The Soviet-era Yak-42 had a troubled beginning and failed to find the export success of its smaller predecessor, the Yak-40. Alexander Mladenov and Krassimir Grozev report on the career of this trijet
Kuban Airlines Yak-42D, RA-42406, named Catherine the Great, takes off in March 2011. It was last noted with Krasavia in late 2019
Andrey Zinchuk via Alexander Mladenov
The Yak-42 is an airliner with a somewhat sad, painful and ambiguous story as in the beginning the project was plagued by serious technical issues, followed by fatal accidents, a slow production run and the lack of a large enough market niche.
