TU-154

[callum11223344]

Hey i just want to know a bit more about this plane____, can any pilot give more info? I like to go to the manchester AVP on mondays to see the Belavia that flies in.

What is its safety record?

NB: A bit of editing to calm the animals.

[The_Steed]

The only experience that I have of being on a TU-154 was a bad one. It was substituted in for our Air 2000 757 (Yes, it was a few years ago) and had the feel that it was held together with sticky tape! Add to that the surprise of steam of some sort coming down from the roof panels during flight and you can begin to imagine what most people were thinking.

But hey, it got us there safely which is what a lot of these things do all over the world every day.

[GK430]

I think you will find that the only 154's allowed into the UK now are the M series as the older variants were not Stage111/Chapter 111. I always suspected that one or two of the operators of the older models would just add an "M" sticker on the side of the TU-154 sign and keep flying them in and hope we wouldn't notice;) (After all tracking down all the varying registrations of the CIS states is tricky as airlines came & went)
If you want to see some fine examples visit somewhere like Sharjah in the UAE, but take some ear defenders. They make a great whistling sound on start up - somewhat akin to the DC-8.

[Evening Star]

Callum, trick to do is to look through this TU154 accident list (http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?field=typecode&var=475%&cat=%1&sorteer=datekey&page=1), eliminate hull losses due to environment (weather related, terrorism, accidental shoot downs, etc) or pilot error and see what you have left that can be levelled against the aircraft itself. Then do the same for any western type designed at the same time (you will not go far wrong I suspect with the B727) and see what you have. It is a crude methodology and yet hopefully allows an objective view of the TU154 safety record. Point is, the TU154 was designed for crude USSR airfields and must be an incredibly tough design even if, as The Steed describes, the interiors are, shall we say, less than inspiring.

Recent PPRuNe discussion here (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=286618).

The Steed, have also experienced the 'steam' effect you describe, most memorably while boarding a Sibir TU154 (I believe the actual aircraft destroyed by a suicide bomber a month later :eek:) at DME one hot humid Moscow summers day. Air con was obviously working overtime and stepping into the cabin from the steps was like walking into a wall of fog. It was impressive how each vent was kicking out a little cloud. Presumably the humidity control on the air con is crude or hard to adjust.

[paulc]

cabin pressure was also a problem on 1 flight on a Balkan Tu154 - left me deaf for a couple of days

[The SSK]

Flown in them a few times, in each case the abiding memory was of a painfully slow rate of climb.

[GK430]

Funny you should mention that Paulc.
The caterers caught door 1R on a Balkan 154 one day where I worked.
I asked an engineer who looked after MD-80'sto take a look and the Balkan F/E made some temp repairs with a lump hammer or similar.
The captain asked to use his radio equip (L/F ?) to call Sofia for advice.

Thought he would depart low level and burn the fuel or tech stop, but no - having checked with ATC he kept his original plan and went back at 37,0.

I had a bad feeling I would be hearing something on the news on TV that night.

Rugged planes!
Even heard of one being flown with just two engines - no pax.

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Amazing gear retract systems on them, and the ability to reverse thrust whilst still above the runway is pretty interesting.

I'd trust the 154 a lot more than the less solid looking 134.

[The SSK]

the ability to reverse thrust whilst still above the runway

Trident could (and did) do that.

[wub]

I remember reading about a Brit who was on board a 154 in Ulan Bator or somesuch end of the earth place, waiting to depart when a guy, dressed in overalls, walked up and down the cabin clutching a large, greasy piece of equipment.
A few minutes later the captain announced over the PA that the equipment that had just been paraded throught the cabin was necessary for the onward flight and if the pax wished to continue the journey, they should consider stumping up about $100 each to buy it!
Here's a pic of the thrust reversers deployed before the wheels are fully in contact with the runway
http://www.pbase.com/glenns/image/55158289.jpg

[Wycombe]

The "steam" in the cabin is condensation from the dry cold air pumped out by the cabin environmental system I should think.

Last saw it when boarding an L1011 at a hot steamy mid-Atlantic airfield, and also (and more markedly) in a Tu134 many years ago.

[FlyerFoto]

Here's another one:-

http://paulcoulthread.fotopic.net/p43892584.html

although I think, in this case, it might be the registration that would put me off!
Dusseldorf, September 20th, 2005 and one of the best-sounding airliners you would ever hear!

[Contacttower]

Was the 154 actually certified to use reverse thrust while airborne like the Trident was?

[Rhys S. Negative]

I always suspected that one or two of the operators of the older models would just add an "M" sticker on the side of the TU-154 sign and keep flying them in and hope we wouldn't notice

Since this *is* the Spotters' forum, I should point out that a side-view of the rear of the fuselage (jetpipe of the no.2 engine) is a recognition point for distinguishing the 'M - it has a straight, vertical face, whereas the older versions had a 'scalloped' look.

Plenty of both the 'M and 'B-2 variants still active in the Moscow area!

Rhys.

[callum11223344]

hey everyone thanks for the replies and interesting stories. The fact that the 154 can use reverse thrust before touchdown is strange, wouldnt it lower the final approach speed and make the landing bumpy?

Wonderful pictures but I am afraid it's a commercial site and, therefore, not allowed on PPRuNe. Sorry.

[EGAC]

I experienced said "steam" in a Cubana An-24.

It was almost thick enough to hide the cockroaches - I kid you not...

[akerosid]

Unfortunately, I've never yet had the opportunity to fly on a 154 (or indeed any Russian type); my abiding memory of the type goes back to the mid 1980s, when most of the old "Eastern Bloc" airlines, like Malev, CSA, LOT etc, were still flying them to LHR. I recall seeing one Malev aircraft come in ... it was like watching something come out of a time warp, in that you saw a cloud of black smoke first, out of which emerged the unmistakable shape (drooping wings) of the 154. It was a great sight - and how I loved those six wheel main gears.

Time is running out, of course; what's the name of that crowd that does the North Korean tours again?!! ...

[big.al]

Once had the 'delightful' experience of a Balkan Bulgarian Tu154 LGW-Plovdiv back in the late eighties for a ski holiday.

The mirror in one of the toilets was wedged with a folded up sick-bag to stop it rattling (empty sick-bag, I hasten to add). A split in the off-white fabric in the cabin ceiling was covered with an Elastoplast, and the carpet between the seats was one long piece of material (my friend in the next seat pulled his legs back after having stretched out, only two find he had about four feet of carpet in his lap).

Best of all was the food - pickled gerkins with everything - and a half-bottle of wine per pax (which we all drank to calm the nerves). Never seen so many missing rivets on an airliner - before or since - but we got there and back, which is more than can be said for many 154s.

Last one I saw in the UK was at MAN a few years ago. Could hear it and see the black smoke trail even before I see the landing lights or the fuselage!

[Punch]

Hey there,

Funny that I should come onto PPRUNE and read this thread, 5 minutes after a TU154 has just landed at Stansted today at around 1721LT.

Crossing the runway as I write to the posh side of the airport.

Flew in as ERG5105, REG - RA85809.

No idea when its leaving.

Punch:ouch:

[Geezers of Nazareth]

I seem to remember hearing about this one last week. Apparently it's bought in a football team for a match, and should leave on Thursday.

[Evening Star]

see the black smoke trail

Amusing entertainment in the departure lounge at DME; spotting Soviet era designs approaching by the smoke trails. Boebus designs boring by comparison.

a football team for a match, and should leave on Thursday

Thread creep here ... with Mrs ES a Russian and yours truly an England supporter, suspect that by the time that TU154 leaves on Thursday domestic disharmony will be reigning in the ES household.:eek:

[WHBM]

There is still one Tu154 a week into Heathrow T2, Rossiya (ex-Pulkovo) Airlines from St Petersburg on Saturday mornings. They changed over to 737s last year, and now have some A319s as well, but the Tu154s have come back this summer. It's usually in alongside the Aeroflot Il-96 used from Moscow on Saturday mornings.

There were once-weekly Tu154 flights from Heathrow to Leningrad (as St Petersburg was then called) in 1980. Has any other route out of Heathrow retained the same frequency and type over 27 years ?

[nivsy]

Nice forum this one. Brings back memories. Flew Aeroflot TU154 from Munich to Moscow back in 1995 now. Yikes. Me and my mates made a b line towards the rear of the aircraft, no specific seats were allocated at check in even then!) and I remember watching a few Russians sitting opposite of us kicking down the seat backs of the empty seats in front and putting their feet up during taxi for departure. Yep, somewhat stupidly we did the same and the heavily made up stewardesses just smiled at us. It was a great fligt and I remember that the landing at Moscow and on return to Munich was very smooth -yet the approach seemed steep. Happy days!


Nivsy

[irishair2001]

If I remember correctly,the TU-154 was actually proposed and demonstrated to British charter Airlines in the 70s and actually did a few demos at LUTON it was offered in a 201 seat configuration ,compared to the 110 -135 seat conf available in charter airline narrowbodies at that time.

[WHBM]

Never heard of the 154 ever getting close to UK operators. Presumably never considered for a UK CofA. Maybe even Dan-Air turned them down :)

In the early 1990s there was an operator out of Manchester to the Mediterranean with a Yak42 in the summer season, I don't remember their identity or how they did it, but there were several complaint stories in the general press.

[irishair2001]

I think it was more a propaganda thing by the Soviets at that time to try to convince airlines in the west that they could produce a jet airliner that was better than western airliners,I think the price tag being offered ,was about 60 % less than an equivilent western airliner,I remember that shambles of an operation out of MAN with the YAK-42, was it flown on behalf of Air Scandic by any chance.

[callum11223344]

but at the end of the day Russians dont give a ****.... and they rule :D

[Vitesse]

Obviously no-one here would consider looking at an MSFS TU154...

An M version has just been released as freeware. Put together by a Russian team, it is particularly detailed and to my non-expert eye very well executed. Many systems are simulated, (including cabin pressurisation but not the fog). It offers an insight into the Russian way of doing things and might be worth a look...if anyone was willing to lower themselves. ;)

It comes with an English manual. Cyrillic gets easier after a while I'm told.

http://www.protu-154.com/index_e.html

cheers!

[John Hill]

I have flown on a TU-154 once, Pyongyang to Beijing early in 1999. If I recall correctly the climb angle did appear to be very steep and the noise level in the cabin was very low. In flight snack was a single small red apple.

[MAN Guy]

Fantastic thread, the TU-154 has always been one of my favorite aircraft although I've sadly never flown in one.

I have very fond memories of spotting these fantastic aircraft at MAN when I was a kid. I would head up there on saturday mornings during the summer often to be greeted by 2 or 3 Balkan TU-154B's and/or M's lined up on Pier B doing the sun flights to Varna and Bourgas. You could always catch an Aeroflot TU-154M on a sunday morning too back in the early to mid nineties as well as the occasional Tarom TU-154B....... what a noise when they pushed back and started!

Sadly not seen many around (at MAN anyway) these days, all of the Bulgarian holiday flights seem to be done by BH Air A320's or UK charter airlines with Boeing or Airbus equipment.....:zzz: But last summer Belavia sent in TU-154M's on most Mondays for their summer flights to Minsk..... hope to see and hear them around again this summer :ok: