Great hopes were pinned on the airliner. For the Soviet leadership, he was one of the ways to catch up and overtake America. And along with it France and Britain. However, it did not happen. Why was the Tu-144 taken out of service and tried to forget? Let's look at the reasons …
The prestige racer was able to overtake sound and time, but was dismissed. One hundred and forty-four did not discount despite the world record.
Interesting, but raw
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev's desire to "show Kuzka's mother" was dearer than any money. And they showed. The development of the supersonic "carcass" was invested in full. The development of the Tupolev Design Bureau turned out to be interesting, but "raw". However, at the initial stage, "One hundred and forty-four" coped with their task perfectly.
It turned out to surpass everyone twice. The Tu-144 made its maiden flight two months earlier than its Franco-British rival Concorde. And 5 months later, on June 5, 1969, a Soviet airliner for the first time in the world set a record, breaking out of the sound barrier at an altitude of 11,000 m at a speed of 2,500 km / h.
Passenger operation started on the 60th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Since November 1977, two planes have operated regular flights. Aeroflot crews were not entrusted with independent piloting. The flights took place only with the participation of test pilots from the Tupolev Design Bureau. But already on June 1, 1978 they were stopped. And since 1984, all work on the Tu-144 has been frozen.
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Why was the Tu-144 taken out of service so quickly?
Once the designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev was summoned to the CPSU Central Committee on the carpet. He reported to Khrushchev:
- The car turns out to be quite voracious.
The secretary general waved his hand at this:
- Your business is to wipe the capitalists' nose, and at least fill up with kerosene!
They wiped their nose, of course, but the kerosene bobbed. The energy crisis broke out in the world at no time. The increased fuel for the "carcass" began to cost a pretty penny. "One hundred and forty-four" was even nicknamed "the boa constrictor on the neck of Aeroflot." Perhaps, the unprofitability was the main reason for the curtailment of the project.
A ticket for the flight cost 80 rubles. On an ordinary subsonic plane, it was possible to fly along the same route for 62 rubles. Raising the price several times making it “gold” did not make any sense. This is not the Concorde that transported millionaires. And the airliner had no access to the international market.
The second most important reason for the decommissioning of the Tu-144 is the short flight range compared to the design one. The plane flew from Moscow to Alma-Ata and back. It is only 3260 km. There was no question of any practical range of 4000 - 4500 km with a full load specified in the government assignment. We had to forget about the flight without intermediate landings "Moscow - Khabarovsk" with a length of 6250 km.
And it's not about the large volumes of fuel consumed. For the next "catch up and overtake" kerosene would not be spared. But the NK-144A engine did not pull out. In terms of range, the Tu-144 was inferior to the Concorde, which flew along the following routes:
- London - Barbados;
- Paris - New York;
- London - New York.
The maximum practical flight range of the "One hundred and forty-four" at supersonic speed with a load of 7 tons was 3600 km.
One can hear the opinion that the Tu-144 was removed from passenger routes due to the plane crash on May 23, 1978. During the flight, two flight engineers were killed. The engines of the new series were tested that day. Just the very ones that were supposed to increase the range. There is some truth in this, but the crash is rather not the reason, but the reason to get rid of the supersonic "carcass".
If you follow this logic, then the development should have been curtailed even after the tragedy in Le Bourget on June 3, 1973. At the air show, Tu-144 # 77102 crashed. All 6 crew members and 8 people on the ground were killed. However, nothing of the kind was done. Moreover, commercial flights were launched several years later.
It is impossible not to mention one more reason, although it is secondary. A two-hundred-ton "carcass" flew over densely populated areas, "blowing up" the space. Glasses flying out of the windows are nonsense compared to the troubles of livestock breeders. It is said that due to the supersonic speed, the cows stopped giving milk, and the chickens refused to rush. But … would it have been able to stop the party leadership of the USSR if the "One hundred and forty-four" demonstrated consistent success? Hardly…
At the end of 1981, they tried to re-enter the Tu-144 into commercial operation, now on the route "Moscow - Krasnoyarsk". But this was prevented by another incident. During the control testing of the engines, the board caught fire. The crew was not injured, but the flights were postponed. As it turned out later, forever.
During its career, the airliner performed 55 flights and transported 3284 passengers. Soviet citizens did not even notice that the Tu-144 was taken out of service. Few people remember him. But the idea to create a supersonic passenger plane has not been forgotten. Such developments are being carried out by both Russia and the United States. The race for prestige continues …
Author: Destiny