The Il-62 was a welcome addition to the
Aeroflot fleet enabling the carrier to develop
an entirely new level of service on its long-
range route network but not before resolving
some issues related to range limitations. For
example, it was introduced on the non-stop
service between Moscow and Tokyo, fed by
Aeroflot’s route network in Western Europe,
offering the shortest flight between Europe
and Japan. This route was developed
and initially served by the Tu-114, which
pioneered the non-stop service.
When the Il-62 took over, its crews had
some serious challenges to overcome.
The type was capable of flying 4,854nm
(9,000km) with a 13,324lb (6,000kg) payload
in perfect conditions and therefore the4,314nm (8,000km) non-stop flight between
Moscow and Tokyo depended on wind
speed encountered en route. An analysis of
the Tokyo service in 1971 showed that only
between 10 and 20% of the Il-62 flights were
non-stop while the remainder necessitated
refuelling stops in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk
or Khabarovsk.
The same problem, but to a smaller
extent, was encountered in the Moscow-
Havana service, where a standard refuelling
stop was made in Rabat in Morocco and
then in the event of strong headwinds, the
Il-62 had to make an additional stop at
Bermuda or Nassau. The extended flight
time due to the unscheduled refuelling
caused a reduction in internationalpassengers, which, in turn, had an adverse
impact on the Aeroflot revenue flow in much-
prized hard currency. When serving routes
between 2,697nm and 3,236nm (5,000
and 6,000km) the aircraft boasted a superb
performance for its time.
Originally the Il-62 was designed for a
crew of five – two pilots, navigator, radio
operator and flight engineer. However,
Aeroflot later began operating without the
navigator and radio operator on the shorter
routes, while the longer haul services
retained the navigator.
In addition to Aeroflot, during the
Communist era the Il-62 was operated by
Czechoslovak carrier CSA, with the first
delivery in November 1969, making it the
first export operator. East German airline
Interflug and Polish LOT took their first Il-62s
in 1971, followed by Romania’s TAROM in- China also became an Il-62 customer,
with the type operated by CAAC. In total, 97
production-standard Il-62s were rolled out,
with 30 bought by foreign customers.
IMPROVED Il-62M
The Il-62’s range shortcomings
necessitated the development of a vastly
improved version, the Il-62M. It was
ordered by the Soviet Council of Ministers
in October 1968, and the new model was
required to be powered by the recently
developed Soloviev D-30KU turbofan
engines. The new powerplant had a bypass
ratio of 2.4:1, created less noise and was
about 12% more fuel-efficient compared
with the NK-8-4, while its take-off rating
increased to 107.9kN (24,250lb st). The
outboard engines retained the clamshell
thrust reversers.38 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018Ilyushin Il-62M DDR-SEN operated by Interflug. Richard VandervordA cargo-converted Il-62MGr employing the thrust reversers used to kill excessive speed on
final approach. Chavdar GarchevAeroflot was the main user of the Il-62, this example is an ‘M’ variant. Key Collection36-41_jetliners_il-62DC.mfDC.mf.indd 38 03/05/2018 10:11