Ilyushin Il-96 Camber
During the first half of the 1970s, concurrently with the development of the IL-86, the Experimental Design Bureau n/a S.V. Ilyushin began the project-research work on a wide-body long-range passenger airliner. The IL-96 was designed in 1978 under the leadership of S.V. Ilyushin as a result of Ilyushin Design Bureau research to create a successor to the IL-86 long-range jetliner. At the very beginning, the designers intended to modify the IL-86 in order to achieve the target. Constantly growing needs for reduction of the passenger-kilometer operational cost, increase of payload and passenger capacity with simultaneous increase of the flight range and reduced fuel consumption finally forced the designers to design a fundamentally new airplane – the IL-96-300.
Passenger accommodations in the initial version were for 300 in an all-economy configuration, and so it was designated the "Il-96-300" -- which is why there is no Il-96-100 or Il-96-200. According to some sources, this plane was the first Russian passenger plane not to receive a NATO reporting name. Other sources are of the view that it was regarded as a variant of the Il-86 Camber, and so the Il-96 would also be Camber.
Compared with the Il-86, it is an entirely new design, even if the two resemble each other from the outside. It was to compete with the family of the Airbus A330/Airbus A340 on the Russian market and to replace aging Il-62 of Aeroflot and of the companies which succeeded to following the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as IL-62 of Cubana and CAAC. The plane particularly resembles the A340 airbus. The IL-96-300 wide-body airplane is designed to carry passengers, luggage and cargoes at long-haul routes. The IL-96-300 airplane aerodynamic configuration, assemblies and systems contain the newest engineering solutions ensuring a high level of the airplane safety and operational economy during its operation. In recompense for the IL-96-300 airplane development and its launch into regular service a large group of employees in the Open Joint Stock Company «IL» was awarded Government Prize of the Russian Federation.
The IL-96-300 provides the passengers with the up-to-date level of comfort; it meets the international ecological requirements, and can operate in any region all over the world. Due to the airplane systems high reliability and "on condition" maintenance mode, the airplane operational cost was decreased. The airplane crew cabin, its equipment and finishing were made based on the ergonomics requirements that currently ensure the necessary comfort for pilots. All information concerning the onboard systems operation, piloting and navigation systems operation is depicted on six color displays. The airplane control is computer-aided, and it is supported by the electrical-hydraulic system with a back up artificial mechanical channel.
The Il-96-300 airplane passenger salons with their soft diffused illumination, the modern finishing, comfortable passenger seats, video and audio entertainment system and various auxiliary devices and equipment provide the airplane passengers with a maximum level of comfort.
During the development of the IL-96-300 the designers worked out entirely new project design decisions aimed at improving of the airplane aerodynamic perfection, the decreasing its weight and the achieving its operational and maintenance simplicity. In recompense for the Il-96-300 aircraft development and its launch into regular service a large group of JSC “IL” employees was awarded Government Prize of the Russian Federation. Technical solutions protected by 14 Russian and 29 foreign patents as well as by 167 copyright certificates were used in the Il-96-300 project.
The Il-96-300 became a new flag-aircraft in the Soviet civil air fleet.The first IL-96-300 test aircraft was built at the Ilyushin Design Bureau’s experimental production in cooperation with the Voronezh Aircraft Plant (VASO). In 1986-1987 began construction of realization of three prototypes intended for in-flight tests and two prototypes for statics and dynamic test. On September 28, 1988 S.G. Bliznyuk, a crew captain performed a maiden flight of this flag-jet from the Central aerodrome n/a M.V. Frunze in Moscow. This was followed by the second prototype in November 1989.
On September 28, 1988, the new aircraft took off for the first time from the central airfield n/a M.V. Frunze. The test pilot S.G.Bliznuk flew the airplane. In the process of testing IL-96-300 carried out a number of unique distance flights up to 14,840 km. It has been tested in Yakutsk at -50°C and in Tashkent at +40°C. As the outcome of these tests, the Interstate Aviation Committee Aviation Register (AR IAC) issued an Interstate Airworthiness Certificate No. 22-96-300 to IL-96-300 aircraft for passenger transportation on December 29, 1992. On that date, nine planes had been assembled within the framework of the test program. Thus, IL-96-300 serial production began in 1992 and passenger operations started in July 1993. But the economic situation of those years made broad operation of the new aircraft impossible.
Russian president Vladimir Putin uses an aircraft of this type (special version Il-96-300PU). The end of the production is in sight and even imminent, because Cubana is the only non-Russian company to order this aircraft. As of 2008 a total of 20 aircraft are built and all of them are flying: three (among them are main and reserve RF President Airlines Il-96-300PU) in State Transportation Company “Russia”, six in Aeroflot, two in Krasnoyarsk Airlines (KrasAir), one in DAL (was given for lease to Cuban air company Cubana de Aviacion), three in Domodedovo Airlines and one (cargo version) in Atlant-Soyuz.
IL-90
From the very beginning IL-96-300 was considered as the basis to create an entire family of wide-body aircraft with common airframe and systems design. At the end of 1980s and early 1990s Ilyushin Design Bureau also studied several military variants of IL-96-300, such as antisubmarine, patrol and reconnaissance versions. Among civil variants a version designed to carry 20 tons of payload to a distance of up to 9,000 km on low frequency routes was considered (IL-90).
Il-96-550 (project)
The Il-96-550 Project dates from the 1990s. The aircraft would have two decks to carry up to 550 passengers, intended to compete with the A380 airbus. It is considered that the project is abandoned.
IL-196
It was planned to create IL-96-550, designed to transport 450-550 passengers to a distance of up 11,500 km as a derivative of IL-96M. Its further development could become the IL-196 aircraft capable to carry 680-800 passengers to a distance of 13,000 km. These projects were not unrealized, but further development of world aviation, in particular the development by Airbus of extra-capacity aircraft, confirmed that these concepts were timely.
Il-98 (project)
Since approximately 1995, Ilyushin has tried to develop on the basis of Il-96 a twin-jet aircraft called It-98 intended for the transport of passengers and freight. The engines Rolls-Royce [the Trent 800], Pratt & Whitney PW4000 and General Electric GE90 were considered. Following the final failure of the Il-96M/T program, a thick silence surrounded this project and was believed to have been abandoned. In February 2006 however, it was confirmed that it was always considered, and the company was in search of customers. This rose from the words of Valery Bezverkhny, vice-president of Irkut and one of the future leaders of the Russian aeronautical group (OAK) in the course of creation and which will gather as from September the 2006 all industrial activities of the Ilyushin companies, Irkut, Yakovlev, MiG, Sukhoï and Tupolev.
