Soviet Widebody: The Last Flight of Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-96

[@antonkovalenko3929]

The reason IL-96 has an elevator is the same why it doesn't have storage compartments up above in the middle. The predecessor which shares it's body with it, Il-86, was a double-decker. People walked into the lower deck, leave their luggage there and then go up to their seats. So as far as i know, the crew's resting compartment as well as the kitchen and other technical rooms, were on the lower deck. That helped small Soviet airports to accommodate this many people from the first widebody aircraft, because they literally brought their own luggage to and from the plane.

[@sami5184]

I flew with the IL-96 back in 2004, from Moscow to Bangkok, it was a cool experience and the plane seemed to be in mint condition

[@SamChui]

Great to hear it!

[@theurdunaat]

🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑

[@paulsz6194]

@@theurdunaatJust take some travel sickness medication man, and don’t ruin the trip for others, or just stay where you are and don’t fly at all…. 😂

[@Thomsaultimate]

Respect to this guy for risking his life for planes and videos to us, gotta love him

[@Civilllian]

Currently, Cubana Aviation IL-96 CU-T1250 is the only one commercial aircraft in the air

[@Aviation_of_Houston]

I flew on Cubana's Antonov An-158 from Havana to Santiago de Cuba back in 2018

[@Aviation_of_Houston]

I was born in Cuba 🇨🇺

[@shinyeager2439]

Feels deja vu seeing josh's cover on the tupolev aircraft from cubana and now sam's experience on il 96 💀 Love both of your work Pioneers in aviation blogs and reviews

[@ins1616]

Очень много отлетал на Ил-96 по маршруту Петропавловск-Камчатский-Москва. В основном авиакомпанией Аэрофлот, но и несколько раз Домодедовскими авиалиниями. После Ил-62 этот самолет был очень комфортным по тем временам. Сейчас это не актуально, но не хватало системы развлечения на борту. А в целом большой, крепкий и надежный самолет. Всегда нравилось на нем летать. Большое спасибо за видеообзор Sam Chui.

[@Raprada]

These photos take me back! Good old days when I browse forums to read trip reports 😁

[@StephenMattinson-t2o]

In the UK I am old enough to have flown on the Handley-Page Herald (British Air Ferries Southend-Rotterdam) and HS748 (Dan-Air Gatwick-Strasbourg). Happy days.

[@MahiHH-gx8kl]

Hello San Chui, I’m a big fan of your aviation content, and I wanted to recommend a fantastic location for your next airport review. If you ever have the chance, I highly suggest visiting the Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) Terminal 2 in Bangalore. It’s a modern, well-designed terminal, and as a plane spotter, you’ll love the great views it offers of incoming and outgoing flights. The airport is becoming an important hub for international flights, and I’m sure your followers would enjoy seeing your take on the terminal’s unique features. I believe this would make an amazing video for aviation enthusiasts like yourself and your audience. Keep up the great work!

[@wahyudarmawan1412]

In 1997 I flew Il 96, from jed to khi by Uzbekistan airline Wet lease to PIA, boarding through air stair from the Aft of aircraft, to cargo area then to rear cabin, the rare experience

[@judehamblyn543]

This brought back memories! I few the same IL-96 Moscow to Istanbul service in February 2012. I recall the take-off roll was interesting - long and shaky.

[@PGGoyeneche]

I made my very first flight to Europe from Buenos Aires to Moscow in this plane! I remember when we cross the Ecuator line we received a souvenir merit roll as a kind of congratulation to do it so signed by the captain. No movies or amenities, just food, food, food. We made transit in São Paulo, Recife and Cape Verde, kind of magic finally arriving in snowy Sheremetyevo ❤

[@thebobasquad645drinknekoslab]

What a good day! You and Josh Cahill both release a video about vintage Soviet jets so cool !

[@shankarpoti1985]

I've travelled extensively on these IL-96s in the pre and post Perestroika days, when they were on wet lease with Air India and also when operated by Aeroflot themselves to various European destinations, . According to a co traveler, an army Colonel, on one such flight, he likened the experience to operating an army battle tank!!!! And the noise in the cabin, when cruising as well as when landing was simply deafening. But personally, I felt quite safe in them. Thanx for posting Sam.

[@davidjames6879]

3-person cockpit crew. Harkens back to the glory days of commercial passneger flying. Were any IL-96s part of Air Koryo?

[@V1Rotate380]

Great Video Sam!

[@SamChui]

Thanks!

[@katimboallan4605]

Interesting to see IL-96

[@StephenMattinson-t2o]

Hi Sam. I flew some interesting planes in Ukraine in the late 90s including the Antonov 24 and Yak 40. On the latter I remember a lady FA calm walking up the aisle as we took off!

[@DimDim-v9l]

YAK-40 is very interesting airplane

[@solartribal7273]

12:30 takeoff is at Tivat airport. One of the most hard airports to land and takeoff in EU. Also, its designed only for a320 or 737 as largest planes. But hey, no problem for IL pilots 👍

[@tomstarzeck7137]

Reminds me of the DC 10 where the ac vents are located on seat backs. And overheads only on sides . Very cool aircraft the IL 96

[@WIZZ-yb6im]

I always loved the design of that plane, once visited Mexico City. Just like Cuba still uses it. Great content Sam

[@supericeman1]

Sam, you should fly Air Micronesia again, and film it the way you do now and see if anything has changed since you last flew it, and continue it to Manila like you did in your old video!

[@rsood79]

Flew these multiple times on the Moscow - Delhi legs & also Moscow - Sakhalin. Loved it! It was like being nestled inside a big bear!

[@rogerrees9845]

Great presentation... Thank you Sam, I forgot how good your videos were... Roger.. Pembrokeshire UK

[@hi_dx1]

Amazing content as always❤

[@davidharris2519]

i love the DC-8

[@VEDHDhanalakoti-zc2kd]

Great video sam!😊

[@master13fox]

Wow amazing aircraft !

[@JohnDavis-iw9lj]

Sam, great video! When I was a kid in the 1960’s we often flew an Alitalia Caravelle from-To Benghazi- Roma Leonardo DiVinci. Any Caravelles still out there working?

[@parvirdee9957]

Sam would love to see any footage of Concord, if you have any.

[@OMGEEREAL]

Nice video! You're soo lucky to fly on these vintage airplanes!! My country only has like boring 737's and a320's. But what we do have is an airline that is called Widerøe that mostly operates Dash 8's in any size, and operates at crazy and breathtaking airports! You should really fly here in Norway, Sam! It will be an unforgettable journey, i promise you 😀

[@magnustan841]

Lucky you Sam, the coolest "vintage" aircraft I can claim to fly on is an LH A340-600, Asiana 767-300 and Thai 744. Then here some of you guys are flying on Soviet-era flying tanks! Maybe one day.

[@dannyadams2211]

More videos like this please and less about VIP business class and your girlfriend!

[@paulmilde9188]

Absolutely!

[@dmitry86]

I flew on IL-96 for the first time in 1993 from Moscow to New York and IL-62 on the way back from San Francisco to Moscow via Alaska. I was a kid but still remember it well.

[@jolene54]

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting.

[@fahedsayed2201]

I took off in a sukhoi ss 100 superjet on a completely icy runway with -22 outside. plane was skidding left and right. Experience of a lifetime. I really loved the sound of the engine. Very very mechanical.

[@hayd8946]

Thank you, Mr. Sam, for this information in order to serve the community. We hope to deliver this message to all airline companies. For the futures of these companies, attention must be given to aircraft maintenance, as well as reducing aviation prices in order to serve the community. Many of these companies only care about obtaining money, they do not care about peoples.

[@emmo_93]

Happy 2025 Sam. Wishing you safe travels! Interesting video 😊

[@ericliu3992]

Hello Sam, happy to see you again.

[@raf1651]

I flew on many soviet made airplanes, TU 154, TU 134, An 24, IL 96, Yak 40 etc, not only with Aeroflot but also with other European communist countries. I never had any problems. I did feel safe on board with one exception, once on an AN 24 sitting right at an exit seat I could see the ground because there was a big gap right under the door. The crew only spoke Russian and, typical (Soviet) Russian, they did not care.

[@EMAviationChannel]

They are making Il96-400 now there is a short video about it in my channel... :)

[@CaptainChickenSandwichCCS]

Wow Sam, you are a truly Avgeek! Keep it Up! ❤

[@eo2143]

I flew on an il-96 in early 2000s from Istanbul to Moscow. I was a kid and I was disappointed because I was expecting to fly tu-154 and thought it was an a340.

[@henriabsinthe3181]

Good job Sam😊. DC8-63 would be great.

[@rarityadf11f]

both Ilyushin IL-96 and Sukhoi Superjet 100 still a gorgeous planes on my eyes ❤

[@nirajthapa1115]

First man to watch your video lots of love from Nepal thank you ❤

[@SamChui]

Thank you so much 😀

[@hanj31]

IL- 96M’s use the same engines that the 757’s and such use which is the PW2337

[@thebrentrobinsonshow2882]

Great video👍.

[@zackaryshipard8572]

Great video love watching them

[@SamChui]

Glad you like them!

[@morriganwitch]

I like that ginormous Soviet cargo plane

[@Lottielou1802]

Another great 👍 video Sam

[@SamChui]

Thanks again! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gabrielv.2647]

It looks almost like a 777 with Quad engines. Amazing aircraft, with all due respect Russia does make some pretty amazing aircraft, especially their fighters. Can't hate 💯🤙🙏

[@Марк.Фетнов]

Hey Sam, did you ever fly on the Yak-40/42 or TU-154 you showed pictures of at the end of the video? Hello from Kazakhstan!

[@player1GR]

Joke about runways is really mediocre. Only SOME of USSR planes were relatively underpowered. Usually they were overpowered to be able to be used in remote short runways (hence fuel inefficient) The main issue with Superjet usually has to do with AC system and engine turbine that were made in France by Safran. Actually Russia still produces il-96. One was made in 2024. For government. This plane is VERY RELIABLE, 0 crashes.

[@Caswell_Official]

One produced per year lmao

[@mickkidston7344]

da comrade, of course

[@wagnerbejaranocarvalho9971]

Soviets will be always soviets, a mix os surprises and scares. Supremacy and decadenca avec elegance.

[@MavAuto-Pete]

According to my contacts as im a pilot, Cubana de Aviación are the only remaining iL96 passenger aircraft still flying. So no this isnt the last flight. Goes to show they also let public into the cockpit which is not allowed, and certainly isnt on my airline i fly with, this isnt the 1980s.

[@desdoan8509]

Hey Sam,,watch many of your videos ,like them a lot,,..you have a dream job..lol you are 1 of the many aviation enthusiasts that i know,,,you guys make great videos,,,would you ever fly in a bush plane?lol,,,,those guys are awesome,,,they fly planes that are small and no autopilot features,,...physical demanding i think,,,sometimes flying at low altitudes in between mount ranges....heart pounding sometimes to watch...lol...well,,,if a chance is given, i definitely would fly in one of those,,,thanks for the videos!!

[@mauriciocortez1626]

Do you have any lockheed L10 footage?

[@Mark_McC]

Still my favorite plane ever.

[@stronzer59]

0:47 just love the huge sag in the overhead bins, passengers must have been carrying Gold bars to do that much sagging

[@GeorgeBot7]

It looks that way because the floor slopes upwards towards the tail. He explains at 5:00

[@hanson417]

Josh: "complains" about not being able to fly Ilyushin IL-96 Sam in 3 hours: digs in to his gallery, edits and posts a full video about his flight on Ilyushin IL-96 back in 2014 (JK🤣)

[@czechian]

Do you know what Chui means in russian?

[@AG-qc8ek]

Hahahaha

[@Jin88866]

It's sad that it's almost impossible to see one. But the aircraft is very inefficient like the A340 (which is being retired everywhere) but with even higher running costs. I doubt it has any chance of a revival 😢

[@panagiotisgiannakos5306]

Amazing video Sam! Dod you ever fly the Lockheed TriStar? I'd love to see any videos from that great airplane.

[@zuperpailon]

No seatbelts at Takeoff? Or am I missing something?

[@tkshima4160]

Have you had a chance to fly YS-11 before they all retired?

[@ronaldcuieii8639]

Hey Sam, very nice🙏

[@robertbaratheon3894]

You have the best content !

[@guzmansuarez4423]

Hello Sam!! I would really like to see an iberia a340 or b747 video, because it´s my local airline and you barely have videos of them.

[@darwinqpenaflorida3797]

IL-96 was not only the last Soviet planes still operating in service, there are others like North Korea's airline Air Koryo has IL-62 and TU-54 😊😊

[@SamChui]

It was not, but it was the last Soviet/Russian widebody airplane type built.

[@darwinqpenaflorida3797]

@SamChui Yeah but some have propellers too used in North Korea Army Air Force on Antonov

[@yb8080]

Any Comets around in pax service today...Or did they all crash?

[@player1GR]

By the way you can still fly a Yakovlev Yak-42. I flew some days ago. In Siberia, from Krasnoyarsk

[@aszlanslatan27]

Awesome 😮👍you must buy this plane scale its look beautiful fleet & livery

[@os4908]

Thanks again ❤

[@SunChips24]

I flew Aeroflot in 1996 from NYC to Dublin. Have no idea what type of plane it was. It was a pretty neat experience.

[@umedhah]

Hey @Sam, love to see any L1011s clips if you have any. ❤

[@lee70ns]

You’re very brave!!

[@michaelgorbunov2484]

Sam, Ilushin-76 - it's king off russian planes! ))

[@alpcns]

Looks like a good design to me, quite modern with the “glass cockpit” and modern avionics. I liked the podded engines a la Boeing 707. Does it have an atrocious safety record?

[@CookieMonster-we1in]

How are you so brave to fly? I havent flown in 26 years. Have a fear of flying

[@americanbobtail1]

I hope you are still traveling by car, bus, train, ships, etc.

[@CookieMonster-we1in]

@ Theres always a moron with a mouth. Doubt youd open your mouth in person

[@CookieMonster-we1in]

@ its always simps like you that have a smart mouth

[@americanbobtail1]

@@CookieMonster-we1in - Who urinated in your corn flakes today?

[@NorthernMike-1]

You need to remember, that airplanes are the safest form of travel. You not only have a highly trained Pilot, but also a Co-Pilot, who are supported by very sophisticated Air Traffic Controllers. In addition the mechanical up keep is very methodical

[@FlyguyLonnie]

Hi Sam I would love to see the TU 154 video that you have.

[@ph-dv5uk]

3:14, not 41000 FT, 40000 said pilot))

[@lepxs]

So cool to see :)

[@schewpid.]

You should visit sweden and go to jumbo stay hotel right next to arlanda airport, and also to fly populair and their fokker 50's

[@petermcgarrymusicandflying]

Flew an il86 in the cockpit Shannon to Havana. Super nice to me

[@pav2k]

Tupolev-154 Please!

[@frankgrimesification]

In Soviet Russia, pilots don't land IL-96---IL-96 lands you!

[@Rick-Nundigger]

....😮.. L'illushin 62 .. Vladivostok-Pyongyang, est un "Flash-Back" Temporel surprenant....!! Un Dc9 à double réacteur-collés de chaques côtés....✨️🫠

[@EuroGTA-er1fr]

Hi Sam I'm one of your biggest fans from Nigeria I love the work you do for the community. I will be happy if I could get a like from you.😊😊😊 have a great day

[@EuroGTA-er1fr]

Please drop a like

[@chiang_paul]

謝謝Sam❤❤❤

[@erfanahmed4424]

Hello sir! Do you have any experience with Antonov An-70? If the answer is yes would you like to make a video about it? Take love from Bangladesh❤.

[@leonardocastelaoalvarez9958]

I d like to see your experience with all Russian planes you d been on.

[@martinaraina3538]

So are alive after that ?

[@player1GR]

They are great

[@Ozinchanel]

Semoga Semua Pesawat dan pelayanan jadi lebih baik

[@somdattsable5540]

SSJ-100 is atleast safer than boeing 737 right now !!

[@ДжураганХуженетович]

What about check Yak-40 Vologda airlines has got it

[@Anastasiiavibes]

Sam, I really appreciate your work and love watching your videos. It's been more than 3 years since I've subscribed to your channel. And I have to say that it's such a shame to visit russia after all they've done to Ukraine and its people. Nowadays it's very important to show up against russian terrorism and do not support any product of that country as all the money from that they convert to military operation at Ukraine. I'm very disappointed at your position in this case. There is no space for ignoring the terrorism not even supporting it.....

[@EthanKiz]

Hey Sam can you plz do a video where you call out Canadian airfares on international airlines plz. And nice vidoe

[@moosesnWoop]

lol flight attendant not having any shenanigans

[@RoAviationViewer]

you have a mistake. when interviewing pilot he says “Эшелон сороковой“. it means FL400 -> 40.000 feet but in subtitles its 41.