On this day in aviation history, 62 years ago (January 3, 1963), the first flight of the Ilyushin IL-62 took place. Known by NATO as the Classic, the Il-62 is a Soviet long-range narrow-body jetliner designed and built by Ilyushin Aviation. The idea to create the Il-62 was first conceived in 1960 as a planned successor to the Il-18 Coot, a popular turboprop of the time period. At the time of the aircraft’s first flight, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner to be flown, featuring a capacity for 168 to 186 passengers and a crew of 7 to 13 (between cockpit and cabin).
After development, the Ilyushin Il-62 would go on to fly for airlines the world over. Air France, Air India, Japan Airlines, Aeroflot, and KLM are just a handful of the operators who flew the Classic. As the Il-62 began to see more flight time, the aircraft’s demons began to appear. Il-62s proved to have a faulty engine bearing issue, and when coupled with poorly trained crew and lack of more modern avionics, 14 Classics have been lost to accidents since the aircraft’s introduction. Despite these issues, with proper crew training and maintenance, the Il-62 has proven it can still serve. The Russian Aerospace Forces, Rada Airlines (Belarus), and the North Korean Government’s airline Air Koryo continue to fly the Il-62. The Ilyushin Il-62M is powered by four tail-mounted Soloviev D-30KU turbofan engines, each with 24,300 pounds of thrust. Il-62s can cruise at an airspeed of 560 mph, have a range of 5,400 nautical miles (with 22,046 pounds of payload), and a service ceiling of 39,000 feet. Ilyushin built a total of 292 Il-62s, including five prototypes. As mentioned above, only a handful still fly today in limited service.
