The first unofficial photo of the first built flight prototype Il – 96-400M (serial number 0001) appeared on the web, not yet painted, taken from the workshop on the territory of the Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Building Company ( VASO), which is part of PJSC Il. The development of the latest modification of the wide-body long-range passenger aircraft has been underway since 2016.
It should be noted that this photo was posted on the social network “VKontakte” by Dmitry Parinov from Voronezh, who is very fond of planes and Russia. By the way, we also hope that we can see this beautiful plane in July at the MAKS-2023 air show in Zhukovsky, because Russian officials promised more than a year ago that the Il-96-400M would take its flight. before the end of 2022.
Note that this modification, also known as Il-496, provides for the upgrade of avionics (digital flight and navigation system), which will reduce the crew in the cockpit to two people. The aircraft also received an extended fuselage of 9 meters. It is assumed that the aircraft will be made entirely of Russian components and will even receive PS-90A3 engines, its maximum flight range will exceed 8,000 km, and the maximum number of passenger seats will be 370.
We remind you that on April 6, 1993, the first flight of the Il-96MO prototype took place, the first post-Soviet aircraft developed in close collaboration with Western companies. It was fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW2337 engines and Rockwell Collins avionics. It was capable of carrying up to 435 passengers, had a maximum payload of 58 tons and a practical flight range of 12.8 thousand km. Certification to Russian and FAA standards was completed by the end of 1997, but the Il-96MO did not go into series production.
