The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-12. It was developed to deliver heavy machinery to remote, poorly served areas. Military versions of the Il-76 have been widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa, including use as an aerial refueling tanker or command center.
The Ilyushin Il-78 is a Soviet/Russian four-engined aerial refueling tanker based on the Il-76 strategic airlifter.
The Ilyushin Il-114 is a Russian twin-engine turboprop airliner, designed for local routes. Intended to replace the Antonov An-24, it first flew in 1990. A total of 20 Il-114s have been built.
The Russian Air Force is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the latter being formed on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. The modern VVS was originally established on 7 May 1992 following Boris Yeltsin's creation of the Ministry of Defence. However, the Russian Federation's air force can trace its lineage and traditions back to the Imperial Russian Air Service (1912–1917) and the Soviet Air Forces (1918–1991).
Aerolift was a South African airline based in Bryanston, Gauteng, Johannesburg, operating chartered passenger and cargo flights within Africa using Soviet-built aircraft. Aerolift also offered aircraft lease services. The airline was launched in 2002 and shut down in 2009 following two fatal accidents that had occurred in the same year.
Mirny Airport is an airport in Yakutia, Russia, located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the mining town of Mirny. It handles medium-sized aircraft and supports 24-hour flight operations. Mirny airport serves as a diversion airport on Polar route 3. The airport is home base for Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise. 329,446 passengers were transited by this airport in 2017.
The Military Transport Aviation Command was a major component of the former Soviet Air Forces, active from the Cold War period, through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, to 1998–1999. In 1999–2009 it was reduced in status to the 61st Air Army of the Supreme High Command. The 61st Air Army itself was initially formed on 10 January 1949 by renaming the 3rd Air Army. In 2009 the 61st Air Army was renamed the Command of Military Transport Aviation. Its headquarters is located in Moscow.
The Ilyushin Il-112/Il-212 is a high-wing light military transport aircraft being developed by Ilyushin Aviation Complex for air landing and airdrop of military air cargoes, equipment and personnel. The aircraft is manufactured by Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh. In October 2023, according to a source inside the Russian industrial-military complex, it was reported that the Il-112 project will be redesigned and renamed into the Ilyushin Il-212, the main difference being that now the aircraft will be equipped with turbofan instead of turboprop.
The 2009 Yakutia Ilyushin Il-76 crash occurred on 1 November 2009, when an Ilyushin Il-76 jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Mirny Airport in Yakutia, killing all 11 crew on board.
On 14 June 2014, an Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft of the 25th Transport Aviation Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down by forces of the Russia-backed separatists from Luhansk People's Republic while on approach to land at Luhansk International Airport, Ukraine, during the initial phase of the war in Donbas. The aircraft was carrying troops and equipment from an undisclosed location. All 49 people on board were killed.
On the morning of 1 July 2016, an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft configured for aerial firefighting and belonging to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations crashed near Lake Baikal northeast of Irkutsk in Siberia, Russia. All ten crew members were killed.
Aeroflot Flight 558 was a scheduled Ilyushin Il-18V domestic passenger flight from Karaganda to Moscow that crashed into a field in the Abzelilovsky District on 31 August 1972 as a result of a fire stemming from exploded passenger baggage, killing all 102 people on board.
On 27 April 1974, an Aeroflot Il-18 airliner crashed while operating a charter flight from Leningrad to Zaporizhzhia, continuing to Krasnodar, Russia. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Pulkovo Airport in Leningrad. None of the 109 people on board survived. The engine fire was caused by the uncontained failure of a faulty compressor disk.
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560 was a repositioning flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow to Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. On 28 July 2002, the Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft operating the flight crashed after take-off from Sheremetyevo. 14 of the 16 crew members on board were killed, making the crash the deadliest aviation accident involving the Ilyushin Il-86.
Nikolai Dimitriyevich Kuimov was a Russian test pilot and a Hero of the Russian Federation.
In the early morning of June 24, 2022, an Ilyushin Il-76MD cargo aircraft of the Russian Air Force was operating a flight from Orenburg Tsentralny Airport to Belgorod International Airport with an intermediate flight to Dyagilevo air base crashed immediately after takeoff from Dyagilevo air base, near the Mikhailovsky highway area in the city of Ryazan.
Rus Flight 9633 was a cargo flight operated on an IL-76TD aircraft of «Rus» airlines from Chkalovsky Airport (Moscow) to Taiyuan Wusu Airport (Taiyuan) with intermediate landings at Alykel Airport (Norilsk) and Bratsk Airport (Bratsk). On July 14, 2001, the plane carrying out this flight crashed a few seconds after takeoff from Chkalovsky Airport. All 10 people on board were killed.
On 24 January 2024, at around 11:15 MSK, a Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane crashed near the Ukrainian border in Russia's Korochansky district in Belgorod Oblast, killing everyone on board. Russia stated that the plane was shot down by Ukraine while it was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) captured during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as six crew members and three guards, and that the prisoners of war were to be exchanged in a swap. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not directly take responsibility for shooting down the airplane, but stated that it was a legitimate military target and that it was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for bombing Kharkiv Oblast.
On November 27, 1996, a Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76MD transport aircraft, registered as RA-78804. was involved in an accident near Abakan Airport (ABA), Russia. The plane was on a cargo flight from Moscow Zhukovsky Airport to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport, with a scheduled stopover in Abakan. Carrying an official payload of 30 tons (66,137 lbs), the aircraft underwent refueling at Abakan before attempting takeoff. However, during the climb-out phase, the plane ascended with an unusually shallow climb angle, deviating from standard procedures. Instead of initiating a turn 4 km from the runway at a minimum altitude of 200 m, the aircraft continued on a straight path until reaching the designated altitude. By this point, the plane was turning towards rising terrain. The aircraft collided with a hillside 14 km beyond the runway, resulting in a fire. 23 people died instantly in impact with no survivors.
