The Giant AN-225 Lands in Prague

Antonov AN-225 Mriya (Dream or Inspiration in English) with civil registration UR-82060 is the biggest aircraft ever built. The whole fuselage of Airbus A-320 can easily fit into its cargo hold. It is powered by six turbofan engines with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons (710 short tons). On August 11, 2009, the heaviest single piece, a generator for a gas power plant, was shipped from Frankfurt, Germany to Yerevan, Armenia weighing 189,980 kg (418,834 lb.). The maximum total payload that was ever shipped before was 253,820 kg (559,577 lb) on a flight from Kyiv to Odesa in Ukraine on September 11, 2001. The longest pieces ever shipped were two 42 m (137 ft. 9 ½ in.) long wind turbine blades from Tianjin, China to Skrydstrup, Denmark on June 11, 2010.

On May 10, 2016, Mriya landed at the Prague International Airport and the Allyn team had the amazing opportunity to see the aircraft up close and take a guided tour provided by Antonov Airlines representatives. It had carried one 117 ton turbo-generator for the alumina refinery in Australia with a final destination at the Perth International Airport, which was the first time AN-225 had ever landed in Australia.

Birth of a Giant

The idea of manufacturing such an aircraft began in the 80’s as the Soviet space program decided to transport the parts of Energia rockets to the Baikonur Cosmodrome by air. Similar to the Americans who used the modified Boing 747 to carry the space shuttles on the back of the plane, the Soviets wanted to use AN-225 for their Buran space shuttle.

The task was assigned to Antonov Design Bureau. To save some time and money, they used many concepts from Mriya’s little brother, Ruslan (Antonov AN-124), although the new aircraft was going to be uniquely different in many ways. The plan was not to just extend the fuselage, but to enlarge the wingspan and to add two engines. With that being said, they had to redesign the whole inside to accommodate this. Contrary to AN-124, to save the weight, AN-225 does not have the rear cargo doors. The empennage design was changed from a single vertical stabilizer to a twin tail with a long horizontal stabilizer. This was an essential piece in order to allow the plane to carry any large, heavy external loads, such as the space shuttles, that would normally disturb the airflow around a conventional tail. The landing gear system contains 32 wheels with some being steerable, which enables the aircraft to turn within a 60 m (200 ft.) wide runway. The nose gear contains 4 wheels that can be hydraulically kneeled for easier loading/unloading. The nose and the cabin had been taken from AN-124, the cargo load has been extended to 43.3 m (142 ft.) as well as the root of the wings has been enlarged to carry 2 more engines. The fuel consumption of all engines is about 18-22 tons (19.8 – 24.3 short tons) per hour of flight.

After about 3.5 years of development, the final aircraft was finally introduced on December 1, 1988 at the Kiev-Gostomel Airport. The first flight took place a few weeks later on December 21, 1988. On May 13, 1989, Mriya was prepared for its first mission with the Buran Space Shuttle on its’ back. However, the celebration did not last long. After dissolution of Soviet Union, the Buran project was cancelled in 1994 and the aircraft was grounded at the Kiev-Gostomel Airport. The parts of the aircraft were then used for repairs of AN-124 aircrafts, while the airframe slowly began to decay.

Over the years, the demand for shipping of heavy cargo by air increased and a new era of the Mriya could begin. After 7 long years, Mriya took flight on May 7, 2001 for 30 minutes during a testing flight and since then, AN-225 has been operating on a commercial charter basis for both civil and military purposes.

General characteristics

Crew: 6

Length: 84 m (275 ft. 7 in.)

Wingspan: 88.4 m (290 ft. 0 in.)

Height: 18.1 m (59 ft. 5 in.)

Wing area: 905 m2 (9,740 sq. ft.)

Aspect ratio: 8.6

Empty weight: 285,000 kg (628,317 lb.)

Max takeoff weight: 640,000 kg (1,410,958 lb.)

Fuel capacity: 300,000 kg

Cargo hold – volume 1,300 m3 (46,000 cu ft.), length 43.35m, width 6.4m, height 4.4m

Powerplant: 6 × ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229.5 kN (51,600 lbf) thrust each

Performance

Maximum speed: 850 km/h (528 mph; 459 kn)

Cruising speed: 800 km/h (497 mph; 432 kn)

Range: 15,400 km (9,569 mi; 8,315 nmi) with maximum fuel; range with 200 tonnes payload: 4,000 km (2,500 mi)

Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,089 ft)

Wing loading: 662.9 kg/m2 (135.8 lb/sq ft)

Thrust/weight: 0.234

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