Airborne troops are required to undergo jump training even at the training stage. Then the skills of parachute jumping are used during combat operations or demonstration performances. Jumping has special rules: requirements for parachutes, aircraft used, and training of soldiers. The landing party needs to know all these requirements for a safe flight and landing.

A paratrooper cannot jump without training. Training is a mandatory stage before the start of real airborne jumps; during it, theoretical training and jumping practice take place. All the information that is told to future paratroopers during training is given below.

Aircraft for transportation and landing

What planes do paratroopers jump from? The Russian army currently uses several aircraft to airdrop troops. The main one is IL-76, but other flying machines are also used:

• AN-12;
• MI6;
• MI-8.

The IL-76 remains preferred because it is most conveniently equipped for landing, has a spacious luggage compartment and maintains pressure well even at high altitudes if the landing party needs to jump there. Its body is sealed, but in case of emergency, the compartment for paratroopers is equipped with individual oxygen masks. This way, every skydiver will not experience a lack of oxygen during the flight.

The plane reaches speeds of approximately 300 km per hour, and this is the optimal indicator for landing in military conditions.

Jump height

From what height do paratroopers usually jump with a parachute? The height of the jump depends on the type of parachute and the aircraft used for landing. The recommended optimal landing altitude is 800-1000 meters above the ground. This indicator is convenient in combat conditions, since at this altitude the aircraft is less exposed to fire. At the same time, the air is not too thin for the paratrooper to land.

From what height do paratroopers usually jump in non-training situations? The deployment of the D-5 or D-6 parachute when landing from an IL-76 occurs at an altitude of 600 meters. The usual distance required for full deployment is 200 meters. That is, if the landing begins at a height of 1200, then the deployment will occur at around 1000. The maximum permissible during landing is 2000 meters.

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More advanced models of parachutes allow you to start landing from a level of several thousand meters. Thus, the modern D-10 model allows landing at a maximum altitude of no more than 4000 m above the ground. In this case, the minimum permissible level for deployment is 200. It is recommended to start deployment earlier to reduce the likelihood of injury and a hard landing.

Types of parachutes

Since the 1990s, Russia has used two main types of landing parachutes: D-5 and D-6. The first is the simplest and does not allow you to adjust the landing location. How many lines does a paratrooper's parachute have? Depends on the model. The sling in D-5 is 28, the ends are fixed, which is why it is impossible to adjust the direction of flight. The length of the slings is 9 meters. The weight of one set is about 15 kg.

A more advanced model of the D-5 is the D-6 paratrooper's parachute. In it, the ends of the lines can be released and the threads can be pulled, adjusting the direction of flight. To turn left, you need to pull the lines on the left, to maneuver to the right side, pull the thread on the right. The area of ​​the parachute dome is the same as that of the D-5 (83 square meters). The weight of the kit is reduced - only 11 kilograms, it is most convenient for paratroopers still in training, but already trained. During training, about 5 jumps are made (with express courses), D-6 is recommended to be issued after the first or second. There are 30 rafters in the set, four of which allow you to control the parachute.

D-10 kits have been developed for complete beginners; this is an updated version, which only recently became available to the army. There are more rafters here: 26 main and 24 additional. Of the 26 stops, 4 allow you to control the system, their length is 7 meters, and the remaining 22 are 4 meters. It turns out that there are only 22 external additional lines and 24 internal additional ones. Such a number of cords (all of them are made of nylon) allow maximum flight control and course correction during disembarkation. The dome area of ​​D-10 is as much as 100 square meters. At the same time, the dome is made in the shape of a squash, a convenient green color without a pattern, so that after the landing of the paratrooper it would be more difficult to detect.

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Rules for deplaning

The paratroopers disembark from the cabin in a certain order. In IL-76 this happens in several threads. For disembarkation there are two side doors and a ramp. During training activities, they prefer to use exclusively side doors. Disembarkation can be carried out:

• in one stream of two doors (with a minimum of personnel);
• in two streams from two doors (with an average number of paratroopers);
• three or four streams of two doors (for large-scale training activities);
• in two streams both from the ramp and from the doors (during combat operations).

The distribution into streams is done so that the jumpers do not collide with each other when landing and cannot get caught. There is a small delay between threads, usually several tens of seconds.

Mechanism of flight and parachute deployment

After landing, the paratrooper must calculate 5 seconds. It cannot be considered a standard method: “1, 2, 3...”. It will turn out too quickly, the real 5 seconds will not pass yet. It’s better to count like this: “121, 122...”. Nowadays the most commonly used counting is starting from 500: “501, 502, 503...”.

Immediately after the jump, the stabilizing parachute automatically opens (the stages of its deployment can be seen in the video). This is a small dome that prevents the paratrooper from spinning while falling. Stabilization prevents flips in the air, in which a person begins to fly upside down (this position does not allow the parachute to open).

After five seconds, stabilization is completely removed, and the main dome must be activated. This is done either using a ring or automatically. A good paratrooper must be able to adjust the opening of the parachute himself, which is why trained students are given kits with a ring. After activating the ring, the main dome opens completely within 200 meters of fall. The duties of a trained paratrooper paratrooper include camouflage after landing.

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Safety rules: how to protect troops from injury

Parachutes require special treatment and care to ensure that jumps using them are as safe as possible. Immediately after use, the parachute must be folded correctly, otherwise its service life will be sharply reduced. An incorrectly folded parachute may not function during landing, resulting in death.

The military transport aircraft that replaced An 12 And An 8, he brought the designer’s bold ideas to life and laid the foundation for the use of jet aircraft for the rapid delivery of military equipment and personnel, as well as the landing of airborne personnel and weapons.

The history of the Il 76 aircraft

After approval by the General Designer of OKB S.V. Ilyushin’s proposals for the development of the project in 1967, the deputy general, G.V., began work on its creation. Novozhilov. The preliminary design of the machine was carried out by D.V. Leshchiner, and a commission from the VTA headed by Lieutenant General G.N. Pakilev checked on a mock-up of the aircraft, the methods of placing equipment, weapons and troops in it.

The first prototype was assembled at a plant in Moscow and on March 27, 1971, the crew led by Hero of the Soviet Union E.I. Kuznetsova drove the car from the Central airfield to the Ramenskoye airfield. In the spring of 1971, in May, the aircraft was demonstrated at the international aviation show in France.

The vehicle underwent military tests at the Krichevitsy airfield near Nizhny Novgorod, and already on May 5, 1973, test pilot A. Tyuryumin took the first production copy into the air.

This happened in Tashkent at an aircraft plant where production continued; about 1,000 aircraft were produced at this production plant and more than a hundred were exported.

Design features of the Il 76

The aerodynamic layout is made according to the usual scheme - it is a body with a high wing and a T-shaped tail. The aircraft's wing is equipped with powerful mechanization, an adjustable stabilizer is located on the top of the fin, and the keel itself has a rudder with a trimmer-flatner and a servo compensator.

The four engines of the PS-90A-76 power plant are located on underwing pylons. The aircraft has the ability to deliver cargo up to 60 tons over a distance of up to 4,200 km, and in the landing version, in its pressurized cabins and double-deck layout, transport 245 soldiers or 126 fully equipped paratroopers.

The aircraft's landing gear is retractable, has five support points and is designed for flights from unpaved and concrete runways. The auxiliary power unit provides compressed air to start the main engines and supplies electrical power to aircraft systems in the field.

Characteristics of IL 76

• Wing area – 300 m2
• Aircraft length – 46.6 m
• Wingspan – 50.5 m
• Empty aircraft weight – 88.5 tons
• Maximum take-off weight – 210 t
• Maximum cargo weight – 60 t
• Fuel reserve – 109 thousand liters
• Minimum speed – 220 km/h
• Cruising speed – 780-850 km/h
• Range with 60 tons of cargo – 4 thousand km
• Range with 48 tons of cargo – 5.5 thousand km
• Range with 40 tons of cargo – 6.5 thousand km
• Dimensions of the cargo compartment - 24.54 m x 3.45 m x 3.4 m
• The maximum number of fully equipped paratroopers is 126 people
• Armament: two 23-mm GSh-23 cannons
• Beam holders - 4 pcs. for various free falling bombs
• Crew – 5 people

Skydiving with IL 76

Without parachute jumping, it is impossible to fulfill the main task of the Airborne Forces - landing at points of potential local conflicts in particularly important directions.

The Airborne Forces take the training of young paratroopers seriously; no one is allowed to perform training jumps without undergoing thorough pre-jump training. All young soldiers undergo special training at the modern level.

All measures are provided for a safe landing; there are traffic lights at the edges of the ramp with the inscriptions: yellow - “get ready”, green - “go”, red - “clear up”. When the traffic light turns yellow, a siren turns on, the sound of which the paratrooper will never forget and it sounds until the last paratrooper leaves the plane.

Il 76 cabin arrow and ramp

The escape altitude is selected in the range from 800 to 1000 meters; during deployment, the paratrooper loses about 200 meters of altitude; under the canopy, the parachutist remains to fly no more than 600 meters. Today, new D-10 landing parachutes have come into service with paratroopers and are beginning to enter service with the D-12, leaf-shaped parachutes (the safest system that has no analogues in the world).

Zero gravity flights on Il 76

Feel like an astronaut, soaring in zero gravity, making your dream come true, perhaps on a flying laboratory Il 76MDK. Within 25-30 seconds, the state of weightlessness is reproduced on the laboratory aircraft, conditions closest to the realities of flight in space.

The flight takes place according to the “Kepler parabola” - the machine gains altitude with an overload of 2g and at the top point of the parabola, as soon as the magnitudes of the inertial force and the gravitational force, opposite in sign, are equal, the pilot gives up the steering wheel, removes engine thrust and begins to descend. The state of weightlessness lasts up to 28 seconds. After this, the throttles are switched to takeoff mode and the aircraft is put into horizontal flight. The feeling you will get is incredible.

In August 1995, an aviation company from Kazan operated a flight from Albania to Northern Afghanistan. A crew of seven people with commander V. Sharpatov delivered ammunition for small arms permitted for transportation. In the airspace of the Taliban, a command was heard on the air in Russian with an order to land at the Kandahar airfield in order to inspect the cargo. The team was reinforced by the appearance of a fighter, signaling for an emergency landing.

Under the threat of fire from a fighter, the crew was forced to land in Kandahar. During the inspection, large-caliber shells were discovered, which, as it later turned out, were planted by Taliban agents in Albania. The crew was detained and placed under arrest. Being in captivity for 378 days, the pilots constantly suffered from a lack of water, bad food and constant thirst made the conditions unbearable. It was possible to obtain correspondence with relatives and separate meetings, at which it was possible to draw up an escape plan.

The crew was allowed to perform aircraft maintenance once a month. The next service took place on Friday, a day off for Muslims. The vigilance of the guards that day was weaker and the crew managed to start the engines and occupy the take-off strip, having previously disarmed the guards on board. The engines gained power, but the car was pulled away from the runway literally on the last slabs.

The prisoners were lucky that the pilot of the only fighter in Kandahar was absent due to the weekend. The crew crossed the border of the Taliban territory at an extremely low altitude and landed in the United Arab Emirates.

By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the commander and right pilot received the title of Hero of Russia, and the remaining crew members were awarded Orders of Courage.

The confrontation between the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass and the Ukrainian armed forces is collecting its toll. So, on June 14, 2014, while landing in Lugansk, a Ukrainian aircraft, two kilometers short of the runway, crashed near the village of Krasnoye, shot down from a MANPADS by LPR militias. Together with the crew, the death toll was 49 people, which at that time was the largest loss for the Ukrainian armed forces. The LPR stated that the aircraft violated the airspace of the republic and in the future all such attempts will be suppressed in a similar way.

In the winter of January 15, 2009, four flew one after another to Waitash airport in Makhachkala. The first plane landed safely at the airport, the second plane following it also landed successfully, unloaded and taxied to the preliminary start, waiting for the third plane to land.

The third plane, landing in difficult weather conditions with minimal weather, deviated from the direction and during its run moved to the left of the runway approximately 20 meters. The second plane, without informing the dispatcher, moved beyond the pre-launch boundary and the cockpit was crushed by the wing of the landing plane. Four crew members were killed, the remaining two were saved in a hospital in the city of Kaspiysk.

In 2002, flights to several countries, including Western Europe, were banned, as the disasters that plagued this aircraft exceeded reasonable limits. Here are the main incidents that happened only during 1996:

• On April 5, 1996, due to a navigator's mistake, a collision occurred with a mountain on approach to Yelizovo airport. The plane crashed, passengers and crew died.
• On June 6, 1996, while landing at Kinshasa airport in Zaire, a disaster occurred due to extensive wear and tear on the aircraft and fog. The plane was operated by the Ukrainian company Khaseba, the crew died, and there were no passengers on board.
• On August 19, 1996, while landing at Surcin Airport in Belgrade, an emergency occurred, all electrical equipment on board failed, and the Russian plane crashed. The crew of ten people and two passengers died.
• On November 12, 1996, not far from the capital of India, Delhi, during a flight at night, a dangerous approach and collision occurred between a Kazakh Boeing 746 and a Boeing 746 from Saudi Arabia. No one survived the disaster; 372 people died.
• On November 28, 1996, a military transport transport, delivering cargo from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, was thoroughly overloaded and fell 16 km from Abakan airport. The crew and 13 passengers, 23 people in total, could not be saved.

Video: transport cargo Il 76

Video: IL 76 takeoff

Video: documentary Il-76MD-90A

Nikolay Talikov
Deputy General Director - General Designer of JSC Aviation Complex named after S.V. Ilyushin"

Development of IL-76

The problem of transporting mail and cargo, as well as their accompanying goods, arose in aviation almost simultaneously with the advent of the first aircraft. This problem was also solved on aircraft created at the S.V. Design Bureau. Ilyushin. Having experience in the creation and operation of Il-12T and Il-14T transport aircraft, as well as Il-32 and Il-34 cargo gliders, S.V. In February 1960, Ilyushin sent a letter to the Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Aviation Technology P.V. Dementyev with a request to consider the project of the Il-60 military transport aircraft with four turboprop engines with a power of 8500 eq. hp, developed in accordance with the specifications of the Air Force.
The take-off weight of the aircraft was expected to be 124.2 tons. It was supposed to carry a payload of 40 tons over a range of 3,600 km, and a payload of 10 tons over 8,700 km. But according to the results of the competition, which was announced in the State Committee, preference was given to OKB OK. Antonov with his An-22 wide-body military transport aircraft. And yet the finest hour of OKB S.V. Ilyushin's progress in creating a new military transport aircraft has come.

The OKB team began developing the Il-76 turbojet aircraft in accordance with the order of the USSR Minister of Aviation Industry dated June 28, 1966, which ordered research to determine the possibility of creating a medium military transport aircraft with four turbofan engines, “intended to perform tasks assigned to military transport aviation of central subordination and to front-line military aviation for landing and parachute landing of troops, military equipment and military cargo.” On November 27, 1967, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the development of the Il-76 military transport aircraft.
The design of the aircraft and all further work on it were carried out under the leadership of First Deputy General Designer G.V. Novozhilova. On July 28, 1970, he was appointed General Designer and worked fruitfully in this position until December 2005. Currently, G.V. Novozhilov is the chief advisor to the General Director - General Designer of JSC Aviation Complex named after. S.V. Ilyushin" in science.

In the period from November 1967 to May 1969, the Design Bureau carried out a large range of work to prepare a preliminary technical design and build a full-scale full-scale model of the aircraft. The cargo compartment was designed in such a way that it could be used to load and try on the entire range of military equipment that was in service with the Soviet Army at that time and intended for transportation by this aircraft. On the model, a power floor of the cargo compartment and a power ramp were made, and side and central seats were installed in the cargo compartment to accommodate personnel both during landing and parachute landing.

A lot of work on the layout of the aircraft was carried out by the preliminary design bureau headed by D.V. Leshchiner, as well as L.M. Ryabov and Yu.I. Yudin.
During May 1969, intense work was carried out on the territory of the enterprise by the mock-up commission, which included the main leading specialists of the design bureau and representatives of dozens of enterprises from various industries that participated in the creation of the aircraft. Representatives of many branches of the military also took part in the work of the mock-up commission, some of which were supposed to operate Il-76 aircraft, and others were to use them to transfer their units from one part of our huge country to another, or, if necessary, from one theater military action on the other. The mock-up commission was headed by the commander of military transport aviation, Lieutenant General G.N. Pakilev.
While in the OKB building the military checked the compliance of the materials of the preliminary technical design with the requirements of the Tactical and Technical Specifications for the aircraft, the most complex work was taking place on the territory of the enterprise and in the building of the strength testing laboratory (where the model of the aircraft was built), adjacent to the territory of the Moscow Central Airfield for loading, placement, mooring of the entire range of military equipment in the cargo compartment of the model.
A large number of tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry and airborne combat vehicles, automotive equipment of various carrying capacity, self-propelled artillery units, guns of various calibers, etc. were assembled on the territory of the enterprise. And all this happened six kilometers from the Kremlin and less than four kilometers from the US Embassy, ​​and in those days it was necessary to take enormous organizational measures to hide the ongoing work from “curious” eyes and ears. And this was completely successful.

One of the priority organizational measures in the OKB was the creation in November 1967 of a design unit, which was supposed to develop airborne transport equipment and install weapons on the Il-76 aircraft. The new design bureau (KB-7) was headed by Deputy Chief Designer R.P. Papkovsky (1). This division included the “SU” (special installations) department under the leadership of D.I. Koklina.
The team under the leadership of the leading designer S.I. Sumacheva developed something new for the S.V. Design Bureau. Ilyushin airborne transport and sanitary equipment of the Il-76 aircraft. At that time, this unit led the OKB in resolving issues of combat use of the aircraft.
Sumachev’s team included designers transferred from other units, as well as young specialists who had just graduated from institutes and arrived at the Design Bureau. And the task of the heads of the design bureau, department and brigades was not only the creation of equipment that allowed the aircraft to solve the assigned tasks. It was necessary to form a design team capable of developing equipment that was then unknown to the OKB. After all, the first General Designer S.V. wrote correctly. Ilyushin: “Creating a team of like-minded people, creators and enthusiasts of their craft, is a task no less difficult than developing a good aircraft.”

The OKB's work on the production of design documentation for the military transport aircraft and its systems began during the period of preparation for the mock-up commission in mid-1968. Construction of the first prototype aircraft was completed in early 1971.

On March 25, 1971, the crew led by Honored Test Pilot of the USSR E.I. Kuznetsov performed the first flight from the Central Airfield named after. M.V. Frunze on the first experimental aircraft Il-76 USSR-86712, landing at the Ramenskoye airfield. The leading flight test engineer for this aircraft was M.M. Kiselev. In May of the same year, the aircraft was demonstrated to the country's leaders at the Vnukovo airfield near Moscow, and then presented for the first time at the 29th International Aviation and Space Salon in Paris (Le Bourget).
Almost two years later, the second prototype Il-76 USSR-86711 (serial number 0103) was lifted from the same Central Airfield. The first flight on it was carried out by a crew led by test pilot G.N. Volokhov. The lead flight test engineer was P.M. Fomin, and then V.V. Smirnov. We began flight testing of the aircraft systems, as well as the flight and navigation sighting system.

Personnel landing work

From the moment of the first flight, the factory stage of flight testing of the prototype aircraft began. The first part of the tests was to determine its takeoff, landing and flight performance characteristics. But already from January 1972, a preliminary stage was carried out to assess the flight characteristics of the aircraft, determining its stability and controllability during parachute landing of personnel and military cargo.
Work began with flight tests to evaluate the possibility and safety of emergency escape by the crew through the flight deck escape hatch, side entry doors and cargo hatch. The issue of emergency escape through the entrance side doors was considered both for crew members with rescue parachutes of the S-5I type (used at flight speeds of up to 600 km/h), and for experimenters with dorsal rescue parachutes of the PNL-56 type, as well as paratroopers with D parachutes -1-8, which were in service with the airborne troops of our country.
Before testing to determine the safety of emergency escape from an aircraft, we measured air flows in the openings of emergency exits. And only after making sure that the nature of the air flows did not prevent the crew from leaving through emergency exits, we moved on to the next part of the work.
To ensure the safety of exiting through emergency hatches before jumping, test paratroopers dropped dummies while simultaneously filming from an aircraft flying in parallel in order to determine the gaps between the dummy and the aircraft fuselage structure. Everyone was especially concerned about the gaps between the dummy and the front part of the aircraft's landing gear fairings, and were also concerned about the question of how paratroopers would pass in the area of ​​the D-30KP turbojet engines. To simplify calculations, reference grids were applied on board the fuselage in the forward and rear parts of the fuselage, which made it possible to more accurately determine the distances between the dummies and the fuselage structural elements.

Emergency evacuation of an aircraft from the cockpit has a peculiarity. Since the crew's workplaces are located on two decks, two pilots, a flight engineer, a radio operator and sometimes a flight technician can leave the aircraft through the emergency exit shaft from the top of the cockpit, and the navigator - through the same shaft, but from his own, lower level of the cabin crew. The crew emergency escape shaft is an inclined tunnel, closed on both sides. From the outside, the shaft is closed with an emergency hatch cover, which in the open position is a shield that protects a person from a powerful oncoming flow. Under normal conditions, the upper flap is an element of the cockpit floor, which in an emergency opens simultaneously with the opening of the emergency hatch and is fixed in the open position. In the forward flight wall of the emergency escape shaft there is a hatch cover for the navigator, which he opens independently. The navigator leaves the plane first, the radio operator second; the latter removes the navigator's hatch cover from the open position latch. Under the action of a spring, it returns to its original closed position, after which the radio operator jumps into the shaft head first. The remaining crew members leave the plane in the same way.
Complex units - the shaft and emergency escape hatches, as well as the entrance side doors and cargo hatch doors - were developed in the airframe design bureau under the leadership of the head of the design bureau E.I. Sankova. In the fuselage mechanization department, work was carried out under the leadership of department head I.Ya. Katyreva. The performers were V.V. Demin and V.I. Terentyev.

Flight tests to assess the possibility and safety of emergency escape from the aircraft were carried out in January-February 1972 in the area of ​​the Ramenskoye airfield. The crew commander of the Il-76 aircraft was Honored Test Pilot of the USSR E.I. Kuznetsov, chief leading flight test engineer - M.M. Kiselev. The ejection assessment was carried out from several points of the aircraft at different flight speeds and with different rescue parachutes. The test results showed that, firstly, the aircraft is stable and controllable with the emergency hatch and side doors open, and secondly, the emergency escape of the aircraft by the crew is ensured in the range of aircraft flight speeds up to 550 km/h through the emergency hatch of the flight deck and at speeds aircraft flight speed up to 420 km/h through the entrance side doors and cargo hatch. Moreover, when opened, the side door also protects the person from the oncoming flow and allows the parachutist to shift the trajectory of his fall when leaving below the landing gear fairing. The flight speed limit of no more than 420 km/h for side entrance doors is due to the strength of the doors.

At the same time, when practicing emergency escape of paratroopers both through the side doors and into the cargo hatch, we encountered a rather unpleasant problem associated with the D-1-8 parachutes.
The adoption of the D-1-8 landing parachute into service by the Airborne Forces and the Air Force in 1959 significantly contributed to the rapid development of high-speed transport aviation (2). They jumped from An-8, An-10, An-12, Tu-4D and other aircraft with this parachute, and in all cases it behaved almost flawlessly. After the parachutist separates from the aircraft, the studs of the traction rope come out of the cones of the backpack with the help of a traction rope and release the valves of the backpack, which are folded to the sides under the action of elastic bands. Simultaneously with the separation of the parachutist from the aircraft using the same traction rope, a flexible pin comes out of the device and the parachute device is turned on. The pilot chute, under the action of a spring mechanism, opens, is filled with air flow, pulls out the stabilizing parachute cover connected to it and tightens it. The canopy of the stabilizing parachute, filled with air, pulls out part of the cover with the canopy of the main parachute placed in it. The entire deployment process (from the moment the parachutist separates from the plane until the canopy is completely filled with air) takes about 4 s.
The D-1-8 parachutes had pull ropes about 3 m long. Before the jump, the paratroopers hooked the pull rope carabiners to the forced deployment cable of the parachute (PRP cable), and the pull rope itself was appropriately secured to the parachute pack. When the paratrooper left the aircraft, the traction rope was pulled out to its full length and the parachute stabilizing device was activated, remaining hooked to the PRP cable. On the An-2 aircraft, after the stabilizing device was put into operation, under the influence of a stabilized external air flow, the traction rope was held stably in the upper part of the door edge. But under the influence of a powerful turbulent air flow on the Il-76 aircraft, a long traction rope, hooked at one end to the control cable, moving randomly in the exit opening of the aircraft, interfered with the exit of the next paratrooper, and in such a way that this circumstance could lead to dire consequences. This forced us to solve a problem that turned out to be very serious for the Il-76 aircraft. It was necessary to carry out complex work to stabilize air flows in the area of ​​the side doors and in the area of ​​the cargo hatch.
But, fortunately for us, just in the late 1960s - early 1970s. Another parachute, called the D-5, was introduced into the airborne troops to parachute personnel. It had a modified implementation scheme. The stabilizing parachute came into operation immediately after leaving the aircraft. The main dome has also undergone changes. The percale from which it was previously made was replaced with a lighter synthetic fabric. The D-5 turned out to be easy to use. The dome of the stabilizing device was placed in a chamber, which was attached to the PRP cable using a carbine, and the stabilizing device itself was tucked under the valve of the parachute pack. When the parachutist left the plane, the stabilizing device was removed from under the parachute backpack valve and the canopy of the stabilizing device was pulled out of this chamber. Only the carbine and camera remained on the plane, the total length of which is only about 350 mm. This constructive discovery by the creators of the parachute immediately moved us forward in solving the problem of emergency escape and airdrop of personnel from the Il-76 aircraft.

Landing equipment

V.V. Arkhipov

According to the technical specifications, the Il-76 aircraft must provide parachute landing of personnel in the amount of 115 people, as well as the transportation of 145 people, placing them on the side and central seats installed in the cargo cabin of the aircraft.
The problem was solved in two ways: placing people on central seats installed on the cargo floor along the axis of the cargo compartment, and on side seats mounted along the sides of the cargo compartment. Naturally, the experience of the OKB OKB was comprehensively studied. Antonov and foreign experience (mainly Americans - on the C-130 and C-141 aircraft). It was decided to use the well-proven center seats from the An-22 military transport aircraft on the Il-76 aircraft, especially since the Il-76 was to be produced at the Tashkent aviation plant, which at that time was finishing serial production of the An-22. The adaptation of Antonov's central seats to the Il-76 aircraft was carried out by leading design engineer O.I. Pyatkov.

Each section of the central seats on the Il-76 is designed to accommodate eight people. All eight sections of the aircraft's central seats are interchangeable: they can be installed in any location, both with and without a monorail. The seat sections do not have flight direction indication. These two circumstances significantly simplify the operation of the aircraft and reduce the time for converting the aircraft from one application to another.
The development of the side seats showed that it was easier to create your own, original design. It was proposed by leading design engineer L.P. Kopylov, and at that time a young specialist, design engineer V.V., was engaged in attaching to the aircraft. Arkhipov (3). Moreover, this task was quite complex and involved solving the issues of placing both paratroopers and soldiers, differing from each other in size, on the side seats. In addition, the seating arrangement had to take into account the location of the aircraft's sanitary equipment. Therefore, both double side seats and single seats with seat belt attachment points were developed. The seat belt installation nodes are distinguished by special markings: the nodes intended for fixing the soldiers' seat belts are marked with an asterisk, and the nodes designed for paratroopers are designated with a parachute. It is worth noting that the layout of the side seats was made so efficiently and carefully that it was never subject to changes or clarifications. But a young specialist was working on it! In general, the management of our design bureau was not afraid to give complex work to young people and thereby tested us for “professional suitability.”
The airborne transport equipment of the Il-76 aircraft provides the possibility of parachute landing of personnel in two versions. The first and main option is to place paratroopers along the entire length of the cargo compartment, and in this case, leaving the aircraft is ensured through two side doors and through the cargo hatch (two passages on the ramp). The second option is that paratroopers are accompanying crews of the landing equipment and are located in the front part of the cargo compartment. In this case, leaving the aircraft is carried out only through the side doors.

The equipment for parachute landing of military personnel, in addition to the side and central seats, includes ropes for forced deployment of parachutes for the main option for deploying paratroopers with a system for removing halyards and cables from the area of ​​the cargo hatch and side doors, as well as PRP cables for the option of landing accompanying crews. The equipment for the main landing option also includes paratrooper flow breakers at the doors and on the ramp and paratrooper flow dividers installed in the area of ​​the frames and on the ramp. The development of a system for parachute landing of personnel and the release of design documentation for the installation of PRP cables was led by the author of this article, who was also a young specialist at that time. I proposed and developed a device for dropping mannequins, which will be discussed below.

The aircraft has four exit points for paratroopers: two side doors and two ramp passages. The number of paratroopers is 114 people plus the landing commander. If this number is divided by four, it turns out that approximately 28 paratroopers must pass through each exit point. But the time of escape through the side doors and the ramp is different: through the ramp - about 0.8 s per person, and through the side doors, due to a change in the direction of the paratrooper's movement (almost by more than 90°) - about 1.2 s per person. Accordingly, calculations and then real tests led to the fact that 24 and 25 paratroopers leave the plane through the side doors, and 33 paratroopers each through the ramp. In this case, a mandatory condition is met - the landing through the ramp and side doors must end almost simultaneously, which reduces the landing time and shortens the length of the landing site. Similar calculations were carried out for landing personnel in three streams. It turned out that 34 and 35 paratroopers left the plane through the side doors and 52 through the ramp.
Based on this, between opposite flows when leaving the aircraft through the side doors and the ramp, flow separators from panels were installed on the PRP cables at frames 29 and 41 (45), which exclude erroneous actions of the paratroopers. Flow separators are mounted in the front of the cargo compartment and on the ramp, which separate the paratroopers located on the side or central seats into appropriate flows and direct them to their exit points.
In order for each stream of paratroopers to have the opportunity to take the correct starting position before leaving the aircraft, wide lines are painted in yellow paint on the floor of the cargo compartment at the entrance doors and on the ramp, on which “STOP” is written in large letters in white paint. Flow interrupters are located at the doors and on the ramp, designed to interrupt the landing of personnel either from one point or stop the landing altogether in the event of any emergency situations. Serial documentation for flow breakers was produced by category I design engineer T.T. Mozharovsky.

The most trained paratroopers, including the unit commander, are stationed at the flow interrupters. For those releasing at their workplaces, halyard extensions are installed (for those releasing at the side doors, the extensions are installed on PRP cables, and for those releasing, working on the ramp, the extension cord consists of two parts, one of which has a length of 1740 mm and is attached when installing the PRP system to the top parts of the frame are 65, and the second part, 350 mm long, is an adapter between the releasing parachute and the extension). At the command “Get ready”, those releasing take their jobs at the flow breakers at the side doors and on the ramp. Those releasing at the doors hook the carabiners of the cameras of their stabilizing devices to these extensions, and those releasing on the ramp attach the carabiners of their adapters to the extensions installed in the cargo hatch area. The graduates leave the plane at the rear of their streams. At the moment of their landing, the extensions remove the stabilizing devices from under the valves of the releasing parachutes and put the canopy of the stabilizing device into operation.
After the paratroopers leave the aircraft, chambers of stabilizing devices remain on the PRP cables, which must be removed from the openings before closing the cargo hatch and side doors. In addition, it is necessary to remove the PRP cables themselves from the opening of the cargo hatch. The PRP halyard and cable cleaning system consists of a cleaning mechanism with cable wiring (their installation was developed by a category II design engineer
L.I. Morozov), carriage, guide rail for moving the carriage along the side and sliders for cleaning halyards. The installation of the guide rail was carried out by category II design engineer L.S. Romanov. The PRP system for cleaning halyards and cables works both manually and with an electric drive mechanism.
At the beginning of the design of a system for parachute landing of personnel on an aircraft, the mechanisms for cleaning halyards and cables were mounted in the areas of the side doors and cargo hatch. But after the decision was made to use only D-5 type parachutes during landings and the accumulation of landing experience, work was carried out to simplify the system. As a result, we combined the systems for cleaning halyards and PRP cables in the cargo hatch area with the installation of only one cleaning mechanism on the right and left sides, and removed the halyard cleaning mechanisms from the entrance door area altogether. Accordingly, the settings of limit switches for controlling the mechanisms for cleaning halyards and PRP cables were clarified.
The decision to remove the halyard cleaning mechanisms from the side door area came unexpectedly. During testing, it was noticed that the chambers of the stabilizing devices practically do not extend beyond the edge of the side doors. At the same time, during testing, sometimes they simply forgot to prepare the system for removing halyards from the doors for landing. And after the end of the landing, the experimenter, seeing his mistake, before closing the doors, approached the door opening and manually removed the remaining chambers of the stabilizing devices. They say that laziness is the engine of progress. And here, having noticed such a pattern in the behavior of stabilizing devices, it was proposed to somehow cut off the stabilizing devices from the doors. They built a makeshift curtain, which in the initial position for landing opened the doorway, and when the door was closed, it moved and occupied a position between the door and the ERP cables, thereby moving the cameras away from the doorway. When this idea was confirmed, they transferred the information to the design bureau, and there the first category design engineer A.P. Medvedev turned this idea into a finished design.
Such work on fine-tuning the design of systems, firstly, reduces the weight of the aircraft structure, and, secondly, significantly simplifies the operation of the aircraft.
The PRP cable system for accompanying calculations consists of two side and two central PRP cables. The onboard cables are fully functional and are attached to the carabiners of the stabilizing devices of the paratroopers' parachutes, which are located on the side seats. For paratroopers located in the central seats, the working sections of the central PRP cables are sections of cables from frame 14 to the bracing cable. To prevent paratroopers from accidentally snagging their carabiners on the mooring cable, it is enclosed in a red pavinol case. To exclude accidental snagging of a paratrooper's ammunition from the accompanying payment for the dropped cargo, the aircraft has dividing panels. If the flights do not involve the landing of personnel, then the PRP cables are transferred to the stowed position.

The IL-76 has a landing alarm system that provides light and sound signals to the paratroopers. On frames 14 and 65 there are two illuminated banners with the inscriptions “Go” in green and “Leave” in red. At the left and right side doors in the area of ​​frame 17, as well as on the left and right sides of frame 56, there are traffic lights with three colored lamps: yellow - for giving the signal “Get ready”, green - for the signal “Go” and red - for "Remove" signal. Banners and traffic lights are clearly visible from the production workplaces and are visible to paratroopers. But a completely unique device on the plane is the air siren, which is installed in the upper part of the cargo compartment. It duplicates the light signals that are given to the landing force by the crew navigator. With the command “Get ready”, the siren sounds a short beep, with the command “Go” - a long beep, which ends simultaneously with the end of the landing. Moreover, the sound of the siren is chosen so well that with the command “Get ready,” all the paratroopers wake up - and in fact, almost all of them sleep during the flight, especially during a long flight. Apparently, their emotional stress before the jump and constant fatigue from getting up early (maybe the reason for this is youth, a soldier is a soldier - he always wants to sleep) takes its toll. When you hear the command “Go,” the siren sounds so heart-rending that you want to jump out of the plane yourself, just not to hear it.

Work on the power supply of airborne transport equipment systems was carried out by the design division headed by Deputy Chief Designer V.I. Smirnov and department head N.F. Makokin. This work at the design bureau was directly carried out by leading design engineer Yu.F. Fedoseev.
Due to the fact that the cockpit, cargo compartment and rear gunner's cabin of the Il-76 are sealed, normal conditions for a long flight are created in it. Any temperature can be created inside the aircraft, and at high flight altitudes the pressure inside the aircraft is no less than at an altitude of 2.5 km, which creates acceptable comfortable conditions for paratroopers to fly. In the event of depressurization of the aircraft, all paratroopers are provided with individual oxygen nutrition. The development of the air conditioning system was carried out by designers under the leadership of comrade S.V. Ilyushin, one of the very first seven “Ilyushinites” - A.Ya. Levin, as well as heads of departments Yu.P. Lachaev and A.E. Ovsyannikov. O.N. took part in the creation of oxygen equipment. Kashelevsky and young specialist I.N. Maksimova.

I would like to mention one more work. Before experiments on parachute landing of personnel, it was necessary to carry out preliminary work to assess the flow of paratroopers after they left the plane and the possible convergence of paratroopers who left the plane from different points. This work could only be carried out by dropping dummies from various escape points. Previously, mannequins were reset manually. Equipped dummies were placed at the escape points and, on command, the experimenters simultaneously dropped them from the aircraft. Filming was carried out from the ground and, based on the materials from this filming, the trajectories of the mannequins from different points of departure were determined. It was quite hard work, since the mass of the mannequin equipped with a parachute was about 120 kg. Typically, two experimenters each dropped one dummy. There were cases when experimenters also fell out of the plane after the dummy - it’s good that they had parachutes.
Therefore, an idea was born: at each escape point, install inclined guides on the nodes of the hoist rail, and sew a spherical roller, which is inserted into the guide, to the head of a mannequin dressed in a parachute. It was possible to hang seven such mannequins on each rail. The mannequins were fixed on each guide with one pin-clamp, which was activated by the experimenter using a nylon cord attached to it. In the ramp area, two straight guides were installed, and in the side door area, guides were installed, which at the end were bent to the entrance door openings. At the ends of the guides there were removable winglets, which made it possible to move the dummy’s separation point outside the aircraft. These endings were installed by experimenters after opening the cargo hatch and doors. One experimenter worked at each pair of escape points: he installed winglets on the guides and, at the command of the aircraft navigator, used cords to set in motion the “formation” of mannequins of the pair of guides. Since the “flight” of the dummies was monitored by ground and on-board cameras, the process of obtaining test data was greatly simplified. The results of these tests made it possible to quickly move on to testing parachutists leaving the aircraft.
On board the aircraft, tests were carried out by leading test engineer A.D. Egutko, on-board technicians according to ADO K.I. Sergeev and V.S. Ponyatoykin. K.I. On the first experimental aircraft, Sergeev was the senior ground mechanic of the aircraft, and this is one of the main specialists in testing the aircraft. V.S. Ponyatoikin, who had just finished serving in the Soviet Army, and served in special forces in a group of Soviet troops in Germany, became an excellent specialist in airborne transport equipment. He first worked as a ground technician and then, after receiving his flight certificate, participated in many flight test programs as an ADO flight technician. HELL. Egutko did not just test the entire complex of airborne transport equipment of the aircraft. He is rightfully one of the developers and co-author of this equipment.
A huge amount of work in assessing the possibility and safety of parachute landing of personnel from an airplane was carried out by test paratroopers of the Moscow Research Institute of Automatic Devices (NII AU) V.I. Pugachev, A.M. Gladkov, V.I. Prokopov, E.V. Sevastyanov, G.V. Marchenko, V.Yu. Zhukov, A.S. Lisichkin, V.D. Chizhik, O.G. Arens, P.I. Zadirov and others.

Preliminary tests to assess the possibility and safety of parachute landing of personnel began immediately after tests to assess the emergency evacuation of the aircraft. This section of testing was carried out in a short time frame. The results of the work allowed the Air Force and Airborne Forces command to decide on the possibility of landing the full number of paratroopers from the aircraft - 115 people. This group consisted of test paratroopers from the Scientific Research Institute of Aviation, the Civil Aviation Research Institute of the Air Force, and airborne control officers. But, basically, this group of paratroopers included officers and cadets of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command Twice Red Banner School named after the Lenin Komsomol.

On April 3, 1972, paratroopers were delivered from Ryazan on a factory Il-18 aircraft. The weather was windy and rather chilly. As they say, on the edge - especially in terms of wind speed. The question of whether to carry out jumps or not was decided for a long time. And yet, Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces, Lieutenant General I.I. Lisov made a decision: to jump.
The paratroopers quickly loaded onto the plane. Il-76 USSR-86712 took off and, in the area of ​​the far drive of the Ramenskoye airfield, landed 115 people in four streams. The experiment was successful, except for the fact that several paratroopers fell into huge puddles after landing and got wet to the last thread. After the flight, the experiment was analyzed, and then General Designer G.V. Novozhilov presented each participant in the landing with a photograph of an Il-76 aircraft with the inscription “To the participant in the testing of the Il-76 aircraft. April 1972" and with your signature. Participants in the experiment still keep these photographs.
The leading engineer for flight testing of the aircraft from the Air Force Research Institute was Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Osipov.

On May 5, 1973, the first production aircraft USSR-76500 (serial number 0104) made its first flight; it also became the third experimental aircraft, which from the airfield of the Tashkent Aviation Plant named after V.P. Chkalov (Tashkent Aviation Production Association named after V.P. Chkalov, or TAPOiCh) raised the crew of test pilot A.M. Tyuryumin.
In November 1973, this aircraft began flight tests in the combat use section (working out the issues of landing and parachute landing of personnel, cargo and equipment). The leading test pilot of this stage of testing of the Il-76 was A.M. Tyuryumin (4).
The test team was headed by leading flight test engineer V.S. Kruglyakov, who subsequently supervised the flight tests of such aircraft as the first wide-body passenger airliner Il-86, attack aircraft Il-102, passenger aircraft Il-96-300 and Il-96MO, which became landmarks in the activities of the Design Bureau named after. S.V. Ilyushin. Together with him, the leading flight test engineer was M.N. Weinstein. The leading engineers for testing the airborne transport and ambulance equipment of the Il-76 aircraft were A.D. Egutko and N.D. Talikov.

It is impossible not to remember the kind words of the senior ground aviation technicians of the aircraft, who, in fact, were its owners. The success of the entire work depended on them. The IL-76 is a rather complex unit; it required caring hands and great attention. And these people did everything to ensure that the plane not only flew, but flew safely and successfully completed its tasks. And this had to be done at foreign bases, away from home and family. Moreover, we worked autonomously from our base for quite a considerable time. The senior ground technician on the plane was V.V. Lebedev, and after he was transferred along with V.S. Kruglyakov to test the first experimental wide-body passenger aircraft Il-86, he was replaced by V.G. Alferov.
They created an amazing atmosphere in the team of aircraft technicians: everyone maintained and prepared their own system for flight, but all these people provided great assistance to those aircraft technicians who were responsible for the airborne transport equipment. Moreover, this was done without any coercion. It was simply believed that this was how it should be.

On-board technicians at ADO K.I. were responsible for the landing transport equipment and its preparation for flights. Sergeev and V.S. Ponyatoikin, aircraft technicians Yu. Dolnikov and M.P. Butrimov. Since tests were carried out on all aircraft application options almost simultaneously and sometimes in one day it was necessary to convert the aircraft from one option to another, they had a huge amount of work. And without the help of aircraft technicians of other specialties, it was simply impossible to complete these tasks. Sometimes the entire engineering staff of the testing team was included in the overall work. And for Egutko and Talikov, participating in the preparation of equipment for the flight was taken for granted.
In-depth tests to assess the possibility and safety of parachute landing of personnel began on November 13 with the participation of the aircraft in military exercises in the Odessa Military District near the city of Bolgrad, Moldavian SSR. During these exercises, 115 paratroopers were successfully landed in four streams simultaneously. On November 19, the factory stage of ground and flight tests of the Il-76 aircraft for combat use began, which were carried out on the basis of the 339th Order of Suvorov III degree military transport aviation regiment in the area of ​​Vitebsk, Belarusian SSR.
During both the factory and state stages of testing, some points were discovered that were simply impossible to identify during single jumps, but they significantly affected the safety of parachutists.

During mass jumps, information began to arrive about gusts in the canopies of the stabilizing devices of the paratroopers' parachutes. However, there were no patterns. Gusts were observed among paratroopers who jumped both into the doors and into the cargo hatch. A thorough study showed that the parachutes of the stabilizing devices, made of soft and “delicate” viscose, found any snag on the aircraft structure. This led to their impulses. Much work has been done to create almost ideal surfaces in the escape zones. There were no small details. Everything was smoothed, any protrusions of structural elements and fasteners were excluded. In the ramp area, a fencing net was made that covered the aircraft equipment installed on the beams. The lower part of this mesh was sewn up with a nylon cloth, since the stabilizing devices of the paratroopers' parachutes, when moving to the exit point, could touch this protective cloth, but this did not lead to their snagging and tearing. No more such unpleasant phenomena were observed.
When landing personnel in winter conditions, cases of paratroopers falling in the cargo compartment began to be noted as they moved to the exit points. The reason turned out to be insufficient adhesion of the paratroopers' shoes to the floor of the cargo compartment. In a short time, cargo compartment floor lining sheets with special profile spikes were developed, which eliminated the possibility of people falling. This floor design made it easier to load paratroopers into the aircraft along an inclined ramp (the ramp angle is 14-15°).
The test results showed that the Il-76 aircraft provides safe landing in one, two and three streams. Landing in four streams does not exclude cases of paratroopers converging at the stage of a stabilized flight. Therefore, the right decision was made: during training jumps, the landing was carried out in two streams from the side doors, when the paratroopers were placed on the plane as in the four-stream jump scheme, and the landing was carried out in two passes. During large military exercises, landing is carried out in three streams: from the side doors and from the ramp (in one stream). During combat operations, landing in four streams is possible: two streams from the side doors and two streams from the ramp simultaneously. In this case, the main factor is the time of landing, the length of the landing area and the time of collection of the landing party after landing.
When testing the aircraft, it was possible to increase the maximum number of paratroopers to 126 people due to the fact that the main PRP cables and the PRP cables of the accompanying crews were connected into one complex. It seems like a small job, but increasing the group of paratroopers by 11 people in certain conditions is important.

In the tests, together with test paratroopers from the Scientific Research Institute of Aviation, test paratroopers from the State Red Banner Scientific Testing Institute of the Air Force (GKNII VVS) under the leadership of the head of the department, Colonel A.F., took part and performed the main work to evaluate the aircraft and its airborne transport equipment. Shukaeva. Among the test paratroopers were Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel E.N. Andreev, Colonels A.V. Molodtsov and R.I. Korolev, Lieutenant Colonels V.P. Bessonov (who became the first Honored test parachutist of the USSR), V.M. Katkov, V.N Mironov, majors E.I. Kostenkov, A.M. Sukhov and others.
In addition, Airborne Forces officers were also involved - deputy commander of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division, Colonel E.N. Otlivanchik, Colonels A.A. Petrichenko (one of the participants in the parachute expedition to Lenin Peak in 1967), V.I. Smetannikov, V.T. Gushchin and many other officers, warrant officers and soldiers of the 103rd and 76th Guards Airborne Divisions in 1973-1976, without whom it would have been impossible to fully test the aircraft. Of course, a kind word should also be given to the command of the Airborne Forces - the commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General V.F. Margelov, his deputies, Lieutenant General N.N. Guskov, Lieutenant General I.I. Lisov, head of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Airborne Forces, Major General L.Z. Kolenko, Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces for Airborne Training (VDP), Lieutenant General V.M. Lebedev and head of the VDP department M.V. Arabina. Enormous assistance during the tests was provided by the command of military transport aviation and personally by the commander of the military aviation aviation, Colonel General G.N. Pakilev, as well as the command and personnel of the 339th and 334th military transport air regiments.

Il-76 enters service

State tests of the aircraft were carried out by crews of the Air Force State Research Institute. The lead engineer for flight testing of the aircraft was Lieutenant Colonel A.P. Konderov. The state stage of flight testing of the Il-76 military transport aircraft ended in December 1974, and on April 21, 1976, a decree of the USSR Government was issued on the adoption of the Il-76 military transport aircraft with four D-30KP turbofan engines for military transport aviation. . The first modifications had a take-off weight of 170 tons, a payload capacity of 28 tons and a flight range with a maximum load of 4200 km. During the modernization, the take-off weight increased to 190 tons, the payload capacity to 43 tons, and the flight range with this load reached 4000 km.

In the cargo compartment there are 145 or 225 (modifications 76M(MD) in a double-deck version) soldiers or 126 paratroopers (as already mentioned, in the original version there were 115). The cargo compartment can accommodate three BMD-1s, which are transported in both the landing and parachute landing versions. The aircraft is capable of landing four cargoes weighing 10 tons each or two monocargoes weighing 21 tons each.
The range of flight speeds has expanded significantly compared to turboprop aircraft - from 260 to 825 km/h. This made it possible to reduce the time required to complete tasks, increase the ability to overcome enemy air defenses, and also improve the conditions for landing personnel and military equipment.
Along with the basic flight performance characteristics of the new aircraft, the quality and capabilities of radio communications, navigation, aerobatic, airborne transport equipment and aircraft weapons have increased significantly. The PrNPK-76 sighting and navigation aerobatic system made it possible to carry out automatic flight along the route, reaching the landing point, aiming, landing and approach in automatic or directive mode. The aircraft's equipment made it possible to fully automate flight in combat formations.

The Il-76 military transport aircraft has five main applications. It is intended for:
- parachute landing of personnel;
- parachute landing of military cargo and equipment;
- landing of personnel;
- landing of military equipment and cargo;
- transportation of victims and wounded (sanitary version of the aircraft).
Each of these five options, in fact, represents a modification of the aircraft, since each option uses its own equipment.

The adoption of the aircraft into service, on the one hand, is the result of the work of many industrial teams that created this aircraft, and, on the other hand, is the starting point of its life cycle. And each aircraft has its own life cycle. The IL-76 is lucky: it has been in service both in our country and abroad for 37 years. And he flies on all six continents.
However, with the acceptance of the aircraft into service, work on improving the airborne transport equipment did not end: they were carried out until the end of the 1980s.

I would also like to mention the work on setting world records for parachutists, carried out in 1975 and 1977.
On April 24, 1975, a world record was set for the high-altitude daytime group jump of parachutists (men), who left the Il-76 USSR-76501 aircraft (serial number 0105) at an altitude of 15,386 m and opened their parachutes at an altitude of 606 m. This record was set in the area Akhtubinsk, Astrakhan region.
The commander of the Il-76 aircraft crew was the head of the Air Force State Research Institute, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Aviation Major General S.G. Grandfather.

On October 26, 1977, world records were set by Soviet paratroopers who left the Il-76 USSR-76500 aircraft (serial number 0104) from the heights of:
- single jump - 15760 m (in free fall - 14800 m) - E. Fomicheva;
- group jump - 14846 m (in free fall - 14215 m) - N. Pronyushkina, L. Fischer, N. Gritsenkova, N. Vasilkova, E. Egorova, R. Burlaka, M. Chernetskaya, V. Bukhtoyarova, Z. Vakarova and Z. Salmina.
The crew commander of the Il-76 aircraft was Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union A.M. Tyuryumin. The work was carried out in the area of ​​the city of Artsyz, Odessa region.

The next night, another flight was carried out, and the Soviet parachutist N. Pronyushkina set the women's world record for a night solo parachute jump, leaving the plane from a height of 14,974 m (14,400 m in free fall).

A day later, on October 28, ten Soviet paratroopers set the women's world record for a night group parachute jump, leaving the plane from a height of 14,196 m (in free fall - 13,580 m).

These records demonstrated, first of all, human capabilities to move forward and reach new heights. On the other hand, these records showed the capabilities of the Il-76 military transport aircraft.
For me personally, working on the creation of the Il-76 aircraft is my first job at the Design Bureau. It’s like “first love”; all subsequent work on creating other aircraft is a “sacred duty”.

In July 1971, after three years of work at the design board, the design bureau management sent me as its representative to flight tests of the aircraft. After completing the preliminary stage of testing the first prototype aircraft for airdropping personnel and cargo, I returned to the design bureau and produced design documentation for fine-tuning the airborne transport equipment, taking into account the tests carried out.

In November 1973, I was again sent to flight tests of the first production aircraft Il-76, on which the factory and State stages of testing for combat use were carried out. I took an active part in the flights, which allowed me to study in more detail the problems associated with the landing of personnel and cargo, as well as get to know many people who worked and are working in this field of technology. The knowledge and experience gained allowed us to subsequently work on improving the aircraft and its systems.
Many years later. The Il-76(M, MD) military transport aircraft is currently the main aircraft in the Air Force and law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation and a number of foreign countries.

New parachutes are being created to parachute personnel, and therefore work on parachuting personnel from aircraft also continues. Currently, the D-5 parachute and the D-6 parachute created more than twenty years ago are being replaced by the D-10 parachute. It has increased resistance to convergence in the air and can be used for mass landing.
The results of this work are primarily aimed at ensuring the safety of personnel. They will be used in the development of modifications of the Il-76 (including the Il-76MF aircraft) and new military technical equipment. A new structural division of the United Aircraft Corporation, UAC - Transport Aircraft, is working on the creation of these aircraft, which currently includes the OJSC Aviation Complex named after S.V. Ilyushin."

To be continued

Notes:

In 1975 R.P. Papkovsky was appointed chief designer of the Il-76 aircraft, and from 1982 to 2007 he headed the operation service of the S.V. Design Bureau. Ilyushin while simultaneously performing the duties of the Chief Designer of the Il-76 aircraft and its modifications (Il-76MD, Il-76MF), as well as the Il-38 long-range anti-submarine aircraft.

An interesting fact is that among the testers of the D-1-8 parachute was Colonel A.V. Vanyarho, who today works at JSC Aviation Complex named after S.V. Ilyushin" in the department of operational and technical documentation (ETD). Along with the creation of electronic documentation, he provides enormous assistance to designers in fine-tuning amphibious transport equipment.

V.V. Arkhipov eventually became a leading specialist not only in the Design Bureau, but also in the aviation industry of our country in aircraft cargo equipment. His talented (without exaggeration) developments for ensuring the transportation of goods on pallets and in aircraft containers are widely used in the cargo compartments of passenger aircraft Il-86 and Il-96-300, the transport aircraft Il-76T (TD) and on cargo aircraft Il-18Gr, Il-62Gr, Il-114T and Il-96-400T. The designs he developed, according to specialists from the American aviation register FAA, correspond to world standards.

In August 1974 A.M. Tyuryumin was awarded the title “Honored Test Pilot of the USSR”, and in March 1976, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, “for testing and mastering new aviation technology and the courage and heroism shown,” he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Another noteworthy fact is that I.R., who flew with him as co-pilot. Zakirov (who later replaced him) also became an Honored Test Pilot of the USSR in August 1990, and in March 1994 he was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation. Navigators V.A. Shchetkin, S.V. Tersky and V.N. Yashin, who worked with them at different times in the same crew when carrying out landing programs, were awarded the title “Honored Test Navigator of the USSR.”

The article was provided by the editors of the magazine "Equipment and Armament".

The article uses photos by A. Nagaev, N. Nilov, V. Ulyanov, information service
and public relations of the Airborne Forces, as well as from the archives of V. G. Maretsky and the author.

In 1977, athletes Airborne paratroopers from an airplane IL-76 record-breaking skydiving from the stratosphere from high 15700 meters These records have not been broken

The stratosphere is...

Let's remember what the stratosphere is. The stratosphere is a layer of the atmosphere at an altitude of 11 to 50 km. The lower layer of the stratosphere is from 11 to 25 km, where the temperature averages -50 °. The upper layer of the stratosphere has different temperatures. Layer 25 – 40 km from −56.5 to 0.8 °. At an altitude of about 40 km, the temperature is about 273 K (almost 0 °C), then the temperature remains constant up to an altitude of about 55 km. The region of constant temperature is called the stratopause, it is the boundary between the stratosphere and mesosphere. In the stratosphere, the air density is tens and hundreds of times less than above sea level.

In November 1973, tests began on the first production aircraft Il-76 created at the S.V. Ilyushin Design Bureau. The new military transport aircraft successfully passed all tests and was put into operation. The sealed cargo compartment made it possible to fly at high altitudes for landing at a remote site.

High altitude jumps. Airborne men

Let's start with the men... they used to go into the stratosphere... I'll tell you more about the girls... :))

Now there is someone to take to Heaven, and in 1975, in April, in the Astrakhan region, in the city of Akhtubinsk, record-breaking work took place with the implementation high-altitude jumps by men, athletes, paratroopers of the Airborne Forces The aircraft operated was Il-76 USSR-75601, serial number 0105. The crew commander was the head of the Air Force State Research Institute, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Aviation Major General S.G. Dedukh.

On April 24, 1975, a world record was set for the high-altitude daytime group jump of parachutists (men), who left the Il-76 aircraft at an altitude of 15,386 m and opened their parachutes at an altitude of 606 m.

The men jumped... And the women...? They too can...

High altitude jumps. Women of the Airborne Forces

From all over Airborne Forces gathered the girls and started cooking to high-altitude jumps.

I'll tell you about women's high altitude skydiving... they were called “High Altitude Jumps” ... so as not to frighten with the word “stratosphere”

The preparatory period lasted a year... all female parachutists were observed at the Institute of Space Medicine. everyone went through a pressure chamber. Sensors are attached to the arms and legs, which report the pulse and heart function of the girls in the hyperbaric chamber... In the hyperbaric chamber, it is checked how a person feels at different altitudes, how the body tolerates a lack of oxygen. Of the 15 girls, 13 were allowed to perform high-altitude jumps. Two girls did not pass the pressure chamber tests.

October 1977. Record-breaking work began in the sky above Odessa, in which female parachutists of the Airborne Forces participated.

High-altitude jumps began to work from a height of 4,000 to 10,000 meters.

The girls learned to separate from an Il-76 aircraft and fall on their backs. I had to learn to fall on my back - it turned out to be not so easy. While falling on my back, I was thrown into a tailspin - this is a rotation that, if not immediately stopped, rapidly increases.

With each jump the plane rose higher, and the task became more difficult. Everyone was jumping with oxygen masks on.

The girls made more than 70 jumps, practicing everything they would need to do during record attempts until they became automatic.

Airborne troops! There are no impossible tasks where there are airborne troops!

To the record from the stratosphere

They didn’t know who would go for the record from the stratosphere. The day before, three were announced - Master of Sports Valya Bukhtoyarova (Khokhlova) and candidates for Master of Sports Nina Pronyushkina and Elvira Fomicheva.

There is a working environment at the airfield, pre-launch preparations. Who will go...? The last check... and it was decided to send Elvira Fomicheva first into the air at a height of 15 kilometers. An important factor was the internal state of the athletes, the complete lack of anxiety and experience in sports jumping. Eli had at that time a lot of jumps - more than one and a half thousand...! And in terms of your internal state...? There's no point in worrying when you can jump anyway... :)) this is her normal state in any situation... Everyone who knows Elya knows about this...

Just imagine... you approach the door of the plane... and in front of you is the open Sky...! the stars are huge...! and the earth is far away... in a blue haze... step without looking... and pick up this barely noticeable flow, which is practically absent... so that it doesn’t control you... but you make it work the way you need... and no matter what its density is, it must obey...

Team Let's start! Elvira Fomicheva

Team "Let's start!" Elvira put on a high-altitude compensatory suit and went on the plane. Of course, all fifty people saw off... The ground service, the girls... And she smiled at everyone... joked about wishing them success... and went on the plane... The person graduating was Alexander Petrichenko, Honored Master of Sports. He already made his jump from the stratosphere in 1975...

These were the 70s... they sent everyone into the stratosphere...

On the plane, the support team checked the high-altitude suit, pressure helmet, oxygen equipment, parachute equipment, attached barographs... Ready...!

Petrichenko is also dressed and ready... to release Elvira into space...

They gave the last farewell... and there were two people left on board the Il-76... Elvira Fomicheva and Alexander Petrichenko... Alone in the huge cargo cabin of the Il-76... The plane taxied to the runway... the engines roared... and the Il-76, taking a running start, took off from the ground... that's it, take off... now only there, closer to the Stars... If only they knew then that in a few years they would tie their lives with strong family ties... Petrichenko probably already guessed then... J)

Airplane Il-76 USSR-76500, serial number 0104. Crew commander, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union A.M. Tyuryumin.

Jump from space with a parachute

Il-76 climbed to an altitude of 15,760 meters... In combat...! The ramp has opened... Prepare...! To jumping from space with a parachute

Can you imagine how the man felt at that moment, sending this fragile and strong girl into this huge open Sky with stars at an altitude of almost 16 kilometers... Knowing all the difficulties of the jump, what he experienced at that moment...

Green traffic light... siren...! Elvira looked into Alexander's eyes, smiled... and went into this heavenly height...! Alexander’s heart began to pound... the ramp closed... and minutes of waiting began that lasted an eternity...

Elvira walked away normally, leveled her fall, turned over onto her back... the speed is rapidly increasing... discomfort has begun... the body, it begins to swell... it seems to be bursting in overalls... and stronger and stronger... the load increases... and there is still a lot of height ... where is this normal altitude so that you can breathe a little... 12 km of instrument altitude... the hardest part is over... it has become easier... further than 10 km of altitude - this is already familiar airspace... exhale a little... free fall continues... 6 km of altitude ... 5 km... you can turn over with your face to the ground... 4 km... 3 km... already close... the ground is rushing... 2 km... soon... you can’t miss the altitude... the altimeter needle is approaching an altitude of 1000 meters... that’s it... that’s enough... ring ...

The parachute opened at an altitude of 960 meters... Dear Earth...! The earth is beautiful...! Favorite parachute...! Happened…

They were waiting on the ground... This is a tense state of waiting... it’s easier to jump than to wait in excitement...

There is a record...!

We met Elvira and congratulated her on her record... There is a record...!

But Elvira wasn’t thinking about him when she jumped... all her thoughts were focused on the jump itself... she had to cope... not to let down those on earth who believed in her... believed that she could, could handle it, and everything would work out... She could...

It’s too early to relax… a break… the command “Let’s start!”

A group of 10 girls paratroopers went on an Il-76 plane for their record jump, and that same night Nina Pronyushkina went to Heaven and made a single night record jump from Space with a parachute.

Nina Vasilievna...! How lucky you are...! Night stars and the Moon...! Huge, bright...! I can imagine, Nina Vasilievna, how many wishes you made while you were falling on your back...! :))

Pronyushkina Nina Vasilievna. Master of Sports, World Record Holder, worked her entire sports career in the sports parachute team of the Tula Airborne Division. She has 3,747 parachute jumps to her credit. And then many years of work on the panel of judges in parachuting.

Let's return to record skydiving from the stratosphere.

A day of respite... and a group of 10 girls made a night record jump.

Photo. Nina Pronyushkina on the left, Zlvira Fomicheva on the right

To please the Stars... :))

Results of record work

October 26, 1977. World records were set by Soviet parachutists who left the Il-76 aircraft from the heights.
D naughty single jump from high 15760 m(in free fall - 14800 m) - E. Fomicheva.
D silent group jump - 14846 m(in free fall - 14215 m) - N. Pronyushkina, L. Fischer, N. Gritsenkova, N. Vasilkova, E. Egorova, R. Burlaka, M. Chernetskaya, V. Bukhtoyarova, Z. Vakarova and Z. Salmina.

Night single jump - 14974 m(in free fall 14400 m). — N. Pronyushkina

Night group jump - 14196 m(in free fall - 13580 m) - N. Pronyushkina, L. Fischer, N. Gritsenkova, N. Vasilkova, E. Egorova, R. Burlaka, M. Chernetskaya, V. Bukhtoyarova, Z. Vakarova and E. Fomicheva.

Group jumpers, everyone worked in oxygen masks, put on everything they had, smeared their faces with a thick layer of goose fat...

These records further demonstrated the capabilities of the military transport aircraft. IL-76.

How many years have passed since then... and Elvira Fomicheva’s record has not been broken... And Nina Pronyushkina’s night record has not been broken either. All the years... to this day... they stand at the top of the World Record for High Altitude Jumps... Maybe... this is also a record...?