The Tupolev Tu-154 (;

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range,

narrow-body A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast airline seat, seating in a aircraft cabin, cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner ...

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by

Tupolev Tupolev ( rus, Туполев, , ˈtupəlʲɪf), officially United Aircraft Company Tupolev - Public Joint Stock Company, is a Russian aerospace and Arms industry, defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. UAC Tupolev is succes ...

. A workhorse of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several decades, it carried half of all passengers flown by

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

and its subsidiaries (137.5 million/year or 243.8 billion passenger-km in 1990), remaining the standard domestic-route airliner of Russia and former Soviet states until the mid-2000s. It was exported to 17 non-Russian airlines and used as a head-of-state transport by the

air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

s of several countries. The aircraft has a cruising speed of and a range of . Capable of operating from unpaved and gravel airfields with only basic facilities, it was widely used in the extreme

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

conditions of Russia's northern/eastern regions, where other airliners were unable to operate. Originally designed for a 45,000-hour service life (18,000 cycles), but capable of 80,000 hours with upgrades, it was expected to continue in service until 2016, although newer

noise regulation Noise regulation includes statutes or guidelines relating to sound transmission established by national, state or provincial and municipal levels of government. After the watershed passage of the United States Noise Control Act of 1972,U.S. Nois ...

s have restricted it from flying to Western Europe and other regions.

Development

The Tu-154 was developed to meet Aeroflot's requirement to replace the jet-powered Tu-104 and the

Antonov An-10 The Antonov An-10 Ukraina (; NATO reporting name: Cat) is a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Design and development Development of a four-engined airliner intended for use on routes from began ...

and

Ilyushin Il-18 The Ilyushin Il-18 (; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and wa ...

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

s. The requirements called for either a payload capacity of with a

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of while cruising at , or a payload of with a range of while cruising at . A take-off distance of at

maximum takeoff weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...

was also stipulated as a requirement. Conceptually similar to the British

Hawker Siddeley Trident The Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident (originally the de Havilland DH.121 and briefly the Airco DH.121) is a British airliner produced by Hawker Siddeley. In 1957, de Havilland proposed its DH.121 trijet design to a British European Airways (BEA ...

, which first flew in 1962, and the American

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavier Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter ...

, which first flew in 1963, the medium-range Tu-154 was marketed by Tupolev at the same time as Ilyushin was marketing its long-range

Ilyushin Il-62 The Ilyushin Il-62 (; NATO reporting name: Classic) is a Soviet Union, Soviet long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As a successor to the popular turboprop Ilyushin Il-18, Il-18 and with capacit ...

. The Soviet Ministry of Aircraft Industry chose the Tu-154, as it incorporated the latest in Soviet aircraft design and best met Aeroflot's anticipated requirements for the 1970s and 1980s. The first project chief was ; in 1964, assumed that position. In 1975, the project lead role was turned over to . The Tu-154 first flew on 4 October 1968. The first deliveries to Aeroflot were in 1970 with freight (mail) services beginning in May 1971 and passenger services in February 1972. Limited production of the 154M model was still occurring as of January 2009, despite previous announcements of the end of production in 2006. In total, 1025 Tu-154s have been built, 214 of which were still in service as of 14 December 2009. The last serial Tu-154 was delivered to the Russian Defense Ministry on 19 February 2013 from the Aviakor factory, equipped with upgraded avionics, a VIP interior, and a communications suite. The factory has four unfinished airframes in its inventory, which can be completed if new orders are received.

Design

The Tu-154 is powered by three rear-mounted, low-bypass turbofan engines arranged similarly to those of the

, but it is slightly larger than its American counterpart. Both the 727 and the Tu-154 use an S-duct for the middle (number-two) engine. The original model was equipped with Kuznetsov NK-8-2 engines, which were replaced with

Soloviev Solovyov, Solovyev, Soloviov, Solovjev, or Soloviev (Russian: Соловьёв) is a Russian masculine surname, its feminine forms are Solovyova, Solovyeva, Soloviova, Solovjeva or Solovieva. It derives from the first name or nickname Solovei (со� ...

D-30KU-154s in the Tu-154M. All Tu-154 aircraft models have a relatively high

thrust-to-weight ratio Thrust-to-weight ratio is a dimensionless ratio of thrust to weight of a rocket, jet engine, propeller engine, or a vehicle propelled by such an engine that is an indicator of the performance of the engine or vehicle. The instantaneous thrust-to-w ...

, giving the type excellent performance, though at the expense of lower

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...

. This became an important factor in later decades as fuel costs grew. The

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

is fitted with conventional dual yoke control columns. Flight control surfaces are hydraulically operated. The cabin of the Tu-154, although of the same six-abreast seating layout, gives the impression of an oval interior, with a lower ceiling than is common on

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

and

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

airliners. The passenger cabin accommodates 128 passengers in a two-class layout and 164 passengers in single-class layout, and up to 180 passengers in high-density layout. The layout can be modified to a winter version where some seats are taken out and a wardrobe is installed for passenger coats. The passenger doors are smaller than on its Boeing and Airbus counterparts. Luggage space in the overhead compartments is very limited. Like the

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain oth ...

, the Tu-154 has a wing swept back at 35° at the quarter- chord line. The British

has the same sweepback angle, while the Boeing 727 has a slightly smaller sweepback angle of 32°. The wing also has anhedral (downward sweep) which is a distinguishing feature of Russian low-wing airliners designed during this era. Most Western low-wing airliners such as the contemporary Boeing 727 have dihedral (upward sweep). The anhedral means that Russian airliners have poor lateral stability compared to their Western counterparts, but also are more resistant to Dutch roll tendencies. Considerably heavier than its predecessor Soviet-built airliner, the

, the Tu-154 was equipped with an oversized

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

to reduce ground load, enabling it to operate from the same runways. The aircraft has two six-wheel main bogies fitted with large, low-pressure tires that retract into pods extending from the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

s of the wings (a common Tupolev feature), plus a two-wheel nose gear unit. Soft oleo struts ( shock absorbers) provide a much smoother ride on bumpy airfields than most airliners, which very rarely operate on such poor surfaces. The original requirement was to have a three-person

flight crew Aircrew are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions In commercial aviation, ...

–

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, first officer, and

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referr ...

– as opposed to a four- or five-person crew, as on other Soviet airliners. A fourth crew member, a

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

, was soon found to be still needed, and a seat was added on production aircraft, although that workstation was compromised due to the limitations of the original design. Navigators are no longer trained, and this profession is becoming obsolete with the retirement of the oldest Soviet-era planes. The latest variant (Tu-154M-100, introduced 1998) includes an NVU-B3

Doppler The Doppler effect (also Doppler shift) is the change in the frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the source of the wave. The ''Doppler effect'' is named after the physicist Christian Doppler, who described ...

navigation system, a triple

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

, which provides an automatic ILS approach according to

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

category II weather minima, an autothrottle, a Doppler drift and speed measure system, and a "Kurs-MP" radio navigation suite. A stability and control augmentation system improves handling characteristics during manual flight. Modern upgrades normally include modernised TCAS, GPS, and other systems (mostly American- or EU-made). Early versions of the Tu-154 cannot be modified to meet the current Stage III

s, so are no longer allowed to fly into airspace where such regulations are enforced, such as the European Union, but the Tu-154M's D-30 engines can be fitted with hush kits, allowing them to meet noise regulations.

Variants

Many variants of this airliner have been built. Like its Western counterpart, the Boeing 727, many of the Tu-154s in service have been hush-kitted, and some converted to freighters. ; Tu-154 : Tu-154 production started in 1970, and the first passenger flight was performed on 9 February 1972. Powered by Kuznetsov NK-8-2 turbofans, it carried 164 passengers. About 42 were built. ; Tu-154A : The first upgraded version of the original Tu-154, the A model, in production since 1974, added center-section fuel tanks and more emergency exits, while engines were upgraded to higher-thrust Kuznetsov NK-8-2U. Other upgrades include automatic flaps/slats and stabilizer controls and modified avionics. Max. takeoff weight – . There were 15 different interior layouts for the different domestic and international customers, seating between 144 and 152 passengers. To discern the A model from the base model note the spike at the junction of the fin and tail. This is a fat bullet on the A model, and a slender spike on the base model. ; Tu-154B : As the original Tu-154 and Tu-154A suffered wing cracks after a few years in service, a version with a new, stronger wing, designated Tu-154B, went into production in 1975. It also had an additional fuselage fuel tank, additional emergency exits in the tail. Also, the maximum takeoff weight increased to . Important to Aeroflot was the increased passenger capacity, hence lower operating costs. With the NK-8-2U engines the only way to improve the economics of the airplane was to spread costs across more seats. The

was certified for ICAO Category II automatic approaches. Most previously built Tu-154 and Tu-154A were also modified into this variant, with the replacement of the wing. Maximum takeoff weight increased to . 111 were built. ; Tu-154B-1 : Aeroflot wanted this version for increased revenue on domestic routes. It carried 160 passengers. This version also had some minor modifications to the fuel system, avionics, air conditioning, and landing gear. 64 were built from 1977 to 1978. ; Tu-154B-2 : A minor modernization of Tu-154B-1. The airplane was designed to be converted from the 160-passenger version to a 180-passenger version by removing the galley. The procedure took about hours. Some of the earlier Tu-154Bs were modified to that standard. Maximum takeoff weight increased to , later to . Some 311 aircraft were built, including VIP versions. A few remain in service. ; Tu-154S : The Tu-154S is an all-cargo or freighter version of the Tu-154B, using a strengthened floor, and adding a forward cargo door on the port side of the fuselage. The aircraft could carry nine Soviet PAV-3 pallets. Maximum payload – . There were plans for 20 aircraft, but only nine were converted, two from Tu-154 models and seven from Tu-154B models. Trials were held in the early 1980s and the aircraft was authorized regular operations in 1984. By 1997 all had been retired. ; Tu-154M : The Tu-154M and Tu-154M Lux are the most highly upgraded versions, which first flew in 1982 and entered mass production in 1984. It uses more fuel-efficient

Soloviev D-30 The Soloviev D-30 (now the Aviadvigatel PS-30) is a Soviet two-shaft low-bypass turbofan engine, officially referred to as a "bypass turbojet". It is one of the most powerful turbofan engines developed in the Soviet Union. Development of the tur ...

KU-154 turbofans. Together with significant aerodynamic refinement, this led to much lower fuel consumption hence longer range, as well as lower operating costs. The aircraft has new double-slotted (instead of triple-slotted) flaps, with an extra 36-degree position (in addition to existing 15, 28 and 45-degree positions on older versions), which allows reduction of noise on approach. It also has a relocated

auxiliary power unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...

and numerous other improvements. Maximum takeoff weight increased first to , then to . Some aircraft are certified to . About 320 were manufactured. Mass production ended in 2006, though limited manufacturing continued as of January 2009. No new airframes have been built since the early 1990s, and production since then involved assembling aircraft from components on hand. Chinese Tu-154MD electronic intelligence aircraft carry a large-size

synthetic-aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...

(SAR) under their mainframe. ; Tu-154M-LK-1 : Cosmonaut trainer. This was a salon VIP aircraft modified to train

cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserve ...

to fly the Buran reusable spacecraft, the

equivalent of the US

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

. The Tu-154 was used because the Buran required a steep descent, which the Tu-154 was capable of replicating. The cabin featured trainee workstations, one of which was identical to the Buran's flightdeck. The forward baggage compartment was converted into a camera bay, as the aircraft was used to train cosmonauts in observation and photographic techniques. ; Tu-154M-ON monitoring aircraft : Germany modified one of the Tu-154s it inherited from the former

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Air Force into an observation airplane. This aircraft was involved with the

Open Skies The freedoms of the air, also called five freedoms of air transport, are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airlines the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace. They were formulated as a result of disag ...

inspection flights. It was converted at the Elbe Aircraft Plant (Elbe Flugzeugwerke) in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, and flew in 1996. After 24 monitoring missions, it was lost in a mid-air collision in 1997. : The Russians also converted a Tu-154M to serve as an

monitoring aircraft. They used the Tu-154M-LK-1, and converted it to a Tu-154M-ON. When not flying over North America, it is used to ferry cosmonauts. China is believed to have converted one Tu-154 to an

electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

aircraft. ; Tu-154M-100 : Design of this variant started in 1994, but the first aircraft were not delivered until 1998. It is an upgraded version with Western avionics, including the Flight Management Computer, GPS, EGPWS, TCAS, and other modern systems. The airplane could carry up to 157 passengers. The cabin featured an automatic oxygen system and larger overhead bins. Three were produced, as payment of debts owed by Russia to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Three aircraft were delivered in 1998 to Slovak Airlines, and sold back to Russia in 2003. ; Tu-155 : A Tu-154 converted into a testbed for alternative fuels. It first flew in 1988 and was used until the fall of the Soviet Union, when it was placed in storage.

Proposed variants

; Tu-156 : Proposed conversions of three Tu-154s with Kuznetsov NK-89 turbofans running on liquid natural gas. Not proceeded with. ; Tu-164 : Initial designation of the Tu-154M. ; Tu-174 : Proposed stretched version of Tu-154. ; Tu-194 : Proposed shortened version of Tu-154.

Operators

Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 Dmitry Karpezo-2

Current operators

As of August 2017, there were 44 Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft of all variants still in civil, governmental or military service. A 45th aircraft has been sighted flying with Air Kyrgyzstan in 2017, but is not listed by the airline as part of its fleet. A 46th aircraft, a Polish Tu-154 with operational number 102, is currently in storage at the military airport in

Mińsk Mazowiecki Mińsk Mazowiecki (, ) is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city li ...

. It was operated by 36th Special Aviation Regiment, but after the

2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing List of casualties of the Smolensk air disaster, all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president ...

of the Tu-154 101, the Regiment has been disbanded and the plane was grounded. It was fully operational, but the government decided not to use or sell it until the investigation into the Smoleńsk crash is finished. As of June 2021 the aircraft is not flying, and it is unlikely to come back into service, since the government operates a fleet of brand-new, more fuel-efficient jets like the

Gulfstream G550 The Gulfstream G550 is an American business jet aircraft produced by the General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit in Savannah, Georgia, US. The certification designation is GV-SP. A version with reduced fuel capacity was marketed as the G50 ...

and the

Boeing 737 NG The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it has been ...

. In 2020 it was revealed by the investigation team, led by

Antoni Macierewicz Antoni Macierewicz (; born 3 August 1948) is a Polish politician and the former Minister of National Defence. He previously served as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, and Minister of State in ...

, that the aircraft was structurally damaged. The access to the aircraft was restricted by the general prosecutor, and entering its hangar requires a special permission. As of June 2015, the remaining operators were:ch-aviation.com – Aircraft Quick Search: Tu-154
retrieved 10 June 2015

Operational history

In January 2010 Russian

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

announced the retirement of its Tu-154 fleet after 40 years, with the last scheduled flight being Aeroflot Flight 736 from

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on 31 December 2009. In December 2010, Uzbekistan Airways also declared that it was retiring its Tu-154s, replaced by the Airbus A320. In February 2011, all remaining

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian Tu-154s were grounded after two incidents. On 27 December 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that it had grounded all of its Tu-154s until the end of the investigation into the December 2016 crash of a 1983 Tupolev Tu-154. This was followed by the grounding of all Tu-154s in Russia. The Tu-154 had crashed into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

just after takeoff from

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, Russia, on 25 December 2016 killing all 92 people on board, including 64 members of the

Alexandrov Ensemble The Alexandrov Ensemble (), commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West, is an official army choir of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian armed forces. Founded during the History of the Soviet Union, Soviet era, the ense ...

, an official army choir of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

. In October 2020

ALROSA Alrosa () is a Russian group of diamond mining companies that specialize in exploration, mining, manufacture, and sale of diamonds. The company leads the world in diamond mining by volume. Mining takes place in Western Yakutia, the Arkhangels ...

, the last Russian passenger airline to operate this aircraft, retired its last remaining Tu-154.

Former operators

Former civil operators

Former military operators

Incidents and accidents

Between 1970 and December 2016 there were 110 serious incidents involving the Tu-154, including 73 hull losses, with 2,911 fatalities. Of the fatal incidents, five resulted from

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

or military terrorist action (two other wartime losses were non-fatal), several from poor runway conditions in winter (including

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in which the airplane struck snow plows on the runway), cargo overloading in the lapse of post-Soviet federal safety standards, and mid-air collisions due to faulty

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

. Other incidents resulted from mechanical problems, running out of fuel on unscheduled routes,

pilot error In aviation, pilot error generally refers to an action or decision made by a Aircraft pilot#Airline, pilot that is a substantial contributing factor leading to an Aviation accidents and incidents, aviation accident. It also includes a pilot ...

s (including inadequate flight training for new crews), and cargo fires; several accidents remain unexplained. On 2 January 2011, Russia's Federal Transport Oversight Agency advised airlines to stop using remaining examples of the Tu-154 (B variant) until the fatal fire incident in Surgut had been investigated. Its operation in Iran ceased in February 2011 due to a number of crashes and incidents involving the type (almost 9% of all Tu-154 losses have occurred in Iran). This grounding compounded the effects of US embargo on civil aircraft parts, substantially decreasing the number of airworthy aircraft in the Iranian civil fleet. In 2010 there were two fatal losses of the Tu-154 due to pilot error and/or weather conditions (a Polish presidential jet attempting a rural airfield landing in heavy fog, the

, and a Russian-registered plane that suffered engine stall after a crew member accidentally de-activated a fuel transfer pump). Following these accidents, in March 2011 the Russian Federal Bureau of Aviation recommended a withdrawal of remaining Tu-154Ms from service. On 27 December 2016, the Russian Defence Ministry grounded all Tu-154s in Russia pending investigation into the 25 December 2016 Tupolev Tu-154 crash which killed 64 members of the

, an official Red Army Choir of the

Aircraft on display

* CCCP-85020 at the

Ukraine State Aviation Museum The Oleg Antonov (aircraft designer), Oleg K. Antonov State Aviation Museum, known as Ukraine State Aviation Museum before 2018, is an aviation museum located next to Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany), Zhuliany Airport in Kyiv, Ukraine. Both t ...

. * HA-LCG at the Aeropark museum in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. * LZ-BTU at the Aviomuseum Burgas museum in Burgas, Bulgaria. * OK-BYZ at the Aviation Museum Kunovice,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

* OM-BYO at the Museum of Aviation in Košice,

Specifications

In popular culture

* '' Air Crew'' is the 1979

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

revolving around the exploits of a Soviet Tu-154 crew on an international flight, the first Soviet film in the

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

genre.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Dmitriy Komissarov, ''Tupolev Tu-154, The USSR's Medium-Range Jet Airliner'', (Hinckley, UK, 2007) * Yefin Gordon and Vladimir Rigmant, ''OKB Tupolev, A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft'', translated by Alexander Boyd, edited by Dmitriy Komissarov (Hinckley, UK, 2005)

External links

*
Image of Tu-154M flight-deck

BBC: Tu-154: The backbone of Russian fleets

Gallery of Polish VIP variant of Tu-154M used by 36. Special Transport Aviation Regiment in ''Plastikowe.pl'' magazine
{{Authority control Tu-154 1960s Soviet airliners Trijets Low-wing aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1968 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear