Gordin.
"Aerospace"
The second work, which was carried out at the Design Bureau named after. NE. Ilyushin, is the creation of the Aerokosmos aviation rocket and space complex (ARSC) with the Shtil-2A rocket. The complex was created on the basis of the RSM-54 naval intercontinental ballistic missile as part of the conversion program and was intended to launch small-sized spacecraft for various purposes weighing up to 730 kg into near-Earth orbits, as well as vehicles launched onto suborbital trajectories.
The main developer of this ARKK was the State Missile Center - Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau named after. V.P. Makeeva. Co-executors of the work - OKB im. NE. Ilyushin, and Research Institute of Automation.
The launch vehicle weighing 40.37 tons and 18.35 m long was placed on the launch platform in the cargo compartment of the Il-76MD transport aircraft in a horizontal position. The total mass of the dropped cargo was 45-46 tons. The rocket was dropped at an altitude of 10-12 km at an aircraft flight speed of 360-400 km/h. At launch, the rocket with the launch platform was pulled out of the cargo cabin of the aircraft by a special exhaust parachute system, and then at a given height it was separated from the platform, after which the engine of the first stage of the rocket was started. But this interesting work did not go beyond theoretical research.
Research was also carried out to ensure the launch of small-sized spacecraft for various purposes weighing up to 950 kg using the Aerocosmos aviation rocket and space complex with the Shtil-ZA rocket. The launch weight of the launch vehicle was 45 tons, and its length was 18.7 m. In this project, the rocket was to be launched from an Il-76MF transport aircraft. The flight speed of the aircraft when launching the launch vehicle at an altitude of 10-12 km was also equal to 360-400 km/h.
The main element of launching a launch vehicle from Il-76MD and Il-76MF aircraft was piloting the aircraft along a special trajectory that created “reduced weight” of the launch vehicle being dropped. All the necessary calculations during the creation of the Aerocosmos ARSC with the Shtil-2 and Shtil-3 missiles were carried out and showed the reality of launching launch vehicles weighing up to 45 tons from Il-76MD and Il-76MF aircraft. But this work was not continued.
Search and rescue complex
In the 1950s Soviet aviation began to carry out missions over the waters of the seas and oceans. When aircraft accidents occurred over water, the crews were provided with passive assistance by dropping rescue containers with the necessary means of rescue. Often these funds were not enough.
In the 1960s Specialized search and rescue aircraft appeared as part of naval aviation and, as a result, new ways of providing assistance to crews in distress were developed.
In 1965, some of the Tu-16T torpedo bombers were converted into Tu-16S search and rescue aircraft, in the cargo compartment of which a special rescue boat “Fregat” was located. The boat was dropped from the plane in the area of the accident using a single canopy parachute system. The range of the Tu-16S aircraft reached almost 2000 km.
The Tu-16S was replaced in 1969 by a search and rescue complex based on the An-12PS carrier aircraft with the Ersh landing boat (project 03447).
On August 27, 1981, decision No. 210 was made by the Commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on military-industrial issues on the creation of the Il-76MDPS Aviation Maritime Search and Rescue Complex (AMPSK) based on the Il-76MD military transport aircraft according to the technical specifications of the Air Force and Navy, approved in June 1980
The complex included the Il-76MDPS rescue aircraft, the Gagara rescue boat (project 14010) with GT-211 landing equipment and the MKS-350-10 multi-dome parachute system. The main purpose of the complex is to search for descending spacecraft, rescue and evacuate astronauts after splashdown.
The main developers of the complex were: OKB im. NE. Ilyushin - creation of the Il-76MDPS carrier aircraft; design bureau "Redan" - development of the rescue boat "Gagara"; — design of landing equipment P-211; The Scientific Research Institute of Automation was working on the ten-dome parachute system MKS-350-10, and its Feodosia branch was working on a hydraulic system designed to orient the boat downwind during splashdown.
On December 18, 1984, the modified Il-76MDPS USSR-76621 aircraft made its first flight at the TAPOiCh base.
The main work on the design and manufacture of the components of the complex, as well as their bench testing, was completed by mid-1985. On June 23, flight tests of the complex began at the developer stage (stage “A” of State tests).
After factory flight tests, which ended with positive results in November 1985, the complex was presented for State flight tests, which began on July 14, 1986. At this stage, comprehensive tests of the flight navigation complex, designed to perform route flights to the search site, were carried out to a given area, 5000 km away from the departure airfield, loitering in this area and conducting search and rescue operations. In the disaster area, in any weather conditions, the complex could carry out a radio search and detect rescue objects that are equipped with beacons and transponders, and in their absence, carry out a visual search during the day with optical visibility and at night, if the objects are equipped with emergency lighting equipment.
The rescue boat "Gagara" with a crew of three people could parachute from an airplane along two of the four roller tracks available on board from altitudes from 600 to 1500 m, at flight speeds of 350-370 km/h, with sea waves up to 5 points and wind speeds 18-20 m/s.
Data from the AMPSC IL-76MDPS have made it possible to significantly expand the scope of its application. This is, first of all, the rescue of crews of aircraft and sea vessels in accident. In addition, the complex is also capable of performing transport flights to transport cargo weighing up to 48 tons, as well as delivering to the scene of an accident and landing a group of rescue paratroopers of up to 40 people.
To increase the efficiency of the complex during rescue operations, the issues of dropping the “garland” of PSN-25/30 life rafts were resolved. These life rafts, connected to each other using rails, were placed in the cargo cabin of the aircraft on two roller tracks free from the boat. Depending on the situation, the rafts could be dropped before or after the landing of the boat. Moreover, they had to be released from the windward side of people in distress, so that the chain (“garland”) of rafts put into action even before splashdown under the influence of the wind would seem to move towards the rescue object.
State flight tests of the AMPSK Il-76MDPS were completed on December 9, 1986. This complex had large reserves and prerequisites for further development. Thus, the flight range of the Il-76MDPS could be increased to 7000 km, and the flight duration to 16 hours by providing in-flight refueling from an Il-78 or Il-78M tanker aircraft.
But April 7, 1989 came. On this day, a disaster occurred with the nuclear submarine Komsomolets in the Barents Sea. Numerous forces of the Northern Fleet were sent to help the crew, including long-range anti-submarine aircraft Il-38, which discovered the submarine and its crew in distress. Rescue containers with watercraft were quite accurately dropped from the planes. Unfortunately, the crew of the submarine was unable to use them due to the very low sea temperature: many people who escaped from the submarine were unable to swim to the dropped watercraft and froze in the cold water.
At a meeting of the State Commission on this disaster held at the headquarters of the Northern Fleet, the chairman of the commission O.D. Baklanov asked representatives of the Northern Fleet aviation why the An-12PS or Il-76MDPS rescue aircraft were not used. To which the answer was given that the An-12 aircraft, unfortunately, was not ready for flight, and they had heard something about the Il-76MDPS, but it was not yet in combat units.
Soon, our design bureau learned with great surprise that the topic “Aviation and maritime search and rescue complex AMPSK Il-76MDPS” was closed, and the brand new aircraft, which had only about 300 flight hours, was transferred to the Voroshilovgrad Higher Aviation School of Navigators as a ground training aid .
But you can’t stop life—work continues along with it. On August 1, 1995, a new modified Il-76MF aircraft with PS-90A engines made its first flight, which can accommodate two Gagara rescue boats at once, and in combination with the increased flight range of the AMPSK, created already on the basis of this aircraft, it is possible give completely new possibilities.
In recent years, specialists from the Centrospas detachment and the aviation of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations have been carrying out targeted work on the development and implementation of advanced air parachute technologies to provide emergency assistance in emergency situations. Aviation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia completed the task of prompt delivery and landing of emergency rescue equipment and paratroopers from an Il-76MD transport aircraft to the disaster area of a sea vessel or aircraft.
The delivery of rescue equipment to the disaster area became possible thanks to the use of parachute-cargo systems with life rafts laid on them (PSSP). This technology was developed on an initiative basis by specialists of the Centrospas detachment and passed a preliminary test together with specialists from the AK named after SV. Ilyushin" as part of the preparation program for the international exercises "Joint Guardian-2000" when performing test flights for landing PSSP from an Il-76MD aircraft at the Kirzhach airfield and the Sea of Azov near the city of Taganrog.
At the same time, the leadership of the aviation of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Tsentrospas detachment concluded that providing assistance to those in distress in the seas or oceans will be more effective when using the Il-76MDPS air-sea search and rescue complex, which received a positive assessment from the Air Force and Navy, together with application of new technologies. Only a positive decision is required at the state level.
More about the “space” theme
It is worth mentioning one more work that we carried out in 1983-1984. First, it was necessary to test the main parachute system of the descent vehicle, which was planned to be launched to the planet Venus (product “5B-AMS”). The mass of this product was about 5 tons, the length was about 4 m. We carried out this work with the NPO named after. S.A. Lavochkin and with specialists and the Research Institute of PS (as the Research Institute of Automation is now called). The main thing here was that the drop had to be performed from the maximum possible height for the aircraft, when serious problems of stability and controllability arise when dropping cargo.
Flight tests began with UPS tows at altitudes from 7,000 to 14,000 m. Unlike previous tows and drops, in these tests the experimenters worked with oxygen equipment.
A special feature of testing the parachute system of the new generation Soyuz-TM descent vehicle was that the release of this vehicle was carried out without using the parachute “stall” method. The specialists of the airborne transport equipment design bureau designed a device that, before dropping, would take the device off the ramp, and then it would be dropped from the locks of the device. This work was carried out jointly with specialists from RSC Energia and the Research Institute of PS. The leading engineer of the aircraft during these tests was A.V. Yurasov, who in 2006 was appointed chief designer of the Il-76 aircraft and its modifications instead of R.P., who retired. Papkovsky.
In the work on landing the K-10 product, which was carried out in 2002, design bureau specialists proposed to abandon the use of a parachute platform and install skis directly on the product. We also designed a lock for attaching the product to the monorail. For the first time, we encroached on the traditional lock, which was always developed by designers. But the castle turned out to be much simpler structurally. He cannot even theoretically refuse a job. Our General Designer G.V. Novozhilov liked to say: “The system should work the same as a three-line rifle
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simple and without failure.”
The product was dropped from heights of 7000 m. The work was carried out jointly with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise GosNII Mash and the Research Institute of PS.
Cargo compartment equipment
The speed of delivery of cargo for any purpose, military or civilian, depends not only on how fast the aircraft flies, but also on the ability to quickly load and unload them after landing. The cargo cabin of the Il-76MD-90A is equipped with two winches that develop a force of up to 3 tons, with the help of which non-self-propelled equipment can be launched into it. Any object weighing up to ten tons is lifted using four hoists. A variable-angle ramp will allow entry of larger loads, up to thirty tons. If equipment is delivered with a crawler-type undercarriage, then its smooth running is facilitated by struts. It is also possible to install four roller monorail tracks, which are used for landing or loading sea or air pallets and containers.
Cargo compartment
Parachute landing is carried out through a ramp, and the IL-76MD-90A can, depending on the equipment option, have a single- or double-deck layout. True, the possibility of jumping simultaneously from two levels is usually not used due to the high risk of excessive proximity of parachutists and cargo. The single-deck version involves the airlift of up to 145 personnel (paratroopers in full gear - 126), the double-deck version - up to 225. The air hospital can take on board 114 wounded.
To transport people, side and central seats are installed in the cabin.
When converting into a flying fire fighting vehicle, containers for water or special fire extinguishing agents are installed in the cargo compartment.
Handsome Il-76
Not only were there many flights on this plane, but we also jumped from it... I have 12 jumps from an IL-76 on a sports parachute... onto a ramp... a real paratrooper... :))
The Il-76 military transport aircraft is designed for:
- parachute landing of personnel;
- parachute landing of military cargo and equipment;
- landing of personnel;
- landing of military equipment and cargo;
- transporting the injured and wounded is a sanitary version of the aircraft.
These are the five main options for using the IL-76 , and each option uses its own equipment.
Landing from the Il-76 takes place mainly in one or two flows through the side doors, which ensures minimal convergence of paratroopers in the air.
In three streams - into the side doors and in one stream into the ramp.
In four streams - in combat conditions: into the ramp in two streams and into the side doors.
The speed of the aircraft during the release is on average 300 km/h. The cargo compartment of the Il-76 is sealed, and during long-distance flights at high altitudes, the pressure inside the aircraft is approximately the same as at an altitude of 2.5 km, but in case of an emergency, each seat is equipped with an oxygen mask, therefore, all paratroopers have the possibility of individual oxygen supply.
Photo. In the IL-76... waiting for the command “Get Ready”... They are sitting beautifully... this group of strong men on ropes... :)) Please note that the photo clearly shows the stabilizing parachutes stowed in the camera. The camera on a short halyard is fastened with a carabiner to the cable in the plane - so they remain in the plane, and the stabilization comes out of the camera immediately outside the plane.
I wish all paratroopers safe jumps!
Pilot's cockpit
The crew workspace, successfully designed for previous models, has been further improved in the ergonomics of the Il-76MD-90A. Photos of the pilot's cockpit show liquid crystal displays (there are eight of them), which replaced dial instruments - “alarm clocks”. Control panels with joystick handles have highly intelligent functional content. The traditional, successful glazing, which provides excellent visibility for the pilots and navigator, is complemented during daylight hours by the “transparent cockpit” effect, which facilitates control in conditions of limited or no visibility. All these functions are supported by the Kupol-III-76M flight and navigation system.
"Professions" of a hero
The IL-76 has proven to be an effective platform for various special types of aircraft, including tanker aircraft, air hospitals and flying laboratories. As TASS was told by the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC as part of the Rostec state corporation), 22 modifications were created based on the Il-76. Among them:
— Il-76M / Il-76MD / Il-76MD-M. These aircraft have significantly increased maximum take-off weight and load. Currently, the basic Il-76MD aircraft are being upgraded to the Il-76MD-M level with the installation of modernized lighting, airborne transport and household equipment, as well as updated defense and communications equipment.
— IL-76MF. It differs from the base aircraft in its increased payload capacity. The aircraft received PS-90A-76 engines and modernized flight and navigation equipment; its fuselage was lengthened by 6.6 m. In 2011, two Il-76MF aircraft were delivered to Jordan and specialized in cargo transportation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
— Il-76T / Il-76TD / Il-76TD-90VD. Civil modifications, the most modern - Il-76TD-90VD - is equipped with PS-90A-76 engines. It currently operates flights to Antarctica to supply polar stations.
— Il-78 / Il-78M / Il-78M-2. Refueling aircraft are equipped with additional fuel tanks and standardized outboard refueling units.
— Il-78M-90A. A tanker aircraft based on the Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft.
— IL-76LL. An aircraft designed to test advanced aircraft engines. The standard left inboard engine has been removed and is replaced by an engine intended for testing on a non-standard, reinforced pylon.
— IL-76MDK. A modification of the Il-76MD aircraft, intended for training cosmonauts in conditions of short-term artificial weightlessness.
© ilyushin.org
Il-76TD-90VD currently operates flights to Antarctica to supply polar stations.
For your information
The aircraft of the “hundred professions,” as the 76 is sometimes called, remains one of the most popular aircraft on the aviation market: according to the WorldAirForces 2022 directory, published by the leading specialized publication FlightGlobal, it ranks sixth in the top 10 most common in the world military transport aircraft. According to the publication, the air forces of various countries around the world have 203 Il-76 units in service, which is about 5% of the global fleet of military transport aircraft.
"Dome"
Modern navigation instruments have taken over many of the functions previously performed by navigators and pilots. Flight planning, course plotting, fuel consumption calculation and other operations on the Il-76MD-90A aircraft are performed automatically. But that's not all. The Kupol complex corrects data on the location of the aircraft, controls the landing approach (if the airport has equipment that meets the second category of ICAO) and even assesses the meteorological situation, giving the crew recommendations for optimizing the piloting process. The system also warns about aircraft flying on close or oncoming courses, warning against the possible danger of a collision. The help of the “Dome” is invaluable during landings, especially in the absence of visual control.
Technical data
The Il-76MD-90A, the photo of which is striking in size compared to a car or other aircraft, takes off from a surprisingly short runway. He only needs 1.7 km. The landing run-out can be reduced to 960 m by operating the engines in reverse mode. Flight speed can reach 800 km/h. Non-stop range depends on the weight of the cargo. A transporter can deliver a weight of 50 tons over 5 thousand kilometers, and 20 tons over 8.5 thousand kilometers.
Now about the dimensions of the Il-76MD-90A aircraft. The technical characteristics correspond to the dimensions: the cross-sectional diameter of the fuselage along the midsection is approximately 5 meters, the length of the aircraft is 46.6 m, the span of the planes is 50 m, the height (with landing gear) is about 15 meters.
Chassis
The chassis is also impressive, capable of supporting up to 210 tons (this is how much the Il-76MD-90A aircraft can weigh). Photos taken from the ground during take-off allow us to judge their general design and the grace with which they fit into niches located along the side projections of the fuselage. There are five pillars: one bow and four main ones. Each of them has impressively sized pneumatic wheels, arranged in a row, four per axle. The design of the chassis, in general, repeats the technical solutions of the Ila-76, with the exception that the increased load associated with the increase in payload and fuel, as well as the possibility of operation from problematic airfields, required strengthening of all elements.
My impressions of jumping from IL-76
In 1990, on August 2, we jumped into Tushino from an Il-76 for the 60th anniversary of the Airborne Forces. At first, training jumps from the Il-76 were in Pskov, then we were brought to Tushino and were accommodated at the airfield in military tents. Colonel Viktor Nikolaevich Kunchukin was with us; he led our jumps.
In the morning, before light or dawn, they picked us up and, still sleepy in the Urals, took us to Tver. There was an Il-76 takeoff, then a jump to the Tushino airfield. We went in two echelons, the drop was carried out in two streams onto the ramp - we had a sports landing. Two Il-76s filled with sports parachutists, one after another, with an interval of 30-40 seconds, entered combat mode, and the Sky was filled with sports wing-type parachutes.
In Tushino everyone was preparing their own programs. But the most beautiful thing was when at a low altitude, 300 meters, an Il-76 came in... and dropped 40 tons of water... showing how this happens when putting out fires. And on the eve of the day, the Airborne Forces Il-76 missed... and 40 tons of water went to the Moscow Ring Road... we watched... at first it was “Ah...!” and bewilderment... imagine, such a colossus with 40 tons of water collapsed on the Moscow Ring Road...! how so…! there are cars and everything near the Moscow Ring Road... Then we were told that there were no casualties... When the IL-76 dumps water, there is a huge piece of water that does not splash - so it crashed onto the Moscow Ring Road.
We are already tired... we are driven and driven in the Urals to this Tver... it’s a pity that there was no closer airfield... And now we are going to Tver and think that we have finally arrived, it would be better to go to the Il-76... to take a break from the Urals... we took off... we rejoice... the ramp has opened, “On the battlefield”... we are waiting for the signal to leave... The sky is clear... and suddenly, the ramp is closed, lights out... we are flying to Tver... to the Urals...
I took off the parachute and went to the cockpit to find out why the call was cancelled. When the commander said that he felt sorry for us... he saw the clouds and gave up... I wanted to beat him... when he found out that he had committed the most unpleasant act for skydivers, he apologized all the way to Tver... :))
And the Urals were waiting for us... on the way back to Tushino... :))
So…
Prospects
Heavy aircraft, both due to their high cost and the specific nature of their application, are, as a rule, not produced in huge quantities. However, the aircraft fleet inherited by the Russian Air Force from the USSR is gradually exhausting its service life. The normal service life for this type of aircraft is three decades, so it’s time for the management of interested departments to think about how many Il-76MD-90A aircraft will be needed. The characteristics of this transporter fully satisfy the requirements of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and Aeroflot, even taking into account the future. Serial production began in 2012, three copies were built. If the initial need was estimated at 38 aircraft, at the time the series was launched it increased to fifty, and then reached one hundred of various modifications (until 2020). The defense department also expressed interest in a special long-range radar reconnaissance aircraft based on the same Il-76MD-90A.
It depends on what time of day, what hole and what to jump with. If the D-6 is out of the door at night, you seem to jump out head first, holding the switched-on flashlight on the spare tire with one hand, and a bottle of vodka and a can of stew under the spare tire with the other. Almost immediately after separation, you are tugged by the collar, like a dog with a master’s leash from tasty poop (but without shouting “Ugh!”). Then you are surprised to see your legs in flight pants with the legs of the overalls gathered into folds above the knees and against their background there is a luminous cargo hatch going forward and upward. On the count of “five hundred and five” you pull the ring. It becomes dark and quiet, you point the flashlight down, to the side you see a luminous point going towards the ground and you hear the owner of the flashlight swearing. You joyfully notice that the cars that were supposed to illuminate the landing site rushed en masse to the place where the detached flashlight of the ensign from the PDS-ki flew away. Then you try to reach the platform at random, hanging with your whole body first on the left, sometimes on the right turning lines and cursing the rolls that have been suppressed by order of the division commander. You remember with sadness at least the PTL-72 with its brakes. Then you hear that someone is suffering under your ass and joyfully remember that there is a cowshed about 3 kilometers from the site. You begin to smell the invigorating smell of cow dung. You remember with a kind word the thrifty head of the cowshed, who did not turn on a single light bulb on it. Then something vague and dark appears in the flashlight’s spot, floating from the side and scattering to the sides. You turn around in the suspended position. You joyfully perform somersaults in something viscous and sticky. You collect the lines into an endless knot. You take out the bag from under the spare tire, stuff the parachute, spare tire and flashlight into it. You listen carefully to the night, then you put your bag on your shoulders and go to where you hear the faint sounds of your native Russian speech and car engines. Along the way, you feel warm gratitude to the designer of the parachute, who made it so light (25-30 kg with all the engine and reserve) and supplied such an awesomely convenient carrying bag (which you can arrange in a hell of a lot of places so that it doesn’t cut your arms or shoulders). Then you warmly thank the people from the site for illuminating the landing area. Then you take off your smeared overalls and, wearing shit, shorts and a vest, drink vodka with PDS nicknames and guidance navigators from the site. Then you spend several hours riding in the back with parachutes to your home dorm.
