VDNKh hosted the opening of the updated Yak-42 aircraft

Do you remember the Yak-42 aircraft at VDNKh? Children and adults, walking around the exhibition, have always tried to get inside the plane (and don’t laugh, in the years of our youth, very few people flew to boast of flying on an airplane!) For some time the plane was closed, then there were years of restoration…

The legendary Soviet liner Yak-42 was installed on the Industry Square of VDNKh in 1981. The USSR-42304 board never carried passengers, but it is famous for the fact that it was on it that the record for the distance of a non-stop flight was set – 4730 kilometers, from Ramenskoye to Chita. Later, the legendary aircraft was retired, but Yak continued to lead an active life.

Today, the opening of the updated Yak-42 aircraft took place on Industry Square at VDNKh. He was returned to the historical livery (aircraft insignia) that adorned the aircraft during the Le Bourget International Air Show in France in 1979. Yevgeny Martynyuk, director of the flight school, noted: “The tail unit was painted blue – now you see white. Did you notice that the tail number is different … the livery matches the appearance when this plane was flying.

Flowers, slender stewardesses, many spectators – Yak is greeted as a dear guest! Then the aircraft watering ceremony took place. By tradition, before the first flight, the hull must be doused with water. Each board is obliged to comply with it before being put into operation. With the Yak-42, it turned out traditionally and very effectively: a huge water arch was arranged over the fuselage, as if opening a new page in the history of the liner.

“I want to congratulate everyone on the grand opening of the updated Yak-42 aircraft. The return of the historical appearance to the liner was a wonderful event of the last warm days of this summer. Separately, I congratulate the team of the Aviator summer school and its director Yevgeny Martynyuk. We know how much work it took to restore the historical appearance of this aircraft, and we hope that the fate of the Yak-42 as one of the residents of the VDNKh Museum City will be happy and bright, ”said Elena Ivanovna Zhuk, Deputy General Director for Development of VDNKh, at the opening of the updated Yak-42 .

Now inside the aircraft are guided tours. By putting on a special signal vest and an aircraft captain’s cap, you can find out how the planes are arranged; why the plane can take off; How does the pilot fly the aircraft? what color is the “black box” actually; what are the requirements for pilot candidates; why at all airports in the world workers wear bright green vests and much more. Visitors will be able to hold the “black box” in their hands, see the real instruments and units of the Yak-42 aircraft, work out on the simulator for practicing coordination of movements, test themselves in the Barani chair, designed to train the vestibular apparatus, and visit space with the help of an invertoscope. The flight simulator will help you “lift the plane into the air”, perform turns, climb and descend.

Mikhail Kovalyov. Yak-42 VDNH

Author’s photo