TU-134 aircraft: specifications

One of the legendary Soviet airplanes took off in 1963.

Creating an Airplane

The beginning of the sixties was characterized by a change in the generations of aviation equipment. The transition from piston passenger aircraft to jetliners required the creation of new machines that would expand the possibilities for air communication. In addition, increased mobility of the population and economic development created a high demand for air transport services.

The most sought-after areas were already mastered by piston aviation, which relate to the modern classification of short-haul aircraft. It was this niche that was to be occupied by the jet passenger aircraft TU-134.

General layout

The project was developed in the design office of Tupolev on the basis of previously implemented models. A wealth of experience in the design of large military, transport and civilian aircraft ensured the successful application of design and engineering solutions. The work on the previously designed machines was used. They brought to the plane TU-134 technical characteristics, which provided long-term successful service.

At the same time, the aircraft was innovative in many ways. The capacity of the machine ranged from sixty to eighty people, depending on the layout. Used on international lines of cars with a cabin, divided into classes, accommodated a smaller number of passengers.

For interior directions, there were designed lounges without passenger classes, the capacity of which was eighty people. Depending on the modifications, the weight of the TU-134 aircraft varied slightly in the range of forty-seven to forty-nine tons.

Engines

Two turbojet engines of domestic design were placed in the area of the tail unit. This position of the nacelle was ideally suited to the need to start from ground and poorly equipped airfields, preventing foreign objects from entering the engines. The thrust of each engine reached seven tons, which made it possible to start from short runways.

Later, the engines were improved and replaced during the overhaul. The cruising speed of the TU-134 reached eight hundred and fifty kilometers per hour on the engines of the first version. With the installation of modified power units, it increased by forty kilometers per hour.

The peculiar sound of the TU-134 engine, close in sound to the growing whistle, contributed to the high recognition of the popular airplane. The overall noise level produced by the engines at launch and climb was very high. This circumstance led to problems with the operation of aircraft in foreign airports after the tightening of the standards of acoustic pollution.

Development of the model

The car was very successful. The TU-134 aircraft showed the highest modernization potential and reliability. The operational flight characteristics also made an impression. The restrictions imposed on the TU-134 aircraft on the side and oncoming wind during takeoff and landing were among the most insignificant for aircraft of this class. This property of the machine has significantly improved the regularity of flights.

The big drawback of the first TU-134 was the lack of thrust reverser, which significantly increased the braking distance of the car. To compensate for the defect, brake parachutes and an aerodynamic brake were applied. The development of the machine made it possible to eliminate the features that had passed from the initial stages of the development of jet aviation.

Leader of aviation exports

TU-134 proved to be a very popular aircraft not only on the routes of the Soviet Union, but also foreign countries. Almost from the very beginning of production, he began to make flights to foreign airports. The participation of TU-134 in the international aviation exhibition in La Bourget in 1969 also contributed to the increase in awareness of the car. The aircraft demonstrated not only the level of development of the Soviet aircraft industry, but also a modern approach to the creation of a civil air fleet.

In addition to the states of the Soviet bloc, the machine was operated in many countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In many cases, the aircraft were part of the air force of the importing countries. After the collapse of the USSR, the machine continued to serve the air transportation of the CIS countries.

Long-Liver of Aviation

The first machines arrived on the airline in 1966. Since then the plane is in the air. Now this car has remained only with private carriers serving charter flights. But even before 2007, it was a member of the airlines of Russia and the CIS, making regular passenger flights. Thus, the machine was used for its intended purpose for more than forty years.

In addition to transporting passengers on regular lines, modifications were made for servicing top government officials. These sides were equipped with additional elements of increased comfort and safety. They installed special government communication systems.

There were also military modifications of the TU-134 aircraft, intended for training pilots and navigators naval aviation. One of the versions, equipped with a characteristic nose cone, served to train the pilots of long-range bomber aviation.

For the history of production, which lasted more than twenty years, nearly nine hundred copies of machines of different modifications were produced. According to this indicator, the TU-134 aircraft belongs to the most mass samples of Soviet passenger aircraft.

Termination of exploitation

In addition to the technical and moral obsolescence of the machine, an important role in stopping its use was played by the increased noise level of the power plant. The new ICAO standards put an end to many international routes that served the TU-134 aircraft. The remaining directions could not ensure break-even operation of the model and competitiveness with more modern aircraft from foreign and domestic manufacturers.

Although the plane was produced before 1987, it was stopped on regular airlines in 2008, replacing it with other brands. Today the machines of this model are being withdrawn from other structures of air transportation. However, time takes its own, and the youngest aircraft of this brand is more than twenty-five years old. More than a hundred aircraft are still part of the airline, but the end of the glorious history of the first-born of Soviet passenger aviation is just around the corner.

Accidents and incidents

Long years that TU-134 held in the air, were not without aviation accidents. But the plane continued to be considered a reliable and safe machine. The accidents of the TU-134 aircraft were rarely associated with the design of the machine itself, its units and assemblies.

The bulk of the tragedies were the result of a confluence of circumstances or a human factor. The aircraft was operated in conditions in which the required level of flight safety was not always observed, not only in the USSR, but also in developing countries. Instrumentation equipment of the machine was in accordance with the standards of the era in which it was created, and required high skill and responsibility of the crew and ground services.

For all the years of operation of the TU-134 for reasons unrelated to military operations, more than sixty-five aircraft were lost, in which up to 1,500 people were killed.