If you’re in the market for some heavy-duty, exceedingly rugged cargo planes, the former Soviet sphere is definitely the place to look. While the six-engined Antonov An-225 gets a lot of the attention as the largest cargo plane around, it’s worth remembering the Ilyushin IL-76 too. And this snap of an Algerian Air Force IL-76 in Beijing feels like it could be the start of a particularly good James Bond scene. Due to the nature of their operators (namely, militaries and lesser-known cargo operators) the IL-76 can be elusive. There won’t be so many visible at any given time, but if you want to check the map for any IL-76 flying, you can use the Filters function on Flightradar24.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 19, 2021 17:45 UTC