The Ilyushin IL-62 is a long-range narrowbody aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It first flew on 3 January 1963 and entered service with Aeroflot on 15 September 1967.
With its four Soloviev D-30KU turbofan engines (originally Kuznetsov NK-8 turbofans) located at the rear, it resembled the gorgeous British built Vickers VC10. With 292 built between 1963 and 1995, the aircraft is considered quite successful.
Ilyushin IL-62 Video
Following on from the last video on the giant Handley Page H.P.42, this time we go back behind the iron curtain to check out the Ilyushin IL-62. This short video lasts for about three and a half minutes and gives a great overview of the aircraft.
There are shots of the IL-62 inflight, some in the cabin, and even some cool footage of it reversing down the runway! The importance of the new engines creating the IL-62M variant which first flew on 9 March 1974 is also pointed out. This eventually gave the aircraft a 10,000 kilometre range with a payload of 10,000 kilograms.
How About A Real Soviet Film?
Running for a shade over five minutes, this one is completely in Russian and mentions the foreign airlines who bought the Ilyushin IL-62, such as Poland’s LOT, East Germany’s Interflug and Romania’s TAROM. With its long range and seating for 168 to 186 passengers, it was the choice aircraft for intercontinental flights for Eastern European countries.
Lots of detailed views are shown, such as the spoilers, thrust reversers, cockpit and the cabin. The amount of space in those overhead bins would make today’s passengers freak out as there’s very little room there. With good music and even a payload range chart, the film is worth checking out.
Overall Thoughts
Back in the day, Czechoslovak Airlines, United Arab Airlines (now Egyptair) and more operated the Ilyushin IL-62. Today only North Korea’s Air Koryo still has the aircraft in service, so it’s unlikely you will get to fly on one.
There is an amazing video of an Interflug IL-62 landing on a grass strip in Germany too. That must have taken some courage and it is certainly worth checking out.
Considering the IL-62M was the main long range aircraft for Aeroflot, did you ever get to fly on one? What did you think of the videos? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Enjoying the series? Check out the index to all the “Does Anyone Remember…” articles.
To never miss a post, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here so check them out!
Featured image by Gerhard Plomitzer via Airliners.net
My father was a pilot for TAROM and used to fly the IL-62 and IL-62M’s. Romania had 5 ( from YR-IRA to YR-IRE ) 3 standard and 2 M’s.
I still remember many stories about the flights. The regular long courier flights were from Bucharest to Chicago and NewYork, Cuba, Montreal, Bangkok, Singapore, Pekin, etc.
It was a very solid airplane but with high consumption ( 6 tons/ hour and 9 tons in take off – full throttle )
But again, an extremely safe plane but with good servicing.
Fantastic that your father was a TAROM pilot. Some of the sectors the IL-62M ran were extremely long flights. It put in a lot of years service, that’s for sure! Thanks for the comment.
The one in the main picture was an Il-62 r/n SP-LAA “Mikołaj Kopernik”, which crashed in Warsaw in 1980 due to uncontained engine failure while going around (PLL LOT Flight 7). While on an approach to Warsaw-Okecie airport, one of the landing gear indicator lights did not lit up, and the crew decided to abort landing to see whether there’s actually a problem or the light bulb went out. When the flight engineer applied full power for go-around, the power shaft of the low pressure turbine in engine no. 2 broke off, sending pieces of said turbine flying out of… Read more »
Thank you for that extremely interesting write up, that is fascinating information. Perhaps I should make an article about this! 🙂 I was unaware of these accidents that affected LOT. I am not particularly surprised the Soviets stated there was nothing wrong with their engines… that seems pretty standard for them. It is a shame it took another accident to “prove” that the Polish investigators were correct. It’s terrible when design flaws are not acknowledged or corrected, which is topical right now with the Boeing 737 MAX. Either way, I think LOT has gone from strength to strength since the… Read more »
Unlikely to fly an Air Koryo Il-62? Many of us have, multiple times. The true avgeeks….
Oh, I know – I’ve seen some of the tours that have been put on to North Korea for the aviation folk. I notice they’ve stopped though, as I was planning to get on one, but alas… hopefully there will be another in the future. I’d like to visit North Korea and fly on some of the Air Koryo fleet! Thanks for the comment.
I flew the Czechslovakian Airlines CSA ilyushin62 “OK JET” to Prague from Jakarta and then onto London many years ago as part of a multi hop trip. Memorable flights..the inflight entertainment was a copy of Pravda newspaper, the meals were always a chilled plate of processed meats, potato salad served with a small bottle of vodka. Each time the plane landed any unoccupied seatbacks would flip forward. It was cold, noisy and the cabin pressurisation was painful.
Those Czechoslovakian OK JET Ilyushin 62’s always stood out to me for some reason. The livery was pretty striking! Quite a long journey from Jakarta to Prague, for sure. Great to hear of the on board “service” though I suppose it wasn’t too different on other airliners of the era. The food certainly sounds like something served in Eastern Europe. Great that you remember things so clearly, that’s really great. I’ve had cabin pressurisation pain before, I think some of it depends on the pilot, back in the days when it was manual. Thanks for the comment!
IL 62 and 62M killed hundreds of people and you know that.
As did a lot of older aircraft really. Thanks for the comment!
You have no clue what you’re talking about. 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Hundreds of people died in IL 62 flying soviet garbage. Engine failures all over the place. Get educated.
The accident statistics show the Ilyushin IL-62 was actually safer than comparable jets of the era. I’ll save you the effort of looking those up and give them to you here. The Boeing 707 had 173 hull-loss accidents with a total of 3,039 fatalities, the Douglas DC-8 had 83 hull-loss accidents, with 2,256 fatalities, the Ilyushin IL-62 had 23 hull losses with 1,141 fatalities and the Vickers VC10 had six hull losses with 130 fatalities.
This is meaningful only if it takes into account the number of flights and the number of hours flown by each aircraft. Based on what you posted 49.6 people died per hull loss in IL-62s vs. 17.5 per hull loss for the 707. Also, about 1000 707s were built for civilian use vs. a total of about 190 IL-62s with a hull loss percentage of 0.17 for the 707 vs. 0.12 for the IL-62. 24 of the 707 hull losses losses were due to criminal acts and not accidents. Of the 3039 fatalities for the 707, 287 were also due… Read more »
You are correct, of course. It needs to be taken in context of the entire worldwide fleet, of which the 707 had far, far more in service than the others. Raw data is not necessarily the best way to compare, so I appreciate you taking the time to point that out. Well done!
Trump has a nice job waiting for you! “COME IN SPINNER!”
Hahahaha!
Lots of Boeing 707, DC-8 and other western planes killed thousands of people too….
I remember seeing this in an old copy of the Observers Book of Aircraft back in the 80s. All my airplane drawings for the next two months had a similar engine arrangement. Of course, I wanted to go fast, so I had 6 engines on each side. 🙂
Hahaha! More engines means more speed 😛 Yes, I remember seeing it in books in the same period. It’s always looked like a chunkier Vickers VC10 to me!
Flew with LOT back in the 80s, JFK-WAW. I recall the flight and plane as better than flights that same trip on a TU-134, TU-154, and B720, but inferior to every other western type (save the 720). It was quite loud too, although quieter than the 134.
That’s a decent enough flight you took from New York to Warsaw. Interesting to hear it was better than the Boeing 720 from first hand experience. I have always heard the Russian built aircraft were louder inside than their Western counterparts. Lucky you had the experience flying on the IL-62! Thanks for the comment!