Tupolev Tu-154
Also known as Careless, Tupolev Tu-154 Careless, Tupolev 154, TU154
trijet airliner
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The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine passenger airplane that was developed by the Soviet Union and used to transport people on medium to long-distance flights. It became an important aircraft for Soviet and Russian airlines, as well as airlines in other countries, serving as a workhorse for commercial air travel during much of the late 20th century.
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The Tupolev Tu-154 (Russian: Туполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several decades, it carried half of all passengers flown by Aeroflot and its subsidiaries (137.5 million/year or 243.8 billion passenger-km in 1990), remaining the standard domestic-route airliner of Russia and former Soviet states until the mid-2000s. It was exported to 17 non-Russian airlines and used as a head-of-state transport by the air forces of several countries.
The aircraft has a cruising speed of 850 km/h (460 kn; 530 mph) and a range of 5,280 km (3,280 mi). Capable of operating from unpaved and gravel airfields with only basic facilities, it was widely used in the extreme Arctic conditions of Russia's northern/eastern regions, where other airliners were unable to operate. Originally designed for a 45,000-hour service life (18,000 cycles), but capable of 80,000 hours with upgrades, it was expected to continue in service until 2016, although newer noise regulations have restricted it from flying to Western Europe and other regions.