Tupolev Tu-154

what is it?

The Tupolev Tu-154 (Russian: Туполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several decades, it carried half of all passengers flown by Aeroflot and its subsidiaries (137.5 million/year or 243.8 billion passenger-km in 1990), remaining the standard domestic-route airliner of Russia and former Soviet states until the mid-2000s. It was exported to 17 non-Russian airlines and used as a head-of-state transport by the air forces of several countries.

🔎How to recognise it: 3 jet engines · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 37.6 m wingspan

base stats

• built 1,026made 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 58 years ago, in 1968.
• 🚗Wingspan of 37.6 m: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.

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

spec sheet

first flight

1968-10-04

introduced

1972

status

still flying

number built

1,026

role

narrow-body jet airliner

origin

🇷🇺 Russia

makers

Tupolev

engines

3× Soloviev D-30 / NK-8

length

47.9 m

wingspan

37.6 m

top speed

—

range

—

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

T154

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