@Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, CA
May 2016
Among all the activity surrounding the local appearance of the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft, it was also a rare opportunity to see an Il-76 in this area. The SI2 folks contracted with Volga Dnepr to provide the airlift capability to move their support equipment from landing site to landing site and this one flew in from Iceland to haul everything down to Phoenix. Commercial heavy-lift operator Volga-Dnepr operates five of these Il-76TD-90VD variants. Introduced in 1974, the type has been used in a wide variety of roles and is still in production. The TD designation indicates this is a military aircraft but given a civilian designation. Nikon D500 w/70-200mm, processed with Aperture.
