Drifting in an IL-76

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUWGwauwfg&feature=player_embedded#

Interesting...

 

I still have reservations about flying on former Soviet bloc airlines.

 

Brian- He landed long and hot, jumped on the brakes, anti-skid apparently did not work on one side, and he blew what appeared to be half the tires on the right side. That put him in a skid with the left side braking and the right side not, sort of like intentionally turning using brakes only. Only this was not intentional, and he had to brake because he was running out of runway. From the film, it would appear the anti-skid was only a two channel system, one left mains and one right mains. Even that huge rudder could not counter the steering moment induced by the brakes, and the slower he got the less effective the rudder was. Luckily, those aircraft are tough as cockroaches.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Ooops. Looks like a left main tire failure after landing. Glad the guy's bicycle was OK!

 

I know ;-)

Just was kinda 'cool' looking (I can say that knowing no one was hurt/killed). Then again, those Russian pilots are really hard on their aircraft. I guess it goes hand in hand, be hard on an aircraft you know is somewhat bullet proof, but build a bullet proof aircraft because you know your crew will be hard on them.

 

Brian- Affirmative. Before we got the gift Mig-25 in 1976, we postulated titanium leading edges on the aircraft and all kinds of other sophisticated materials. Once we looked at it, the Russians had used stainless steel instead of titanium, similarly tough materials elsewhere, and had just built big, honking engines to make up for the weight.

Their aircraft are robust for all the reasons you mentioned, and the basic engineering is very sound. Advanced blacksmith craft, with sophisticated engineering where it counts to make it work.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I love "The advanced blacksmith craft!" Right on! I have had the fortune to examine several of their aircraft in 1990 when they were here. I posted the description of the An225 Myria and the brutal engineering on that one. So the engines aren't the most reliable? Then carry one or two in the cargo deck. So we grind the tires off the non articulating landing gear trucks? Then have a stack in the back. The airliner that carried the 100 or so people that came over had a hand painted instrument panel...all steam gage but a baby blue panel with shaky brush painted characters on it. The food cooler was an old refrigerator mounted on a plywood panel and strapped to the sidewall. The wing mounted main gear oleo looked like a section of sewer pipe and the external chord supporting it over the upper wing skin was a 2 inch thick piece of aluminum that was simply chamfered at the edges and bolted through the skin. The bolt recesses were open and full of debris but it was hell for stout. When they took off the four engines on the tail left thick streams of smoke, justifying the required stop at Anchorage on their way home. BUT, they were great people , full of humor, AND damn good pilots. We had a wonderful weekend with them and I had the feeling that I would not relish a direct war with them .
SWitches