Yak 18T Flight Operations Manual
Page 7 of 82
Disclaimer: This manual is to be used as a reference only, it is based on translated Yak 18T Flight Operations
Manuals and has not been approved by the Yakovlev Design Bureau or any other authority.
The students had to study the nuts and bolts of training flights "in a Kamaz instead of
Zhyguli" (which means dump truck and automobile respectively) was a witty remark of one of
the pilot instructors. Part of the worn off Yak 18T was utilized. But after the interference of
a newly created USSR Federation of Amateur Aviators, DOSAAF workers and motorcar
enthusiasts were held to ransom aircraft for the depreciated cost. The nimblest managed to
get the condemned for scrap-iron aircraft for 500…800 soviet roubles each or even for
nothing. Thanks to such a decision more than 200 aircraft became privately owned property.
As for the YAK 18T, it turned out to be the first popular General Aviation aircraft in the CIS
countries. But, unfortunately, it is almost the only one up to the present day.
1.3. Collapse of the Iron Curtain
After the "iron curtain" collapsed, this aircraft attracted the attention of foreign countries.
Apparently, the aircraft participation in widely advertised flights of the crews of the Russian
Federation of Amateur Aviators to the USA and Australia boosted its popularity. The aircraft
were taken abroad in different ways. That's why at the present time the habitat of the
aircraft spread to various countries from Bulgaria to New Zealand.
In 1993, the Smolensk Aircraft Manufacturing Plant resumed Yak 18T production. Although
the rigging was made afresh, the aircraft structure did not change. Outwardly the second-
generation aircraft differs by symmetrical installation of two footboards (footboards of the
first-generation aircraft were mounted only on the left side). Little changes also occurred in
the equipment make-up. The ARK-9 was replaced by the ARK-15M.
The Ulyanovsk Civil Aircraft Academy (UCAA), the former Civil Aviation Centre of the Council
of Mutual Economic Assistance, became the biggest customer of the second-generation
aircraft. Having got their bearings, the UCAA supervisors made a decision to get involved in
primary training and bought 15 Yak 18T in Smolensk. And here is the result: if other schools
go on using the An-2 as a trainer, and have been handing over certificates about completing
the theoretical course instead of pilot license, in Ulyanovsk the students fly as much as they
are supposed to.
1.4. The Aircraft
The aircraft fuselage is mainly of riveted structure. Glue-welded joining of stringers and skin
is used in the rear part. The wing is two-spar, cantilevers are mounted to the centre-section
by the joint of the "lug-plug" type with four bolts each. The wing centre-section is made as a
one-piece unit with a fuselage and the wingspan is 3.6m (11ft). That puts certain limitations
on ground transportation. Along the whole span of the centre-section to the lower berth of
the rear spar, the landing dashboard is hanging. The frame of the wing and tail unit is all-
metal. Wing panels, ailerons, fin, stabilizer, elevator and rudder have aircraft cotton fabric
ÀÌ-93 skin, which is called ‘percale’ in Russia, although these are different materials that can
be used.
The cabin is four-seat. Along the cabin sides there are two car-type doors from 850 to
1250mm in size, equipped with an emergency fault mechanism that allows the doors to be
jettisoned in an emergency. In the first row there are two armchairs, adjustable vertically
and horizontally with the mechanism of shoulder belts tightening. There is a passenger
couch in the second row. Behind it there is an upper baggage rack and under it is quite a
substantial baggage compartment. The hatch of the baggage compartment is to the left side
of the board of the fuselage. The hatch lid opens up. And when it is closed, it is held by a
pintle lock. Access to the lock-knob is from the cabin side with a rack-back position of the
couch.
There is a heating system, in which the outward air is heated from a heat exchanger of the
engine exhaust and comes into the cabin. The system insures the windshield blower of the
canopy. The air-cooling system ensures the cabin pressurization under the velocity head
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