PAUL DUFFY / MOSCOW
Modifications should make the II-62M and II-76 compliant with Chapter 3 legislation to be enforced in April in Europe
Ilyushin has devised noise reduction solutions for its older, commercially operated aircraft types as pressure mounts for noisy Russian airliners to comply with the latest environmental standards.
Over 400 Il-62Ms, Il-76s and Il-86s are operating, and the types face an imminent ban from Europe's skies when International Civil Aviation Organisation Chapter 3 legislation is enforced from the start of April.
According to the design bureau, powerplant modifications proposed by engine manufacturer NPO Saturn (formerly Rybinsk Motors) for the Aviadvigatel D-30KP powering the Il-62M and Il-76 will only bring the aircraft marginally within Chapter 3 compliance (Flight International, 30 October-5 November 2001).
Ilyushin has recommended that operators re-engine the Il-76 with new generation AviadvigatelPS-90A engines, and is trying to bring together a group of three or four companies to share the cost of the certification programme. Nikolai Talikov, chief of the Ilyushin design bureau, says the Russian air force has expressed strong interest in the PS-90Are-engining for the Il-76 fleet, which is operated on international flights or presidential support missions, and those which undertake some commercial work.
The design bureau recommends that the Il-62 is operated at reduced take-off weights to enable it to comply. For operation from European airports, the Il-62 can take off with a reduced fuel load and still carry a full passenger payload.
Ilyushin says that there is no prospect that Kuznetsov, the design bureau for the Il-86 widebody's NK-86 engine, will be able to fund Chapter 3 modifications for the aircraft, and so this model will also have to adopt reduced take-off weights. Unlike the Il-62, however, the Il-86 would probably suffer a payload penalty.
Noise measurements with reduced take-off weights are being carried out and, if calculations are correct, will allow these aircraft to be marginally compliant with Chapter 3.
Ilyushin says that, last month, the GSGA, Russia's civil aviation authority, recommended that retirement of these non-compliant aircraft should begin no later than 2006. From 2007, when ICAO Chapter 4 is expected to come into effect, these types could only be used in CIS states as well as some Asian countries.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is awaiting a new GSGA proposal on the number of non-compliant aircraft that should be allowed to operate into Europe, after a request for 100 was rejected as being unrealistically high.
Source: Flight International