IL-76 explosion in Ulyanovsk is Russians’ technical ignorance – aviation expert Romanenko

Speaking on Espreso TV, Valeriy Romanenko commented on the March 2 explosion of the IL-76MD military transport aircraft at the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Plant.

"The cause of the explosion was Russians’ technical ignorance. The production of IL-76 military transport aircraft, which were previously mass-produced in Tashkent, was moved to Ulyanovsk. In other words, the Russians decided to produce these aircraft on their own territory, transported the equipment to Ulyanovsk to the Aviastar plant and modernized the design of this aircraft," the aviation expert said.

Romanenko noted that the modernization process requires some tests.

"Now they have been testing the fuselage for tightness and strength. But how did they test it? The whole world knows that you can't test it with compressed air, because the gas is compressed, accumulates energy, and in case of the slightest crack, further compression causes an explosion, which is exactly what happened. Back in World War II, airplanes were equipped with compressed air cylinders, and when a bullet hit, the plane would break into small pieces. The same thing happened here, i.e. a gap appeared, and as a result, the plane practically flew apart: the fuselage was completely destroyed, five people were injured, and one was killed. In general, such tests are carried out in water pools around the world because water is a non-compressible liquid, which makes the test safe. With air, they got the result they were supposed to get," explained Valeriy Romanenko.

• On March 2, an IL-76MD military transport aircraft exploded during tests at the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant in Russia.