Russian Airplane IL-76

United Arab Emirates / Umm al-Qaywayn /
 abandoned / shut down, aircraft on display
It was a great surprise for me to see a Russian airplane IL-76 while we were driving along the highway to Ras-Al-Kaimah from Umm Al Quwain. I had no idea how it got there and I’m very grateful to Arne Bevaart who told us its history on his site Landing in the desert.

“The plane is a Soviet built, 92000 Kg Ilyushin Il-76 TD (Serial number 053403072), built and delivered to the Soviet air force some time around 1982, registered as CCCP-86715. After the Soviet Union fell apart, the Russian air force retained the jet and reregistered it RA-86715. It continued to fly for the Russian air force until the early 90’s, when it was sold to Sharjah-based Air Cess and subsequently reregistered EL-RDT. Air Cess, in turn, sold the plane to AirPass in Swaziland and the plane was reregistered 3D-RTT until they, in turn, sold the plane to Centrafrican Airlines in the Central African Republic who reregistered the plane for the last time; TL-ACN …

The aircraft was sold for scrap to Palma Beach Hotel. The jet was flown to the UAE in 1999 where it landed on a sand strip in Umm Al Quwain. It taxied to its current position, shut down the engines and when looking at it now, it’s hard to believe this was a fully airworthy aircraft just 9 years ago. The plane was subsequently deregistered and over the years stripped of any element worth more than 2 dirham. The scorching sun and omnipresent sand did the rest. It currently serves as a massive Palma Beach Hotel billboard while people park their cars in the shade of the giant wings. There are some vague plans to convert the plane into a restaurant, but so far, nothing serious has materialized yet.”

Read more: members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/1ebb72/#ixzz2A8Slccdc
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-76
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   25°34'49"N   55°39'7"E

Comments

  • Air Cess and Centrafrican Airlines was Viktor Bout airlines companies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout
  • There is more to this story. Actually the plane was refused landing in Dubai and all other emirates due to documentation and certification issues then on an emergency request due to fuel shortage it was allowed to land in Dubai just to be loaded with enough fuel to fly out of UAE air space. Following that it tried landing in RAK and Fujairah but failed to get landing permission. The UAQ flying school landing strip was the only landing option for her or she will crash after she ran away of fuel. The pilots landed the aircraft in UAQ then flown away to their country leaving the plane behind.
This article was last modified 5 years ago