Flight from the past: Kyiv to New York on the Il-62 in 1998
We’re starting a new weekly series called “Flight from the past”. Every week we pick a real flight from archived airline timetables, tell its story and give you everything you need to fly it yourself. First up: Boryspil to New York, summer 1998.
The story
Air Ukraine was the country’s national carrier from 1992 until it went bankrupt and stopped flying in 2002. In the late 1990s it didn’t just fly around Europe. It crossed the Atlantic to New York and Toronto, and even flew from Lviv to Chicago. Those routes were flown by the Ilyushin Il-62, a four-engine long-haul jet with its engines mounted at the tail.
The Il-62 has one fun detail: on the ground a small strut drops down under the tail so the empty aircraft doesn’t tip back onto it. It’s a good excuse for a walkaround before departure.
Flight card
- flight: UKR103, Air Ukraine (callsign UKRAINE);
- route: Kyiv Boryspil (UKBB) to New York JFK (KJFK), about 4,070 nm;
- days: Friday and Sunday, summer 1998;
- departure 04:15 UTC (07:15 in Kyiv), scheduled block time 12 h 45 min;
- aircraft: Il-62, registration UR-86135.
The return flight was UKR104, leaving New York at 19:00 UTC with a block time of 9 h 10 min. Flying east is quicker thanks to the jet stream tailwind over the Atlantic.
How to fly it today
There’s no good Il-62 for MSFS 2024 yet, so fly it in any long-haul airliner, such as a Boeing 767 or 777. Open the ready-made SimBrief plan, pick your aircraft type and generate the briefing. For the full experience, push back at 04:15 UTC on a Friday or Sunday.
Next week: Lviv to Chicago on the very same Il-62, UR-86135. Flown UKR103? Share a screenshot in our Telegram channel.
Source: archived airline timetables.