The idea of installing promising PD-35 engines on the wide-body Il-96-400 airliner is initially unviable, which the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is so far silent about. This was stated by aviation engineer Valery Ageev.
He drew attention to the fact that the length of the PD-35 will be over 8 meters, and the weight will be about 10 tons with a fan diameter of more than 3 meters. At the same time, the PS-90A1 engines already installed on the Il-96-400M have smaller dimensions and weight. Their length, fan diameter and mass are approximately 1.5 times smaller than the PD-35, Ageev recalled.
For the Il-96-400M, it will be necessary to design a new wing and chassis, including lengthening the struts. Otherwise, the engines will be located too close to the ground and scoop up all the debris that comes across not very clean domestic runways. In fact, a completely new aircraft needs to be designed for the PD-35, which the wizards from UAC are modestly silent about.
Ageev added that in about 5 years, China will raise a new long-range C929 airliner into the air.
And why in five years will the Il-96-400M with the new PD-35 engine be needed? So Russia will never become the birthplace of new "flying elephants".
Aviation expert Roman Gusarov stated to"The First Technical" thatthe idea of putting the PD-35 on the Il-96-400 is theoretically feasible, but the implementation is associated with a number of difficulties in the design of the aircraft. The plans toinstall promising engines on the Il-96-400 were announced back in the summer of 2025 by the head of UAC, Vadim Badeha.
