Ilyushin Il-86

Il-86

S7 Airlines' Il-86 at Domodedovo airport
Role	Wide-body airliner
Manufacturer	MAP Factory No 64 and WSK PZL-Mielec
First flight	December 22, 1976
Introduction	1980
Status	Operational
Primary users	S7 Airlines, Atlant-Soyuz Airlines
Produced	1977-1994
Number built	106^[1]

The Ilyushin Il-86 is a medium-range wide-body jet airliner. Designed and tested by the Ilyushin design bureau in the 1970s, it was certificated by the Soviet aircraft industry during the 1970s and 1980s, manufactured jointly in the USSR and Poland, and marketed by the USSR. It was the first Soviet wide-body airliner and the world's second four-engined wide-body.

Only 106 Il-86s were built and only three of those were exported. The type was used overwhelmingly by Aeroflot and, after the collapse of the USSR, by successor post-Soviet airlines. Unusually for a Soviet airliner, the Il-86 saw only limited military service, though an airborne command post version did enter service.

The Il-86 typified the priorities and approaches applied to Soviet airliners as distinct from those applied to Western airliners. Emerging during the Brezhnev stagnation, it suffered from engines which were typical of the 1960s and spent a decade in development, failing to enter service for the Moscow Olympics, as had been intended.

In service, the Il-86 gained recognition as a very safe and reliable machine which did what had been asked of it. By June 2009, only 23 Il-86s remain in service, 19 with civilian operators and 4 with the Russian Air Force.

Development

Background

In the mid-1960s the USA and Western Europe planned airliners seating many more than the then-maximum of some 200 passengers: airbuses in contemporaneous parlance. The Soviet leadership wanted to match them with its own aerobus (Russian: аэробус). Though the propaganda motive was important in Soviet policymaking, the USSR also had a practical need for an airbus. Aeroflot was expecting to carry over 100 million passengers a year within a decade. First to respond was OKB-153, the bureau led by Oleg Antonov, which proposed a 724-seat version of the An-22 airlifter. This did not go ahead due to fears that it would be old-fashioned and because the Kiev-based bureau was close to the deposed Nikita Khrushchev.

Concept

Accommodating the hundreds of passengers envisaged for aerobuses was challenging: many Soviet airports had small terminals. Soviet aviation research institutes therefore elaborated a concept of passengers loading and unloading their luggage into and from the aerobus as they boarded and disembarked: "the luggage at hand" system (Russian: система "багаж с собой"; transliterated: sistyema "bagazh s soboy"). Airbus Industrie studied such arrangements in the mid-1970s, while Lockheed implemented it into the L-1011 TriStar in 1973 at the request of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). Many Soviet airports also had weak surfaces and the aerobus had to match the ground loadings of existing airliners. This called for a complex and heavy multi-wheel landing gear. In October 1967, the Soviet government approved a general specification for an aerobus by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Aeroflot). This called for it to seat 350, have a range of 3,600 kms (1,900 nmis) with a 40-tonne payload or 5,800 km/3,100 nmi with most seats taken but no freight. The airliner had to be able to operate from smaller regional and local airports (classified as Klass "B" and "V" [Russian: класс "Б", "В"] or "Class B/C" by the Soviets), with runway lengths of up to 2,600 m (8,500 ft).

In the second half of the 1960s, OKB-240 (as the Ilyushin bureau was formally known) was restoring positions lost (along with Yakovlev, in favour of Tupolev and Antonov) during the Khrushchev era and was well placed to secure design of the Soviet aerobus. Indeed, when the Soviet cabinet's defence industry committee progressed the Aeroflot specification on September 8, 1969 onto the preliminary project (Russian: аванпроект; transliterated: avanproyekt) stage, it entrusted it to Ilyushin. The bureau received specific operational requirements for the aerobus on February 22, 1970. Having won the political battle for the prestige project, Ilyushin faced four challenges: configuration (layout or "shape"), powerplant, automation (avionics) and manufacturing capacity.

Conceptual development

Ilyushin began its preliminary aerobus project in late 1969. Initially, this involved assessing the development potential of existing hardware. This included "stretched" versions of the Il-62, double-deck or "two fuselages side-by-side" developments of it, as well as "civilianising" the Il-76. Eventually, the bureau moved to all-new designs. In a paradigm shift, it also embraced high-technology in contrast to the "appropriate technology approach" it had taken for the Il-62: the aerobus would have powered controls, complex high-lift devices and advanced automation enabling fewer flightdeck crew.

An early version of the avanproyekt was shown to the Soviet leadership at an exhibition of civil aviation novelties held at the Vnukovo-2 Airport near Moscow on May 17, 1971. A scale model bore the true designation of "Il-86" (Russian: Ил-86, transliterated "Il vosem’desyat' shest'"). The model showed the "self-loading" concept with integral boarding stairs and below-deck luggage stores in addition to a below-deck midships galley. It had a twin-aisle interior with nine-abreast seating in a "3-3-3" layout. Ilyushin considered it politically smart to make the interior wider at 6.08 m (19.9 ft) than that of any widebody airliner at the time, except the Boeing 747.

The difference between the 1971 model and the eventual Il-86 was that the model was in configuration or shape: the model looked like an Il-62. At that time, the important Central Hydro and Aerodynamics Institute (TsAGI) favoured the clean-winged, rear-engined, T-tailed configuration for airliners. The BAC Three-Eleven and BAC/CASA/MBB Europlane projects had similar configurations.

The configuration of heavy jet aircraft was a sensitive issue in the USSR. Aircraft designer Leonid Selyakov states: "The configuration of the В-47, taken on strength by the US Air Force ... brought forth a veritable storm of critical opinions from [Soviet] aviation scientists. Responsible TsAGI officials and industry leaders robustly called that aircraft 'utter nonsense' (similar opinions were expressed of the Boeing 747)." Similar controversy was known in Western aeronautical circles and was typical of Soviet ideology with its idea of fixed "scientifically-correct" solutions. Ilyushin therefore had to stress that it had first in the world adopted podded engines suspended from pylons beneath and ahead of the wing, on the experimental Il-22 four-engined jet bomber of 1946 (first use of this designation. Having thus been presented as indigenously Soviet, the Il-86's ultimate configuration could at last appear in public in 1973, six years after publication of the aerobus specification and four years after the bureau had received the design assignment. Six-light flightdeck glazing came soon afterwards in place of multi-window arrangements similar to the Il-62 and Il-76.

The main problem facing the Il-86 project was the lack of a suitable engine. This problem was never resolved. The USA and the UK had turbofans with bypass ratios of 4 or 5 to 1. The first Soviet large turbofan, the Lotarev D-18T, did not appear before the mid-1980s.

The Soloviev D-30, originally intended for the Il-86, was the most advanced Soviet civil aeroengine. It had a bypass ratio of 2.4 to 1 and aerodynamic clamshell thrust reversers. It failed to attain the required thrust, however: "only after the lapse of three years that were spent on preparing the advanced development project did it become clear that these engines would not provide the necessary take-off performance." The less-advanced Kuznetsov NK-8 series engine, adopted on March 26, 1975, had a bypass ratio of 1.15 to 1 and drag-inducing grilles over its cascade thrust reversers. Both these engines had high specific fuel consumptions and were noisy. Being ultimate developments of smaller engines, they could not offer growth to future Il-86s.

The appropriate/intermediate technology principles to which most Soviet airliners before the Il-86 had been designed meant that they had typically five-member flight crews. The design and entry into service in 1972 of the Tu-154, an airliner built to high technology principles (more automation, less human input), showed that Soviet science was lagging in the avionics which removed the need for a navigator and radio operator. A programme of avionics development was thus mounted to enable the Il-86 to operate in most weathers with a three-member flight crew. While it was successful, its outcome only matched the level of Western technology of the late 1960s.

The shortage of manufacturing facilities for the Il-86 constituted a problem from the outset: "The rapid modernisation of the Soviet Air Force ... has left limited scope for the expansion of commercial production ... the lack of production capacity is being remedied partly by ... international cooperation."

Interest in foreign technology

Because of the intractability of the powerplant (and to an extent the avionics and manufacturing capacity) issues, the Soviets tried to acquire foreign technology. Before the Boeing 747 had flown, a Ministry of Civil Aviation delegation visited Boeing and received a series of detailed sales presentations on the type lasting three days. At the 1971 Paris Salon, Ilyushin bureau head Genrikh Novozhilov and Boeing's Joe Sutter arranged an informal technology trade-off. Over supper in a Paris restaurant, the Soviet side ceded information on its titanium technology to the Americans, while the latter, "sketching on the tablecloth," ceded information on "the structural and aerodynamic amity of the aeroelastic wing."

Helped by détente, on March 11, 1974, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar arrived in Moscow for three days of sales presentations and demonstrations. The TriStar matched the Il-86 in size and performance, was widely regarded as the technological leader of the time, and had development potential. Negotiations to buy 30 TriStars and licence-produce up to 100 a year in a new factory employing 80,000 people continued until mid-1976. They collapsed as US President Jimmy Carter made human rights a US policy factor. The TriStar was also listed by the Coordinating Committee as embodying advanced technology banned from potential enemies.

At the same time, the US Department of Commerce vetoed export of 12 General Electric CF6-50 engines ordered by the USSR for planned long-range Il-86s. In the 1980s, there were moves to fit the Il-86 with RB211-22 engines. Designated Il-86V, this would have had a range of over 9,000 km (4,860 nmi) and/or increased payload. A 450-seater Il-86V was also projected, to be powered by RB211-524G engines. Amid the disintegration of the Soviet economy these ideas did not progress. In 1991, there were moves to fit the Il-86 with Franco-American CFM56-5C2 engines. Finances precluded progress. In 1995, International Aero Engines offered the V2500 engine for retrospective fitting on the Il-86. No development emerged, though five operators had wanted to re-engine 25 aircraft.

Design, testing and certification

The design process at Ilyushin was managed by Sergey Ilyushin's successor as head of the bureau, Genrikh Novozhilov. The timescale announced in 1973 envisaged first flight in 1976 and service entry in time for the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

The prototype flew at Khodynka airfield (where Ilyushin's experimental factory was) on December 22, 1976 (Soviet airliners often flew before the close of the calendar year due to the requirements of Five-Year Plans). It was announced that the type had a patented electromagnetic pulse deicing system. which used 500 times less energy than conventional deicers. The initial test programme was flown by Ilyushin staff, ending two months ahead of schedule on October 20, 1978. (According to a faster schedule, announced at the time of the first flight, Ilyushin tests were to end in time for the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution, on November 7, 1977.) Initial certification flying by pilots independent of Ilyushin ended on June 6, 1977. State acceptance trials began on April 24, 1979 and ended on December 24, 1980. Certification by Gosaviaregistr SSSR [the USSR State Aviation Registry] was granted under certificate number 10-86. The service-entry deadline of summer 1980, announced by Minister of Civil Aviation Boris Bugayev in 1977 had passed, however, and the Il-86 missed the prestige Moscow Olympics.

Overall development of the Il-86 occupied over a decade. The length of this period was due to the sensitivity of the airliner's configuration, problems with its powerplant, prolonged avionics development and the low priority assigned to civil as opposed to military aircraft. Moreover, in its early stages, the Il-86 programme was "fall-back insurance" in case US airliner imports failed. Certificating the Il-86 to the very demanding set of Soviet and Comecon standards called NLGS-2 also delayed progress; it was the first Soviet aircraft to undergo a full certification programme since certification was introduced in the USSR in 1967 and was made mandatory five years later.

Undeveloped versions

On June 26, 1972, a long-range version of the Il-86, the Il-86D (for Russian: "дальный"; transliterated: "dal’niy"; meaning "long-range"), was ordered into development by the Soviet cabinet. Design was completed in June 1976. The Il-86D would have had a marginally extended wing span, carried additional fuel, and had a range of some 8,500 km (4,600 nmi). Later announcements stated that the version was to have new high bypass ratio engines, 147,500 kg (325,000 lb) empty weight, 300,000 kilo/660,000 pound maximum take-off weight, fuel capcaity of some 150,000 kg (330,000 lb), wing area of 325 m² (5,300 ft²), and a range of 10,200 km (5,500 nmi). This version (also known as Il-86V) evolved into the Il-96. A "minimum-change" development of the Il-86 which was tested in the 1980s but not adopted was a 450 seater with 3-4-3 layout seating with reduced seat pitch. No freight or combined passenger-freight versions were proposed.

Marketing

Il-86 provision to Aeroflot did not constitute a sale: it was part of the centralised Soviet supply and allocation system coordinated by offices called Gosplan and Gossnab which controlled the entirety of planning and distribution in the USSR (except the black market). As part of a similar supply provision, Lot was allocated four Il-86s as barter for component manufacture; that airline deferred deliveries which were cancelled by 1987.

Selling the Il-86 commercially (which under the Soviet system meant solely exports) was the job of the Soviet foreign trade organisation V/O Aviaeksport. The compartmentalisation of a design bureau, acting like naval architects designing an aeroplane, a separate factory constructing it and a separate organisation selling it, has been seen as diluting responsibility.

The Il-86 prototype was displayed at the Paris Salon International de l'Aéronautique in 1977. It was noted that its interior used patented fire-resistant materials and hydraulics employed a fire-resistant fluid. At that time a version without the "luggage at hand" system was offered, seating 375 or alternatively weighing 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) less and having longer range. This version offered 7% lower seat-mile operational costs. The type was again displayed at Paris in 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985, the Farnborough Air Show in 1984 and other world air events.

On Tuesday September 22, 1981, an Il-86 flown by Commander G Volokhov and Second Pilot A Tyuryumin set Fédération Aéronautique Internationale records for flying payloads of 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 tonnes over a 2,000 km closed circuit at an average of 975.3 km per hour. Two days later, the same crew and machine set FAI records for flying payloads of 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80-tonne payloads over a 1,000 km closed circuit at an average of 962 km/h. Of the 18 records, one was broken by a Tu-144 in 1983, five were superseded or discontinued and 12 still stood in mid-2008.

In September 1982 the type made a sales call in Bulgaria, followed by calls in July 1983 in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The calls appeared to have been hastily arranged, with the potential buyers being supplied no hard information on the type in advance. Very little solid information was given to them during the sales calls: "constructor Novosilov side-stepped all questions [on fuel consumption] ... [the] chief pilot ... provided a measure of veiled explanation: 'The consumption of the Il-86 is not higher than that of the Il-18,' he said." While welcomed as “proof of friendship with the USSR,” these sales calls failed to attract orders. Observers tacitly noted that the aircraft marked a 10/15-year lag by Soviet civil aviation compared with the West.

The sole export order for the Il-86 − and the sole commercial transactions involving factory-built rather than secondhand examples − was by China Xinjiang Airlines which received three aircraft in 1990. The rest were allocated by Aeroflot region and Soviet Air Force unit as follows (in order of first acceptance): the Vnukovo Aviation Entreprise, 21; the TsUMVS Administration of International Air Communications centred on Sheremetyevo Airport, 22; the Tashkent Air Enterprise, 9; the Sheremetyevo Air Enterprise, 10; the Pulkovo Air Enterprise, 8; the Alma-Ata Air Enterprise, 8; the Chkalovsky Soviet Air Force Base 8 ADON (or 8th Special Purposes Aviation Division), 4; the Kol'tsovo Air Enterprise, 6; the Tolmachevo Air Enterprise, 6; the Erevan Air Enterprise, 2; the Yemelyanovo Air Enterprise, 3.

Manufacture

On the Soviet side, the Ministry of Aircraft Manufacture ("MAP," "Minaviaprom") Factory 64 at Voronezh (today VASO) was tasked with building more than half of the Il-86 and of assembling the airliner. Capacity there was insufficient and the Polish aircraft industry was involved in the Il-86 project from the outset. The arrangement was not a subcontract; it involved significant technology transfer to enable Poland to meet its assigned role: PZL Amalgamation Mielec factory Director Jerzy Belczak said it involved “… a radical retooling of our enterprise” involving “over 50 new processes.” Observers noted that "work on the Il-86 will bring Poland's ... WSK-Mielec to a new level of capability ... in the manufacturing processes involved with an aircraft of this size, including titanium structures, chemical milling and the machining of integral panels." By the 1980s, Mielec was planned to produce half of the Il-86, including its entire wing, and also to work on Il-86 developments (“Now we are preparing to manufacture units for the next model of the Il wide-body plane,” according to Belczak). From May 1977, the Polish factory manufactured entire empennages including tailplanes and the fin, all control surfaces, high-lift devices and engine pylons for the Il-86, representing "about 16 per cent of these aircraft." As labour and political unrest spread in Poland from 1980, the Voronezh factory retained wing manufacture.

Five aircraft were assembled at Voronezh in the later 1970s in anticipation of successful certification. The first (flown on October 25, 1977) was built largely by hand, subsequent machines making increasing use of series production equipment. These early aircraft were used in certification and development flying before handover to Aeroflot. Voronezh factory production engineers conducted a "redesign cycle" of over 50 areas, cutting some 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of airframe weight.

Production of the Il-86 began in 1976 and continued until 1991. The first two machines were hand-manufactured, in 1976 and 1977 respectively, by Ilyushin at the bureau's own Moscow prototype construction shop; one was used for flight testing and one for static ground testing. Three aircraft were assembled at Voronezh in 1979: one by hand and two using series manufacturing techniques. Subsequent years' manufacturing totals were: 1980, one; 1981, nil; 1982, 11; 1983, 12; 1984, 8; 1985, 9 (including the four for 8 ADON); 1986, 11; 1987, 10; 1988, 10; 1989, 9; 1990, 11 (including the three for export to China), 1991, 3. Of the 106 examples built, one never flew (being used for static tests) and three were exported.

Design

The Il-86 is an all-metal low-wing land monoplane with four jet engines. Its wing is a cantilever three-spar structure of modified trapezoid planform. Centre section integral with the fuselage, inboard sections, outboard sections and detachable leading and trailing edges. High-lift devices include full-span six-segment leading edge slats (contiguous past the engine pylons) at up to 17.5% of chord (drooping to 35°), two-segment fixed vane double-slotted trailing edge flaps occupying some 75% of the span (deploying to 40°) and five-segment spoilers (outboards used as spoilerons at high speeds, inboards used as lift dumpers on the ground). Boundary layer fences over pylons. Two-segment outboard ailerons for low and intermediate speed roll control. Engines suspended from the wing on pylons act as anti-flutter weights. Trim range is 16-33% of mean aerodynamic chord.

The fuselage is of conventional circular section structure of frames and stringers with a continuous main deck and lower decks fore and aft of the wing centre section. Rectangular windows in most interframe bays, eight ICAO Type 1a passenger doors on the main deck and three more on the lower deck portside; two freight hold doors and a galley supply door on the lower deck starboard. The main deck houses the flightdeck, two wardrobes, eight toilets, two pantry units and a three-section passenger cabin. The lower deck houses three entry vestibules/luggage stores with hydraulic boarding stairs to ground level and fixed stairs to the main deck, a midships galley linked with the main deck by an electric lift, two freight holds (fore and aft of the passenger facilities), an avionics bay and two technical bays. The entire accommodation is pressurised and air-conditioned with "earphones for music or on-board cinema."

The empennage is conventional cantilevered trapezoid planform swept-back surfaces. Two-segment elevators and rudder. Tailplane area 96.5 m² (1,039 ft²); incidence adjustable between 2° and 12° by electric motors commanded by yoke trim thumbwheels and console trim wheels. Fin area 56.06 m² (603.4 ft²). Its landing gear use a near-conventional layout, with a twin-wheeled nose gear leg and three four-wheel bogie main gear units (centre and two outer legs. Track is 9.9 m (/32 ft 5.5 in).

The Il-86 is powered by four Kuznetsov NK-86 two-spool turbofans. Five-stage LP compressors, six-stage LP compressors, annular combustor cans, single-stage HP turbine, two-stage LP turbine. Cascade thrust reversers canted 15° from the horizontal. Pneumatic starters (airborne relights use the windmill effect). Forward-facing air ejectors blow away detritus during taxi. A VSU-10 APU generates power and heats/cools the interior on the ground, provides engine start air. International Standard Atmosphere hourly fuel consumption per engine is 7.7 t (16,975 lb) at maximum continuous rated thrust, 6 t/13,230 lb at nominal maximum thrust, 5.1 t (11,243 lb) at 85% thrust, 4.2 t/9260 lb at 70%, 3.6 t (7,937 lb) at 60%, 2.45 t (5,400 lb) at 40% and 1 t (2,205 lb) at idle. Overall hourly fuel consumption at long-range cruise and 190 t (419,000 lb) is 9.75 t (21,495 lb) reducing to 7.79 t (17,174 lb) at 140 t (308,650 lb).

The inputs to all control surfaces are through hydraulic channels. An SAU-1T-2 automatic flight control system offers assisted manual and automatic flight modes, with no pure manual control option. Automatic coupled runway approaches to ICAO Category II conditions. It has four independent hydraulic systems power all flight controls and the built-in airstairs. Fluid is to the NGZh, rather than AMG, formula.

The aircraft's avionics include a Pizhma-1 navigational system with Omega inputs. GPS transceivers and TCAS fitted retrospectively during the 1990s. Pizhma-1 can be used throughout the flight from departure terminal area to landing and taxy to stand. Airfield approach aids enable instrument landing system approaches to ICAO Category II weather minima. Other radio aids include VOR and DME receivers, a weather radar and Warsaw Pact identification aids. Pizhma-1 has full-time roll and yaw dampers. Cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders fitted as standard. Four GT-40PCh6 engine generators, the APU or ground sources supply 200/115 V, 400 Hz current to the primary system or two secondary systems (36 V/400 Hz AC and 27 V DC). Consumers include the high-lift devices, tailplane trim, deicing, galley lift and interior services.

Operational history

An inaugural flight from Moscow to Tashkent was made on December 26, 1980 but services-proper commenced after February 1, 1981. Aeroflot first operated the Il-86 on peak domestic routes. Foreign services began in June 1981 to Eastern Europe and larger Western European cities.

In 1987 Radio Moscow reported that Aeroflot "resisted the change" to a three-person crew. Vul'fov, A, ibid., reports that the type continued to be operated by four-member crews. Navigators, occupying the observer seat (devoid of instrumentation), stood unsecured on final approach in order to observe the pilots’ instruments and read-out indications (despite voice synthesizers being fitted). Soviet operations of the Tu-154 airliner similarly employed four or five flightdeck crew, despite foreign operators of that type using three-person flightdeck crews.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, local airlines emerged in the 15 successor republics. Il-86s serving with Aeroflot administrations ("Directorates") in these nations accrued to their airlines and many were sold.

From April 2002, the European Union, the USA and much of the rest of the world banned noisier aircraft, including the Il-86. By 2008, the type operated mostly within the former USSR. In May 2007, 42 Ilyushin Il-86s remained in service. On October 23, 2006, Aeroflot Deputy Director General Igor Desyatnichenko said: "the Il-86 will be withdrawn from service starting November 15 as it is too costly to maintain through the winter and to operate for just two or three months in the summer."

The Il-86's carry-on luggage arrangements were rarely used. Vul'fov (ibid.) notes: "Thank God no civil servant got it into his head to refuse the parallel opportunity offered to passengers of electing to drop their luggage when checking-in at airports. Otherwise, the loading of luggage into the aircraft by passengers would have turned into a proper nightmare lasting hours." The three integral airstairs are used regularly for disembarkation and boarding when the aircraft is docked at remote stands.

With its built-in stairs and below deck holds, the Il-86 was widely expected to serve in the personnel transport role with the Soviet air forces: "The wide-bodied Il-86 can perform not only as a troop transport ... but may also in the future form the basis for a command and control aircraft for airborne coordination of Warsaw Pact forces." In the event, only four airframes (c/n 042, 043, 046 and 048, carrying quasi-civil registrations SSSR-86046, '7, '8 and '9) were delivered to the 8th Special Purposes Aviation Division at the Chkalovsky air base near Moscow. These were designated Il-80, Il-87 or Il-86VKP (Russian: “ВКП” for “воздушный коммандный пост”; transliterated: "vozdushniy kommandnyi post" “veh-kah-peh” and meaning "aerial command post").

The Il-80/Il-86VKP has the NATO reporting name Camber: the same as the passenger Il-86.

Operators

Civil operators

As of 5 June 2009, 19 civilian Il-86s remained in service. Major operators include:

Military operators

Specifications

Incidents

The Il-86 is seen as one of the world's safest airliners; one accident involving fatalities had taken place by 2008. A 2006 ICAO paper stated: "There were no fatal accidents in passenger-carrying operations involving a wide-body IL-86, for all periods of operation." The first deputy minister of transport of Russia and head of the State Civil Aviation Service Aleksandr Nyeradko said in 2003: "the Il-86 was and remains one of the world's most dependable airliners."

The following are all significant recorded safety events in the history of the Il-86 to date:-

Following the Moscow crash in July 2002, the MAK Interstate Aviation Committee withdrew the Il-86's certificate of airworthiness, temporarily grounding the type. The certificate was rapidly restored in stages, the process being complete by early 2003. The accident prompted the Egyptian civil aviation authorities to state that they intended to ban Il-86 operations to Egypt on safety grounds. Amid continuing negotiations, by 2007 the intention appeared to have lapsed and intensive Il-86 operations to and from that country continued in 2008.