Ilyushin Il-62

what is it?

The Ilyushin Il-62 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-62; NATO reporting name: Classic) is a Soviet long-range narrow-body jetliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As a successor to the popular turboprop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers and crew, the Il-62 was the world's largest jet airliner when first flown in 1963. The seventh four engined, long-range jet airliner to fly (the predecessors being the De Havilland Comet (1949), Avro Jetliner (1949), Boeing 707 (1954), Douglas DC-8 (1958), Vickers VC10 (1962), and experimental Tupolev Tu-110 (1957), it was the first such type to be operated by the Soviet Union and a number of allied nations.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 43.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 900 km/hcruise speed
• range 10,000 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 186passengers
• size 165 tmax take-off weight
• built 292made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 63 years ago, in 1963.
• 🚗Wingspan of 43.2 m: about 10 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 28 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 10,000 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.4× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1963-01-03

introduced

1965

status

still flying

number built

292

role

narrow-body jet airliner

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Ilyushin, Kazan Aircraft Production Association

engines

4× Soloviev D-30KU / Soloviev D-30

crew

5

passengers

186

length

53.1 m

wingspan

43.2 m

height

12.4 m

max take-off weight

165 t

top speed

—

cruise speed

900 km/h

range

10,000 km

ceiling

12,000 m

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

IL62

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.