Ilyushin Il-78

what is it?

The Ilyushin Il-78 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-78; NATO reporting name Midas) is a Soviet/Russian four-engined aerial refueling tanker based on the Il-76 strategic airlifter.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · 50.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 850 km/htop speed
• range 7,300 kmwithout refuelling
• size 210 tmax take-off weight
• built 53made 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 43 years ago, in 1983.
• 🏎️Top speed is 6.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 50.5 m: about 11 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 35 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 7,300 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

1983-06-26

introduced

1985

status

still flying

number built

53

role

aerial refueling tanker

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Ilyushin, Tashkent Mechanical Plant, Aviastar-SP

engines

4× Aviadvigatel D-30 KP / Soloviev D-30

crew

6

length

46.6 m

wingspan

50.5 m

height

14.8 m

max take-off weight

210 t

top speed

850 km/h

range

7,300 km

ceiling

12,000 m

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