Ilyushin Il-86/96 and Variants

[rallymodeller]

So I was doing a WikiWalk about widebody airliners, looking for some more ideas for FS9 skins, when I came across the Wiki IL-96 page. Listed among the variants, there was mentioned the IL-96-400T transport (which I already knew about). However, also listed was the -96-400VT, of which I was not aware. The -400VT is designed as an aerial tanker, similar to the KC-10 or A330 MRTT.

But the best part was this delicious tidbit from GlobalSecurity:

On Friday 19 March 2010 the Wall Street Journal reported that United Aircraft Corp. of Russia was planning to bid on the $40 billion [US] Air Force Tanker Program contract. United Aircraft, an aerospace consortium owned by the Russian government, will seek to offer a tanker version of its Ilyushin Il-96 wide-body jetliner, dubbed the Il-98, this person said. The planes would be largely built in Russia, and assembled in the US.

WHAT.

OMG, a new "KC-98"? Russian aircraft actually in service with the USAF? Sure, the possibility is way remote, but how cool is that?

(Okay, okay. I know the statement was retracted a couple of weeks later, but still. USAF Ilyushins is too good to pass up...)

[skysurfer808]

Agreed, the USAF IL-96 tanker would be an awesome Whif.  Quite a few jokes were made at my work about that possibility....slim and none in the real world.

I was a passenger in an Aeroflot flight from San Francisco to Moscow in an IL-86 in the mid 90s.  It was funny because we took 3 hours just to leave SFO as the luggage handling equipment wasn't compatible with the airplane.  The plane was roomy and unlike western airlines it was a smoking friendly environment.  The food was also quite good.  However, when I fell alseep I ended up dreaming of being in a plane crash, then woke up IN THE PLANE....one of those strange Oh No moments.  Luckily we never crashed, but this is the only time such a thing has ever happened in quite a bit of travel.

Being here in Mobile as an informed outsider, the local gentry all thought that the KC-45 contract was a done deal.  Billboards leading to the city proclaimed Mobile the home of the tanker.  Real estate developments were pursued in the belief that the town would gain an influx of aviation jobs.  Of course the real world of politics intruded and even if EADS/NorGrum won again Boeing would have sued again till they got the contract.  I like the way they Boeing press releases spun the KC-767's lower fuel consumption as a factor in lowering operating costs.

Really, all this is about jobs.  Boeing had existing jobs in Washington, while the jobs hadn't been created yet in Mobile.  PBS Frontline also ran a special about shoddy maintenance at MAE, Mobile's main aerospace center where United, Delta, and US Air all have maintenance performed, and where 757 freighters are converted from airliners.  MAE received numerous citations from the FAA, what wasn't mentioned is that these things are fairly common as maintenance nationwide is cut in the quest for profits....cracked fuselage Southwest 737 anyone?  The Frontline special was run just before the contract decision, in the wake of the USAF "accidentally" swapping each contractor's respective bid packages and specifications.

Boeing's original deal lease deal would have cost the Air Force more then outright purchase, the CEO was fired and people went to jail.  A decade of wasted effort, further inflation, and now...finally the USAF may get a tanker.

Skysurfer808