This is the Ilyushin Il-96, the flagship aircraft of the Russian presidential fleet that transports Vladimir Putin

This week I found out that a Russian-flagged plane landed last Tuesday June 27 in Washington DC The news caught my attention since shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraineaircraft registered in Russia are prohibited from entering US airspace.

Inquiring on Twitter, and confirming the data on Flightradar24, I found out that the plane in question was an Ilyushin Il-96-300. It is a very particular model because its field of operation is limited, with some exceptions, to the Russian presidential fleet. Let’s take a closer look at this aircraft.

An aircraft of Soviet origin that is still produced

Before delving into the particularities of the Ilyushin Il-96-300, it should be noted that its landing in Washington DC, at least according to the US State Department spokesmanMatthew Miller, was due to a flight cleared for the transport of diplomats Russians back to their country.

The origin of our protagonist dates back to the mid-1970s. At that time, the commercial aviation sector was experiencing remarkable growth. While in the United States they already enjoyed the Boeing 747, in the USSR they still moved with airplanes Ilyushin l-62.

They weren’t old planes, far from it. A decade ago they had responded to the needs of the market at that time. They had modern turbines, they could cover long distance and had seats to carry up to 186 passengers. And this was the problem: a bigger plane was wanted.

That need had been attempted to be met with the Ilyushin I-86, which had been in development for some time and which had become the first Soviet wide-body aircraft in 1976. Yes, it could carry a large number of passengers, but it had a short range. The solution? Create an improved variant.

Ilyushin Il-96 of Cubana de Aviación

The project, in general terms, consisted of increasing the autonomy of about 6,400 kilometers to 9,000 kilometers without sacrificing the total number of passengerswhich would be around 300. Thus, starting from the Ilyushin l-86, a new aircraft called Ilyushin l-96 was developed, which has had several versions throughout its history.

As the Russian-language blog “aircraft notes” points out, the Ilyushin I-96 made its maiden flight on February 28, 1989 (curiously the same year that the Space Shuttle Buran flew for the only time). After a series of tests, it continued on its way until it received the certificate of airworthiness in 1992.

Thereafter, the aircraft began its commercial deployment. It was incorporated by Aeroflot in Russia and by Cubana de Aviación in Cuba. In addition, he was incorporated into the Boris Yeltsin’s presidential fleet and also used by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Ilyushin L-96 of Cubana de Aviacion

The Ilyushin l-96, as we say, had a wide fuselage that gave rise to three rows of seats whose distribution varied according to the version. The manufacturer of the engines also varied. Initially four Soviet Aviadvigatel PS-90 A engines were chosen and later variants of the Pratt & Whitney PW2000.

The presidential version IL-96-300PU/PU(M1), hides a good amount of mysteries. is believed to have extended autonomy, as well as communications equipment so that the president can exercise his position from the air. On an aesthetic level, it is painted in the colors of the special flight squadron, to which is added the Russian flag or the presidential banner on the vertical stabilizer.

Load variant of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

The plane that was designed to meet the needs of the growing aviation market, however, never really took off. Along its history around 30 units have been built, but only half are operational. Three are part of Cubana de Aviación and the rest are under Russian state control.

While the Ilyushin I-96 has never been involved in fatal accidents, a series of unfortunate events could have negatively factored into its massive deployment. On the one hand, Ilyushin did not have a large production capacity, and it took a long time to build each unit.

Aeroflot Il-96-300 engulfed in flames

On the other hand, on August 2, 2005, a plane carrying the President of Russia failed to take off in Turku, Finland, due to a technical failure. Vladimir Putin was transferred to another Ilyushin l-96 of the fleet and completed the return flight without incident, but all model units were grounded during the investigation.

The inability to fly the aircraft for more than 40 days resulted in significant financial losses for Aeroflot. In 2014, according to Aviation-Safety, a plane of the aforementioned airline that was out of service caught fire in its entirety. A year later it was disassembled and turned into scrap.

Images: Dmitry Petrov | U-95 | DomodedovoSpotters

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