AN-74 Aircraft Family

     The basis of the family is the AN-74, a twin-turbofan airplane, designed for support of research, ice floe reconnaissance and transport operations in the Arctic and the Antarctic, as well as for commercial cargo carriage over medium-haul routes in all climatic conditions ranging from   -60°C up to +45°C. The AN-74 was designed on the basis of the AN-72 military airlifter and inherited from the latter its excellent performance, self-sufficiency in operation on the unpaved airfields and the ability to fly steep flight paths with short takeoff and landing. The AN-74 is designed to carry up to 7.5 tonnes of cargo at a cruising speed of up to 700 km/h at a cruising flight altitude of 10,100 m.

     The aircraft is powered with two Д-36 series 2A turbofans rated at 6,500 kgf takeoff thrust each. The engines have low fuel consumption and high level of reliability. They meet ICAO requirements for aircraft engine emissions and noise. High engine arrangement practically precludes ingestion of foreign objects into engine air intakes at takeoff and landing even when operating on pebble airfields.

     Auxiliary power unit based on the TA-12 gas turbine, installed in the right landing gear sponson, ensures the Д-36 engine pneumatic start, supply of compressed air to the air conditioning system on the ground and AC power supply to the aircraft electrical system both on the ground and in flight.

     Landing gear with low-pressure tires allows autonomous operation of the aircraft on both hard-surface runways and unpaved strips.

     The rear fuselage features a mechanized cargo door used for loading/unloading cargoes, wheeled vehicles and people. Special ramp closing the cargo door serves as a stair for cargo loading and unloading. It can also be slid under the fuselage to allow free approach of trucks to the cargo cabin sill for direct loading from the truck body. The airborne cargo handling device enables loading of cargoes of up to 2,500 kg in weight.

     The integrated navigation system, flight and communication equipment ensure aircraft operation on both the equipped and unequipped air routes, around the clock and in any season, under VFR and IFR weather conditions, flying the desired flight path in the automatic, flight-director or manual control mode.

     Since 1991, a number of the AN-74 modifications have been developed and all the existing modifications have been certified to НЛГС-2 and НЛГС-3 Airworthiness Requirements and to the chapter 3, ICAO Annex 16 aircraft noise requirements.

     Advanced modifications, the AN-74-200, AN-74T-100/200A, AN-74TK-100/200, AN-74Д-200, AN-74VIP, are powered with the Д-36 series 3A engines. These engines have a contingency power setting designed to be used in the event of failure of one of the engines to improve the aircraft performance especially during hot-and-high operations.

     Principal difference between the AN-74 and the AN-74-200 lies in the more advanced series engines used on the latter aircraft allowing to bring its takeoff weight up to 36.5 t, as compared with 34.8 t for the AN-74, and to increase flight range with 7.5 tonnes of cargo from 1,650 km to 2,300 km.

     These airplanes are not equipped with a radio operator's station and have a cargo cabin stretched up to 10.5 m. The cargo capacity of the AN-74T-100/-200A is 10 tonnes.

     The AN-74T-100 is piloted by a crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and navigator. The AN-74T-200A is flown by a crew of two: pilot and co-pilot. The AN-74T-200A modification is equipped with a new integrated flight and navigation system enabling precision navigation in compliance with current international standards.