An 225 technical. Mriya plane. Fulfillment of the main goal

An-225 "Mriya" (translated from Ukrainian - "dream") is the heaviest cargo-lifting aircraft ever to take to the air. The maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft is 640 tons. The reason for the construction of the An-225 was the need to create an aviation transport system for the project of the Soviet reusable spacecraft "Buran". The plane exists in a single copy.

The aircraft was designed in the USSR and built in 1988 at the Kiev Mechanical Plant.

"Mriya" set a world record for take-off weight and payload. On March 22, 1989, the An-225 flew with a load of 156.3 tons, thus breaking 110 world aviation records at the same time, which is a record in itself.

Since the start of operation, the aircraft has flown 3740 hours. If we assume that the average speed of flights (taking into account takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, landing approach) is about 500 km / h, then we can calculate the approximate value of the distance traveled: 500 x 3740 \u003d 1,870,000 km (more than 46 orbits around the earth at the equator).

The scale of the An-225 is amazing: the length of the aircraft is 84 meters, the height is 18 meters (like a 6-storey 4-entrance building)

Visual comparison of "Mriya" and passenger Boeing-747.

If we take as a basis the largest of the Boeing 747-800, then the length of the An-225 will be 8 meters longer, and the wingspan will be 20 meters longer.
Compared to the Airbus A380, Mriya is 11 meters longer, and its wingspan exceeds it by almost 9 meters.

It happens that the airport does not have an appropriate parking lot for such a large aircraft, and it is parked directly on the runway.
Of course, we are talking about an alternate runway, if the airport has one.

The wingspan is 88.4 meters and the area is 905 m²

The only aircraft that surpasses the An-225 in terms of wingspan is the Hughes H-4 Hercules, which belongs to the class of flying boats. The ship took to the air only once in 1947. The history of this aircraft is reflected in the film "Aviator"

Since the Buran spacecraft itself and the blocks of the Energia launch vehicle had dimensions that exceeded the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the Mriya, the new aircraft provided for securing cargo from the outside. In addition, it was planned that the aircraft would be used as the first stage at the launch of the spacecraft.

The formation of a wake from a bulky cargo fixed on top of the aircraft required the tail unit to be fitted with two tails in order to avoid aerodynamic shading.

The aircraft is equipped with 6 D-18T engines.
In takeoff mode, each engine develops a thrust of 23.4 tons (or 230 kN), i.e. the total thrust of all 6 engines is 140.5 tons (1380 kN)

It can be assumed that each engine in takeoff mode develops about 12,500 horsepower!

The D-18T engines of the An-225 aircraft are the same as those of the An-124 Ruslan.
The height of such an engine is 3 m, the width is 2.8 m, and the weight is more than 4 tons.

Starting system - air, with electric automatic control. An auxiliary power unit, consisting of two TA-12 turbine units installed in the left and right chassis fairings, provides autonomous power supply to all systems and engine start.

The mass of fuel in the tanks is 365 tons, it is placed in 13 wing caisson tanks.
The aircraft can stay in the air for 18 hours and cover a distance of over 15,000 km.

The refueling time of such a machine ranges from half an hour to a day and a half, and the number of tankers depends on their capacity (from 5 to 50 tons), that is, from 7 to 70 tankers.

The fuel consumption of the aircraft is 15.9 tons / h (in cruise mode)
When fully loaded, the aircraft can stay in the sky without refueling for no more than 2 hours.

The chassis includes a two-column bow and a 14-column main (7 struts on each side) supports.
Each rack has two wheels. A total of 32 wheels.

Wheels require replacement every 90 landings.
Tires for Mriya are produced at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. The price of one tire is about $1000.

On the bow stand there are wheels with dimensions of 1120 x 450 mm, and on the main one there are wheels with dimensions of 1270 x 510 mm.
The pressure inside is 12 atmospheres.

Since 2001, An-225 has been performing commercial cargo transportation as part of Antonov Airlines.

Cargo cabin dimensions: length - 43 m, width - 6.4 m, height - 4.4 m.
The cargo compartment of the aircraft is sealed, which allows the transportation of various types of cargo. Inside the cabin, 16 standard containers, up to 80 cars and even heavy dump trucks of the BelAZ type can be placed. There is enough space to fit the entire body of a Boeing 737.

Access to the cargo compartment is through the nose of the aircraft, which leans up.

The process of opening / closing the ramp of the cargo compartment takes no more than 10 minutes.

To unfold the ramp, the aircraft performs the so-called "elephant bow".
The front landing gear tilts forward, and the weight of the aircraft is transferred to the auxiliary supports, which are installed under the front sill of the cargo compartment.

Auxiliary support.

Aircraft squat control panel.

This method of loading has a number of advantages in comparison with the Boeing 747 (loading on which is carried out through a compartment in the side of the fuselage.

Mriya holds the record for the weight of transported cargo: commercial - 247 tons (which is four times the maximum payload of the Boeing 747), commercial monocargo - 187.6 tons, and an absolute record for carrying capacity - 253.8 tons. On June 10, 2010, the longest cargo in the history of air transportation was transported - two windmill blades 42.1 m long each.

To ensure safe flight, the center of gravity of the aircraft with cargo must be within certain limits along its length. The load master performs the loading in strict accordance with the instructions, after which the co-pilot checks the correct placement of the cargo and reports this to the crew commander, who decides on the possibility of flying and is responsible for this.

The aircraft is equipped with an onboard loading complex, consisting of four lifting mechanisms, each with a carrying capacity of 5 tons.
In addition, two floor winches are provided for loading non-self-propelled wheeled vehicles and cargo on the loading rack.

This time, the An-225 was chartered by the French engineering company Alstom to transport 170 tons of cargo from Swiss Zurich to Bahrain with refueling in Athens and Cairo.

These are a turbine rotor, a turbogenerator for the production of electricity and components.

Flight manager Vadim Nikolaevich Deniskov.

To tow the An-225 aircraft, it is impossible to use the carrier of aircraft of other companies, therefore the carrier is transported on board the aircraft.

And since the aircraft is not equipped with a rear cargo hatch and the towing carrier is unloaded and loaded through the front cargo hatch, which requires a full cycle of squatting the aircraft on the front support, as a result, at least 30 minutes are lost and the resource of the aircraft structure and the squat system is unreasonably spent.

Aircraft Maintenance Technician.

To ensure turns when the aircraft moves along the ground, the last four rows of the main support struts are made orientable.

Aircraft maintenance technician: specialization "hydraulic system and landing gear".

The large weight of the aircraft leads to the fact that the landing gear leaves marks on the pavement.

Ladder and hatch to the cockpit.

The passenger compartment is divided into 2 parts: in the front is the crew of the aircraft, and in the back is the accompanying and maintenance personnel.
Cabin sealing is separate - they are separated by a wing.

The rear part of the attendant's cabin is designed for eating, working with technical documentation and holding conferences.
The aircraft provides 18 seats for rest of crew members and members of the engineering team - 6 seats in the front cabin and 12 in the rear.

Ladder and hatch to the cabin of the attendants in the tail section of the aircraft.

Technical compartment located at the rear of the cockpit.

On the shelves, you can see the blocks that ensure the operation of various aircraft systems, and the pipelines of the pressurization and air conditioning system and the anti-icing system. All aircraft systems are highly automated and require minimal crew intervention during operation. Their work is supported by 34 on-board computers.

The wall of the front spars of the center section. It is installed (from top to bottom): slat transmission and air bleed pipelines from engines.
In front of her are stationary cylinders of the fire protection system with Freon extinguishing agent.

Stickers - souvenirs from numerous visitors on the panel on the doors of the emergency escape hatch.

The farthest point from the base airport, which the plane managed to visit, is the island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia.
The distance along the shortest arc of the globe is about 16,400 km.

Rynda An-225
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mason mentioned in the engraving is an aircraft maintenance engineer who worked for Mriya for many years.

Aircraft commander (PIC) - Vladimir Yuryevich Mosin.

To become an An-225 commander, you must have at least 5 years of experience in flying an An-124 aircraft as a commander.

Weight and balance control is simplified by the installation of a weight measurement system on the chassis.

The crew of the aircraft consists of 6 people:
aircraft commander, co-pilot, navigator, senior flight engineer, aircraft equipment flight engineer, flight radio operator.

To reduce the effort on the throttles and improve the accuracy of setting the engine operating modes, a remote engine control system is provided. In this case, the pilot makes a relatively small effort to move the lever of an electromechanical device mounted on the engine with the help of cables, which reproduces this movement on the fuel regulator lever with the necessary effort and accuracy. For the convenience of joint control during takeoff and landing, the thrusters of the outer engines (THROTTLE1 and THROTTLE6) are coupled to the THROTTLE2 and THROTTLE5, respectively.

The steering wheel of the largest aircraft in the world.

Booster aircraft control i.e. control surfaces are deflected exclusively by means of hydraulic steering actuators, in case of failure of which it is impossible to control the aircraft manually (with an increase in the necessary efforts). Therefore, a quadruple redundancy has been applied. The mechanical part of the control system (from the steering wheel and pedals to hydraulic steering gears) consists of rigid rods and cables.
The total length of these cables is: aileron control systems in the fuselage - about 30 meters, in each console (left, right) of the wing - approximately 35 meters; elevator and rudder control systems - about 65 meters each.

With an empty plane, 2400 m of runway is enough for takeoff and landing.
Takeoff with a maximum weight of 3500 m, landing with a maximum weight of 3300 m.

At the executive start, the engines warm up, which takes about 10 minutes.

Thus, engine surge during takeoff is prevented and its maximum takeoff thrust is ensured. Undoubtedly, this requirement leads to the fact that: the takeoff is carried out during the period of minimum workload of the airport, or the plane waits a long time for its turn to take off, skipping scheduled flights.

The takeoff and landing speed depends on the takeoff and landing weight of the aircraft and ranges from 240 km/h to 280 km/h.

Climbing is carried out at a speed of 560 km / h, with a vertical speed of 8 m / s.

At an altitude of 7100 meters, the speed increases to 675 km / h with a further continuation of the climb to the flight level.

Cruising speed of An-225 - 850 km/h
When calculating cruising speed, the weight of the aircraft and the flight range that the aircraft must cover are taken into account.

Dmitry Viktorovich Antonov - senior PIC.

The middle panel of the dashboard of the pilots.

Backup instruments: artificial horizon and altitude indicator. Fuel lever position indicator (UPRT), engine thrust indicator (UT). Deviation indicators for control surfaces and take-off and landing devices (slats, flaps, spoilers).

The instrument panel of the senior flight engineer.

In the lower left corner there is a side panel with hydraulic complex controls and chassis position signaling. Top left panel of the aircraft fire protection system. At the top right is a panel with controls and instruments: starting the APU, pressurization and air conditioning systems, an anti-icing system and a block of signal displays. Below is a panel with controls and controls for the fuel supply system, engine operation control and an on-board automated control system (BASK) for all aircraft parameters.

Senior on-board engineer - Polishchuk Alexander Nikolaevich.

Engine control instrument panel.

On the left, at the top, a vertical indicator of the position of the fuel levers. Large round instruments - high pressure compressor and engine fan speed indicators. Small round instruments - oil temperature gauges at the engine inlet. A block of vertical instruments at the bottom - indicators of the amount of oil in the engine oil tanks.

Instrument panel of an aircraft equipment engineer.
Here are the controls and instruments for monitoring the power supply system of the aircraft and the oxygen system.

Navigator - Anatoly Binyatovich Abdullaev.

Flight over the territory of Greece.

Navigator-instructor - Yaroslav Ivanovich Koshytsky.

Flight operator - Gennady Yurievich Antipov.
The ICAO call sign for the An-225 on the flight from Zurich to Athens was ADB-3038.

On-board engineer - Yuri Anatolyevich Mindar.

Athens airport runway.

Landing at night on the "Mriya" is carried out instrumentally, that is, according to instruments, from the leveling height to the touch - visually. According to the crew, one of the most difficult landings is in Kabul, which is associated with high mountains and many obstacles. The approach is started at a speed of 340 km/h up to a height of 200 meters, then the speed is gradually reduced.

Landing is carried out at a speed of 295 km / h with fully released mechanization. It is allowed to touch the runway at a vertical speed of 6 m/s. After touching the runway, the reverse thrust is immediately shifted on engines 2 to 5, and 1 and 6 are left at idle. The landing gear is braked at a speed of 140-150 km/h until the aircraft comes to a complete stop.

Aircraft resource - 8000 flight hours, 2000 takeoffs and landings, 25 calendar years.

The aircraft can still fly until December 21, 2013 (25 years since the start of its operation), after which a thorough study of its technical condition will be carried out and the necessary work will be carried out to ensure the extension of the calendar service life to 45 years.

Due to the high cost of transportation on the An-225, orders appear only for very long and very heavy loads, when transportation by land transport is not possible. Flights are random: from 2-3 per month to 1-2 per year. From time to time there is talk about building a second copy of the An-225 aircraft, but this requires an appropriate order and appropriate funding. To complete the construction, an amount approximately equal to $ 90 million is required, and taking into account the testing, it increases to $ 120 million.

Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful and impressive aircraft in the world.

Thanks to "Antonov Airlines" for help in organizing photography!
Special thanks to Deniskov Vadim Nikolaevich for help in writing the text for the post!

December 10th, 2012

An-225 "Mriya" (from Ukrainian Mechta) - is a transport aircraft with an extra large payload. Designed by OKB im. O. K. Antonov in the 1980s of the last century. It is the largest aircraft in the world. In just one flight in March 1989, in 3.5 hours, the aircraft simultaneously broke 110 world records, which in itself is already a record. An-225 was built at the Kiev Mechanical Plant in 1985-1988. A total of 2 aircraft were laid down, currently one copy of the An-225 is in flight condition and is operated by the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines.

The heavy transport aircraft An-225 "Mriya" was primarily designed to meet the needs of the Soviet space program, in particular the transportation of goods - components of the Energia rocket system and the Buran reusable spacecraft. At the same time, the aircraft could easily carry cargo for other purposes, which could be placed both on the “back” of the aircraft and directly in its fuselage. The prototype made its first flight on December 21, 1988. Only 3.5 years have passed since the start of work on the aircraft. Such a short period of work became possible due to the wide unification of the units and assemblies of the giant with the already created units and assemblies of the An-124 Ruslan aircraft. Let's trace the history of the aircraft in more detail...

The mid-seventies of the last century (however, it is still strange to use this phrase!) Was marked by significant success in space exploration. By that time, the satellite constellations of the USSR and the USA had become integral components of the military and general economic infrastructure, long-term manned orbital stations were firmly established in near-Earth orbits, and the first steps were taken from confrontation to international cooperation in this area. Then it seemed that the pace of space exploration would increase more and more, which means that new, reusable means of launching payloads into orbit would be needed, which, with sufficient frequency of use, would surpass traditional disposable launch vehicles in economic efficiency.

Under this slogan, intensive work was launched in the United States on the Space Shuttle reusable space transport system, and soon in the USSR, quite in the spirit of that time, a decision was made to develop its own system with similar characteristics. On February 17, 1976, the secret Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR 132-51 on the creation of the Buran and Rassvet space systems, later renamed Energia, was issued. The construction of spacecraft of unprecedented size and weight was envisaged, individual units of which were built at enterprises in the central regions of the USSR, and the final assembly was to be carried out directly at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Thus, it was required to deliver assembled parts of the launch vehicle and the spacecraft to a distance of 1500-2500 km. At the same time, the design length of some of them reached 60 meters, and the diameter - 8 meters. In addition, depending on the mission performed in orbit, Buran could land on airfields located throughout the Soviet Union - from Ukraine to the Far East. From there, it was necessary to deliver it again to Baikonur, to the next launch site.

This task was amazing. And not only by its grandiosity in a purely technical sense, but also by the scale of funding that could be tried to knock out under it. Yes, and there was a lot of glory ahead - no joke, it was necessary to create the largest aircraft in the world! The projects of the future giant were immediately submitted for consideration by several organizations at once, including those that, as experts say, did not really think about how to implement their proposals. Still, in such a case, design experience is required, and knowledge of the specifics of large aircraft, and outstanding technological capabilities. But criticism of those projects is not part of our task today. Let's just say the main thing: they all provided for the creation of a completely new aircraft, and the aircraft - we emphasize again - a gigantic one, with all the ensuing economic consequences. And the national economy of the country of developed socialism was already giving tangible failures and a program of this magnitude (in addition to numerous others!) Could not be mastered.

Therefore, the proposal of OKB Antonov, which provided for the creation of such an aircraft with the maximum use of the existing components of the An-124, turned out to be practically uncontested. It was born in the department of advanced design, which was headed by O.K. Bogdanov. The first sketches of the new aircraft appeared on the drawing boards of the General View Brigade (headed by O.Ya. Shmatko) in the second half of 1983, and by the next summer the appearance of the machine had already been formed. It provided for the use of detachable parts of the Ruslan wing, and in the exact form in which they were manufactured by the Tashkent Aviation Production Association. The wing turned out to be much larger due to the new center section of an increased span, on which two engines were additionally suspended, also used on the An-124. The fuselage was lengthened due to the insertion of additional sections into the zone of constant cross-section, attachment points for external cargo were installed on its upper surface. Since the load on the rear fuselage increased dramatically, it was proposed to remove the cargo hatch from there. It was planned to strengthen the nose landing gear, increase the number of main landing gear to seven on each side, and make four of their rear rows self-orienting. Naturally, the tail unit turned into a two-keel one. The aircraft was equipped with a pressurization and temperature control system for loads on an external sling and a system for monitoring and maintaining pressure in them. Thus, an aircraft project appeared that could not only transport Buran and Energia blocks with the proper level of safety, but also serve as the first stage for a promising reusable aerospace system, and also be used to transport various cargoes in the interests of the national economy.

The full-scale development of the new aircraft took three and a half years. Usually this period of creation of any aircraft is characterized by a significant alteration of the preliminary design, especially if at first they were going to use any parts of other aircraft without changes. Typically, the detailed design phase ruthlessly shatters such illusions, but - again, as a rule - it doesn't matter, since the order is already in your pocket. In this case, and I would like to emphasize this, the first design hypothesis described above, due to the high level of execution, has hardly changed. As a result, both the detailed design and the construction of the An-225 went, in general, quite smoothly - the huge experience of the team, which created a large family of transport aircraft and was in its best form, affected. But it was not at all a period of calm, on the contrary - ASTC them. O.K.Antonova and hundreds of other organizations worked hard to bring the project to life. On the whole, the scheme of cooperation for the construction of the aircraft was similar to the one that worked so brilliantly during the construction of the first Ruslans. The wing consoles and the new center section were made by Tashkent, and they were delivered to Kyiv on the back of Antey. The landing gear was made in Kuibyshev, elements of the hydraulic complex - in Kharkov and Moscow, the Kiev Aviation Production Association took a great part in the construction of many aircraft units, in total more than 100 factories were involved.

An-225 was born on November 30, 1988. Appeared in the literal sense - on that gloomy day, when a dank autumn almost completely turned into a snowy winter, the plane was solemnly rolled out of the assembly shop into the open sky. Thousands of designers and workers gathered for the rally on this occasion for the first time saw the inscription "Mpiya" on its board, applied the night before. Short speeches were made, after which a large team of creators of the newly-born giant went to their workplaces to celebrate the fact of his birth than God sent. The plane was towed to the factory airfield and handed over to the test team, and its General Designer answered questions from journalists for a long time, including about the name. A dream is the infinity of human thought and desire, - said P.V. Balabuev. - The dream leads us forward and will never disappear as long as a person is alive on the planet. And if an airplane was born on Ukrainian soil, let it carry on its board a word from its language - "Mriya".

Due to the constructive continuity of most components and assemblies, the identity of many elements of the on-board systems and equipment of these aircraft, it was possible to significantly reduce the required number of An-225 test flights. On December 28, Mriya made its second flight, and on February 1, 1989, it was already presented to Soviet and foreign journalists at the Kiev Borispol airport. March 22 was one of the most significant days in the history of the An-225 - it flew to break world records. After carefully weighing the cargo, the mass of which was 156.3 tons, and sealing the necks of the centralized refueling, Mriya took off into the air. The countdown of the highest achievements began immediately after taking off from the ground. Having entered into rivalry with the American Boeing 747-400, which then held the record for maximum takeoff weight (404.8 tons), the An-225 immediately blocked this achievement by 104 tons. In that flight, not 106, as expected, but 110 world records were set at once! Including the speed record for a flight along a closed route with a length of 2000 km with a load of 155 tons - 815.09 km / h, a flight altitude record with this load - 12430 m. After 3 hours and 45 minutes, the Mriya landed.

Of course, the An-225 was not created for records, and soon the aircraft began to perform its direct work. On May 3, 1989, Mriya launched from the Baikonur airfield, carrying her first cargo on her back - the Buran aerospace plane weighing more than 60 tons. Over the next 10 days, the crew led by Galunenko performed several test flights, in which the controllability of this bunch was assessed, flight speeds and fuel consumption were measured. And on May 13, this unique transport system performed a non-stop flight along the 2700-km Baikonur-Kyiv route in 4 hours 25 minutes, while its take-off weight was 560 tons.

The finest hour has come for the aircraft and its creators. During a short stay in Kyiv, thousands of people came to see the amazing bunch of two huge aircraft. The photographs taken during the flight were probably placed in all the newspapers and magazines of the USSR. And when Mriya and Buran flew to France, to the 38th International Aerospace Show in Le Bourget, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world were already going to watch them. An-225 instantly became a global sensation. ╚Technology is a miracle, on the verge of what can be imagined in our fast-paced time!, The heart is overflowing with pride for the power of the human mind at the sight of this fantastic machine, The plane is huge, like your Soviet country", "Thank you ..." - these enthusiastic The ratings are taken from the weighty multilingual Book of Reviews, which was on board the An-225 during the cabin.

In total, up to the moment of "laying up" in April 1994, including commercial transportation and participation in exhibitions, "Mr1ya" performed 339 flights lasting 671 hours. The conclusion based on the results of the State joint tests of the An-225 ╧01-01, which notes the practical compliance of the obtained characteristics of the aircraft with the given ones, was signed on January 5, 1996. It must be said that in parallel with the State Tests, the process of civil certification of the aircraft was going on, a large number of flights performed were credited under this program, and many flights were made on purpose. Employees of the Aviation Registers of the IAC and Ukraine, certification centers of the two countries, many independent experts took an active part in the work. The work was stopped when no more than 15-20 flights remained before the certification was completed. However, this, in general, unfortunate fact did not matter much: all the same, the chances of using the aircraft for commercial purposes then approached zero.

The An-225's pendulum of fate, which so rapidly reached the apogee of glory, fell just as sharply and seemed to freeze forever at the bottom dead center. And the plane itself froze for many years on the outskirts of the Gostomel airfield. The main tasks for which Mpiya was created disappeared with the closure of the Burana program, but there was no hope for commercial success when transporting ordinary cargo - a sharp transition to world fuel prices led to a drop in demand for air transportation in the CIS countries, including unique ones. And there was not enough work abroad even for the relatively small park "Ruslanov". The further fate of the giant seemed very uncertain, and gradually they began to remove engines, individual blocks of on-board equipment from it and install them on Ruslans, which turned into the most important source of livelihood for the Antonov aviation complex. Fortunately, all these expensive units were quite suitable for both types of aircraft - another positive consequence of the decision to develop the An-225 based on the An-124.

But even under these conditions, the creators of the miracle aircraft did not lose optimism and worked hard on possible options for its use. The search began even before the collapse of the Soviet Union. So, on June 21, 1991, at the headquarters of the European Space Agency in Paris, a presentation was held of the international aerospace system for the study of near-Earth space, which consisted of the An-225 and the 250-ton reusable spacecraft Interim HOTOL, developed by the British company British Aerospace. The two aircraft almost perfectly matched each other, because the An-225 was originally designed for the air launch of such products. The implementation of this project actually promised an approximately fourfold reduction in the cost of launching a payload into orbit compared to a vertical launch. Among other things, Hotol could solve the problem of delivering crews to orbital stations and evacuating them from there in emergency situations more efficiently than other vehicles. However, very soon the project showed a very serious drawback - the complete lack of government funding. And private investors, as it turned out, prefer to invest money only where they quickly return. If the period before making a profit is long, then it is almost impossible to find an investor. This common truth played a fatal role in the fate of the Mriya-Khotol project.

Regrettably, but a completely similar fate befell a dozen projects for the use of the An-225. By the mid-1990s, the MAKS (Reusable Aerospace System) system, which provided for the delivery of 8.5-10 tons of payload into orbit in a manned version and 18-19 tons - in an unmanned one, acquired a finished look at NPO Molniya. Interestingly, despite the progress of work on the system at an extremely slow pace, MAKS is still not outdated and still continues to be one of the most promising aerospace systems (AKS). On the basis of the An-225 and separate blocks of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle, the Svityaz AKS was designed, capable of launching up to 8 tons of payload into low orbits. Perhaps this system will be more lucky than others, because its development was included in the Project of the Ukrainian Space Program for 2002-06.

In the summer of 2000, almost immediately after the completion of the An-140 certification test program, restoration work began on the An-225. ASTC im. O.K.Antonova deployed them at his own expense together with Motor Sich OJSC, which supplied the engines at its own expense and assumed obligations for their operational support. The share of the Cossacks in the cost of restoring the aircraft and, accordingly, in future profits is 30%. In addition, a large number of other enterprises joined the work on a contractual basis, supplying new or repairing old equipment blocks, components of on-board systems, and individual structural elements for the An-225. An especially large list of works was carried out by the Ulyanovsk Aviation Industrial Complex, which still continues to produce Ruslans. "We didn't take a single penny from the pockets of taxpayers in Ukraine," - this is how P.V. Balabuev answered numerous questions from the press about the cost of the work performed.

By mid-November, diagnostics of the state of the airframe and aircraft systems were completed, most of the necessary parts and equipment were manufactured, repaired or purchased, and the installation of engines began. Along the way, the An-225 was being modified into a full-fledged commercial aircraft capable of flying around the world without restrictions. (Recall that initially the Mriya was intended only for flights within the USSR). The car was equipped with collision avoidance systems in the air and on the ground, providing flights with reduced vertical separation intervals, as well as new radio stations in accordance with ICAO requirements. In addition, in connection with the upcoming transportation inside the fuselage of monocargoes weighing about 220 tons, the cargo floor and front ramp were reinforced. In February 2001, the installation of engines was completed, in March - the restoration of the operability of numerous systems, and on April 9, the finished aircraft was rolled out of the shop and handed over to the testers.

The day of May 7, 2001 entered the history of both the aircraft and the whole of Ukraine, and air cargo transportation in general. On this day, the "second first" takeoff, if you like, the second birth of the giant took place. Having passed thorough ground checks, having performed dozens of taxiings and runs around the Gostomel airfield, "Mpiya" under the onboard designation UR-82060 after a seven-year break again took to the air and, controlled by the crew of A.V. Galunenko, made a 15-minute flight. And again, like 12 years ago, they started talking about it on TV, aviation magazines published photo reports about the flight, almost all newspapers responded to the event.

Within a month, the An-225 performed about 20 test flights without any serious accidents, demonstrating a fairly high reliability and successfully completing the certification program. And on May 26, during a public demonstration of the aircraft at the opening ceremony of a new runway at the Kiev Borispol airport, the chairman of the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, T.G. Anodina, presented its developers with a type certificate. Then "Mriya" went to France, where it was demonstrated at the 44th International Aviation and Space Salon in Le Bourget. The graceful flights of the An-225 in the Paris sky received high marks from specialists and admired by visitors. However, this is not news for Antonov aircraft, and the times when they flew to Paris for this are long gone. Mriya was looking for customers at the most prestigious air show in the world. In the meantime, the professionals were negotiating, the guests of the salon considered it their duty to personally visit the largest aircraft in the world. Of the 300,000 people who visited the exhibition, at least 200,000 walked through the An-225 cargo compartment, leaving more than 2,000 wishes and murals in the Guest Book. Here is what Deputy Chief Designer A.G. Vovnyanko says: “During the exhibition, the An-225 was visited by almost more people than all other aircraft combined. From morning until evening, a continuous stream of 5 people in a row came to us, and other planes were boarded by 1-2 people. In addition to us, the Boeing C-17 and the Erbas Beluga aroused spectator interest. There were queues of 20 people to visit them - 5 visitors were let inside every 5 minutes. "

“In Paris, Mriya achieved the desired effect and aroused interest exactly in the direction in which we planned,” said V.P. Kazakov, deputy chairman of the State Committee for Industrial Policy, at a press conference following the exhibition. there are large-sized cargoes on the transportation market that you cannot deliver on the An-124-100. According to some estimates, the annual need for such transportation is somewhere around 20-25 flights ".

Volga-Dnepr Airlines, which is the leader in the market for the transportation of super-heavy and oversized cargo, has shown its interest in the operation of the Mriya. General Director A. Isaikin reported on the prospects for the use of aircraft of this type, which require 2-3 units. In his opinion, the prospects for the development of the transportation market in this segment are about 2-3 billion dollars.

President of Antonov Airlines K. Lushakov said that the launch of satellite vehicles from the An-225 would be much cheaper than using the infrastructure of the cosmodrome. At the same time, the An-225 will not compete with the Polet project, which involves the launch of satellite systems from Ruslan. The truth is that the Polet project provides for the launch of the so-called. "light" satellites weighing up to 3.5 tons, and from "Mriya" it is possible to launch medium-type structures weighing up to 5.5 tons into space.

But with the updated projects of the West - the Airbus A3XX-100F aircraft and the Boeing 747-X aircraft (carrying capacity - no more than 150 tons) - the An-225 will start a fair competition. There are plenty of chances to defeat them. The manufacturer of the largest "transporter" will probably be an aircraft plant in Ulyanovsk.

It is the An-225 Mriya aircraft that holds the absolute record for carrying capacity in aviation - 253.8 tons. The longest cargo is over 42 meters. The largest mono cargo is 187.6 tons.

Today, the An-225 Mriya transport aircraft continues to successfully carry out the tasks assigned to it, transporting super-heavy or oversized cargo. Also, the An-225 Mriya very often takes part in various exhibitions and air shows.

The An-225 Mriya airliner, the photo of which is located below, is the heaviest aircraft in terms of carrying capacity that has ever taken off into the air. Its maximum takeoff weight is 640 tons. The creation of the model was associated with the need to build an air transport system for the needs of the project of the reusable Soviet spacecraft Buran. It should be noted that at the moment it exists in only one copy. All this will be discussed in more detail later.

Order for design

In the middle of 1988, the government of the Soviet Union instructed the Antonov Design Bureau to develop a project and build a new aircraft. The main requirement that was put forward for him was the ability to transport the Buran spacecraft. In addition, the aircraft was planned to be used in such a field of activity as transport aviation, where it would be used to transport large-sized equipment for oil, construction and

Predecessor

In addition to all other requirements, the designers were faced with the task of reducing the cost of the new airliner as much as possible. In addition, it was necessary to reduce the time of its construction as much as possible. In this regard, they decided to take as a basis the design, as well as the main units and components of another large model - the AN-124 Ruslan. It should be noted that at that time she confidently topped the rating "The Best Aircraft of Ukraine" (a photo of the vessel is given below).

He made his first flight at the end of 1982. Its transport characteristics were among the best on the planet. A vivid proof of this was the fact that after the appearance of Ruslan, some world space companies began to actively refine their air transport vehicles. This also applies to the Americans, who urgently began to improve their Lockheed project - the C-5A Galaxy.

Preliminary studies showed that this heavy transport aircraft, in terms of such an indicator as payload, was capable of transporting the components of not only the Buran system, but even the oxygen and hydrogen tanks of the Energia rocket in docked form. On the other hand, because of its single-fin tail, the external transportation of long loads became impossible.

Key changes

The designers changed the design of the wings for Mriya. In connection with the addition of additional sections in the center, their scope has increased. The design of the wing mounts on the pylons remained the same, but their number increased to six. If the size of the cross section of the fuselage, compared with the previous modification, remained the same, then the overall length of the hull increased. In order to reduce weight, it was decided to eliminate the cargo rear hatch with all the devices designed for loading and unloading. For access to the cargo compartment, the bow of the liner rises. In total, it takes about ten minutes to open or close the ramp. On the Ruslan model, five separate racks with paired wheels were installed, which were the main support for the chassis, in the An-225 their number increased to seven. The tail unit for the possibility of transporting goods outside the body was made two-keel.

Presentation

The An-225 "Mriya" aircraft was presented to the Soviet public by the General Designer of the Antonov Bureau, P. V. Balabuev, on November 30, 1988. At the same time, engineers rolled out an airliner from the assembly shop for the first time. A few days later, the car performed its first maneuvers at the plant's airfield, namely jogging at speeds up to 200 km / h, turns and landing gear lifts. On February 1, 1989, at the Boryspil airport, it was first shown to foreign experts and journalists.

First takeoff

Initially, the designers planned to make their debut takeoff into the air on December 20, 1988. However, due to bad weather conditions (strong winds and low clouds) this event was postponed. The situation was similar the next day. Despite this, after a run of 950 meters, the ship easily took off from the ground and began to climb. The first flight of the liner lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes. The main thing that the designers of the An-225 "Mriya" wanted to determine during it was the characteristics of the ship's control system, as well as the correctness and reliability of the onboard equipment. In addition, the engineers needed to clarify the aerodynamic corrections of the machine. Based on the results of the flight, they came to the conclusion that all systems and components are operating in full accordance with the calculated data. On December 28, 1988, the liner completed another test flight.

Records

On March 22, 1989, a very unusual flight of the Mriya aircraft (An-225) was scheduled. the liner gave all the prerequisites to breaking several world records. Many specialists - testers, designers, technicians, engineers and pilots took an active part in preparing for this event. After commission weighing of the cargo, the mass of which was 156.3 tons, the filler necks of the fuel tanks were sealed. Further, the ship took off into the air without any problems, and 45 minutes later it successfully landed. In this short period of time, the An-225 Mriya broke 110 world records. The previous achievement of the American Boeing 747-400 in such an indicator as the maximum take-off weight was exceeded by as much as 104 tons. Reviews of experts testified that the An-225 has a great and bright future.

Fulfillment of the main goal

Be that as it may, setting world records was far from the main goal in the construction of new items. As noted above, the goal of the aircraft was the external transportation of the Buran space complex. The liner made its first flight with such a load on its “back” on May 13, 1989, when it delivered it to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew, led by A. Galunenko, managed to check the controllability of the ship with Buran on board, as well as measure fuel consumption and flight speed in various conditions. Ten days later, the plane made a direct flight on the Baikonur-Kyiv route. The distance of 2700 kilometers in this case was covered in 4 hours and 25 minutes. A photo of the largest aircraft on the planet with Buran on board is shown below.

First commercial flight

An-225 made its debut commercial flight in May 1990. Then the airliner transported a special tractor "T-800" (its weight was more than 100 tons) from Chelyabinsk to Yakutia. After he landed at the airport, he was immediately surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd. It should be noted that this expedition was far from accidental. It was of great importance not so much for the national economy of the country as it carried the goal of testing the transport capabilities of the aircraft in such difficult conditions as in the Arctic. Based on the results, the designers carried out a number of useful studies and made valuable conclusions.

Main characteristics

One of the main advantages of the Mriya aircraft (An-225) is its technical characteristics and flight data. The liner is equipped with six which are called D-18T. The weight of each of them exceeds the mark of four tons. Their total thrust is 1377 kN, which is an unprecedented value before. During takeoff, each of them develops power, which is 12,500 horsepower. The wingspan of this aircraft is 88.4 meters, while the area is 905 square meters. As for the dimensions, its length and height are 84 and 18.1 meters, respectively.

The cruising speed of the An-225 is set at 850 km/h. Provided that the fuel tanks are fully refueled, the ship is capable of traveling 15,000 kilometers when empty and 4,500 kilometers with a maximum load. The payload of an airliner is 250 tons. At the same time, it is capable of flying at an altitude of up to 11 thousand meters. As for the requirements for the runway, its minimum length should be 3 kilometers. The fuel consumption of the machine is almost 16 tons per hour (assuming operation at cruising speed and with a full load).

Possibilities

The aircraft is capable of non-stop intracontinental transportation of goods weighing up to 200 tons, as well as intercontinental transportation of goods weighing up to 150 tons. Outside, on the fuselage, large-sized elements that weigh up to 200 tons can be transported by aircraft. The cargo compartment of the An-225 is quite roomy. In particular, 16 universal UAK-10 aviation containers (10 tons each), 50 passenger cars or monocargoes weighing up to 200 tons (dump trucks, generators, turbines, etc.) will easily fit inside the fuselage. For loading and unloading, the model is equipped with a whole complex, which includes four lifting mechanisms with a lifting capacity of five tons. In addition, the ship's designers provided for two winches.

Crew

The An-225 Mriya aircraft is controlled by a crew of six people. In order to facilitate access to the cockpit, the seats of the first and second pilots are equipped with a whole system of adjustments and are able to rotate. Behind them is the workplace of a navigation and communications specialist. On the right in the cockpit are the seats of onboard engineers. It should be noted that a room for a reserve crew is provided inside the airliner. In the main cabin, a total of six seats are equipped, and in the auxiliary cabin - twelve. In order to become a crew commander of this machine, the pilot must have at least five years of experience in managing the An-124 Ruslan model.

Avionics

The avionics of the An-225 Mriya model includes an automatic flight performance control system, as well as a display with a dynamic map. At the same time, electronic monitors that are intended for electronic control are absent here. The nose compartment is divided into two dielectric zones. They are designed to provide protection for the ground navigation radar as well as the forward looking radar system. In the role of backup instruments here are the altitude indicator and the attitude indicator. In addition, the cockpit has an indicator of the position of the fuel levers, thrust indicators of power plants, sensors for the deviation of take-off and landing devices and control surfaces.

rebirth

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world's largest aircraft turned out to be useless. In 1994, his flights were discontinued. Moreover, the engines and other equipment were generally removed from it for the purpose of further use in Ruslans. Be that as it may, every year the need for resuscitation of the project called "Mriya" was felt more and more: large aircraft from other leading world manufacturers were unable to cope with the tasks that only the An-225 model could do. As a result, the designers have finalized the liner in order to ensure its compliance with existing standards in civil aviation.

May 7, 2001 is considered the second birthday of Mriya. It was then, after a series of runs, turns and tests, the liner took off again. The designation UR-82060 was applied on board, and the crew was led by pilot A.V. Galunenko. The car spent about fifteen minutes in the air, after which it landed safely. May 23, 2011 the ship received all the necessary certificates, including international ones. This allows it to be used for commercial transport of goods.

Second instance

From the very beginning of the construction of the An-225 Mriya aircraft, it was planned to create two copies of it. Despite this, the second car was never completed. The reason for this was the lack of proper funding for the project. Currently, it is located on the territory of the Antonov plant. Experts estimate the overall degree of its readiness at 70 percent. More specifically, the fuselage, one wing and the center section have remained since Soviet times. According to the designers, it is quite possible to finish building this car, but this requires a sum of money, which is about 150 million US dollars. This is possible only when a customer or sponsor appears.

Some features of the Mriya aircraft

In order to ensure safety during flight, the center of gravity of this airliner with cargo must be placed along the length within certain limits. In this regard, loading is carried out in accordance with the instructions. Checking the correctness of this process is the responsibility of the co-pilot. A carrier from other manufacturers cannot be used to transport this vessel, so its own copy of this device is transported on board. This is a heavy transport aircraft, due to the huge weight of the machine, chassis marks always remain on the pavement. At the same time, the cost of one of their tires starts at one thousand US dollars.

On February 7, 1906, the Soviet aircraft designer Oleg Antonov was born, the founder of the famous Design Bureau, which created several iconic aircraft in the world aircraft industry. Among them is the An-225 Mriya, the heaviest cargo-lifting aircraft ever to take to the air. We have collected facts about how the unique air giant works.

Appearance and engines

"Mriya" was designed for special purposes - the country needed an aircraft that could carry the reusable spacecraft "Buran". The designers took as a basis another successful development of the Design Bureau - the An-124 aircraft. As a result, "Mriya" turned out to be similar to "Ruslan", but it has a number of differences. The fuselage of the An-225 is longer, the tail is double-finned, it has more main landing gear legs and there are two additional engines. In addition, the Mriya does not have a tail hatch.

The An-225 is a six-engine turbojet high-wing aircraft (in this case, the wing of the aircraft passes through the upper half of the fuselage section) with a swept wing. The tail unit was designed "double" for a reason. Since it was planned that the Mriya would perform, among other things, the role of the first stage of the Buran and the Energia launch vehicle, the shuttle was planned to be fixed on the outside, on the fuselage. At the same time, during the flight, a wake was formed - vortices breaking off from the wingtips of the aircraft, representing a danger to other aircraft. Therefore, the designers made the tail unit two-keel.

The Mriya is equipped with D-18T jet engines developed at the Progress Design Bureau in Zaporozhye (the same ones are installed on the Ruslan). Their height is three meters, width - 2.8 meters, weight - more than four tons. Each engine in takeoff mode develops thrust of 23.4 tons; the total thrust is 140.5 tons. Fuel consumption in cruising mode - 15.9 tons per hour.

Fuel in the An-225 is located in 13 wing tanks, its total weight is 365 tons. The refueling time of the air giant is decent: from half an hour to one and a half days; up to 70 refuellers can be involved in the process. A fully fueled Mriya can fly for 18 hours and travel up to 15,000 kilometers.

The aircraft is 84 meters long and 18.2 meters high. It can be compared to a six-storey four-entrance building. The Mriya is 7.7 meters longer than the largest aircraft of the Boeing 747-8 family to date; Airbus A380 it surpasses in this parameter by 11 meters.

The aircraft is equipped with a landing gear with two legs - two-pillar nose and 14-pillar main. Each rack has two wheels; they are changed every 90 takeoffs and landings.

During loading, the nose of the Mriya, like that of the Ruslan, leans up. The process of unfolding the ramp is called the "elephant bow": the nose landing gear deviates forward, while the weight of the aircraft is transferred to the auxiliary supports under the front threshold of the cargo compartment. This way of loading made "Ruslan" and "Mriya" unique in its kind.

cargo compartment

At "Mriya" it is able to accommodate up to 80 cars, 16 standard containers, heavy dump trucks of the "BelAZ" type. The body of a Boeing-737 will even fit here. The dimensions of the cargo compartment are 43 meters long, 4.4 meters high and 6.4 meters wide. It is hermetic, and therefore the goods in it can be transported of various types.

An-225 is capable of carrying larger loads. For this, the fuselage has a special mounting system, originally intended for the Buran and its components.

In order for the flight to be safe, the cargo in the aircraft is fixed in a special way: the center of gravity must be located within certain limits along the length. In the cargo compartment there is a special loading complex (four lifting mechanisms), as well as two floor winches. Mriya's still unbeaten record is the transported cargo of 253.8 tons. On June 10, 2010, the plane transported the longest cargo in the history of air travel: two windmill blades, each of which was 42.1 meters long.

Passenger compartment and crew

Above the cargo compartment of the Mriya there is a cabin for a shift crew and 88 people who accompany the cargo. The crew includes six people - the aircraft commander, co-pilot, navigator, senior flight engineer, aircraft equipment flight engineer, flight radio operator. The Mriya has places designed for eating, working with documentation, holding conferences, as well as for resting crew members.

The operation of aircraft systems is supported by more than 30 on-board computers. That is why they require minimal crew participation.

To take off the Mriya without cargo, a runway 2,400 meters long is required, and if the aircraft is with a maximum load, 3,500 meters. The speed during takeoff and landing varies up to 280 kilometers per hour. An-225 climbs at 560 kilometers per hour, and its cruising speed is 850 kilometers per hour.

Transportation

In total, two Mriyas were laid down, and only one of them flies - it is operated by the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines. Aircraft transports only very long and heavy loads, which, for one reason or another, cannot be transported on the ground. The cost of such transportation is high, and therefore orders are rare, sometimes up to one or two per year.

The fate of "Mriya" was determined by "Buran": in 1994, the space program was closed, and therefore the need for an air giant disappeared. An-225, which had made several flights by that time, was partially dismantled. But in 2000 it was restored. Mriya has been operating commercial flights since 2001.

The second An-225 is about 70% ready today.

Help "RG"

November 30, 1988 is considered the An-225's "birthday". The aircraft made its first flight on December 21, 1988.

February 1, 1989 "Mriya" was presented to journalists. On March 22, the aircraft set 110 world records.

On May 3, 1989, the An-225 took off from the Baikonur airfield, carrying a Buran weighing more than 60 tons on its back. On May 13 of the same year, the same unique transport system made a non-stop flight over a distance of 2,700 kilometers along the Baikonur-Kyiv route.

In total, Mriya has set 250 world records. The only aircraft that surpasses the An-225 in terms of wingspan is the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat, which took off once in 1947.

Transport aircraft AN-225 "Mriya" is by far the largest aircraft in the world. This aircraft was developed by OKB im. Antonova. The main task of the air giant was the transportation of a large amount of cargo.

Received the poetic name "Mriya", the AN-226 was designed and built in just 4 years, from 1984 to 1988. The first flight of a huge aircraft with an incredible payload took place on December 21, 1988. This flight was successful, and the AN-226 is still operated by Antonov Airlines. Although the project included the construction of a second such machine, the collapse of the USSR prevented this grandiose project from being fully realized, and the second aircraft has not yet been assembled.

The history of the appearance of the largest aircraft in the world

The history of the appearance of a huge aircraft with a large payload began in connection with the need to service the Buran spacecraft. Since the transportation of various parts of the ship to the place of its launch was extremely problematic, this is how this problem was solved. Due to the fact that the new transport aircraft was supposed to deliver the first stage of the spacecraft to the launch pad, its carrying capacity should have been no less than 250 tons.

Since the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the AN-225 did not correspond to the dimensions of the launch vehicle and the Buran, the transport aircraft received drawings of external fasteners developed according to special schemes. Thus, the transportation of the spacecraft was carried out outside. In this regard, the standard tail of the aircraft had to be replaced with a two-tail tail, which could withstand powerful aerodynamic flows.

Although the AN-225 aircraft was designed precisely as a specialized technique designed to transport a spacecraft, its drawings had much in common with the drawings of the first successful development of the OKB im. Antonov - AN-224 "Ruslan", therefore, in terms of its performance characteristics and purpose, the AN-225 turned out to be a fairly versatile aircraft.

Often in open sources you can find information where Balabuev is called as the chief designer. This information is not correct, because, although Balabuev was the chief designer of the Antonov Design Bureau, Tolmachev led the project to create the AN-225.

Since very tight deadlines were set for the development and creation of the AN-225, thousands of different designers, engineers, technologists and other specialists from all over the Soviet Union were involved in the process of creating a new aircraft. Each enterprise took on a separate section of work to create a huge transport aircraft:

1. All the main work on the design of the AN-225 was taken over by the Antonov Design Bureau. They were also involved in the production of most of the parts of the aircraft body. The assembly of the fuselage and the general assembly of the aircraft were also within their competence;
2. In Tashkent, at the aircraft production association named after Chkalov were engaged in the manufacture of parts of the wings of the aircraft, using the AN-224 base for this;
3. The Ulyanovsk Aircraft Industrial Complex was entrusted with the task of producing various large-sized parts, which were made by milling;
4. The Kiev Aircraft Production Association was supposed to manufacture the front fuselage, horizontal and nose plumage and landing gear;
5. The Moscow Institute of Automation and Electromechanics was responsible for the operation of the aircraft control complex;
6. Powerful D-18 engines, the technical characteristics of which made it possible to use them for such a powerful aircraft as the AN-225, were manufactured by the Zaporozhye Engine Building Plant;
7. Specialists from the Voronezh Aircraft Plant were brought in specifically to paint the new aircraft.

In addition to the above enterprises, many different components and equipment for the AN-225 were manufactured at various enterprises throughout the Soviet Union, so it would be fundamentally wrong to consider the AN-225 Mriya (and AN-224 Ruslan) as Ukrainian developments.

AN-225 - the technical capabilities of a huge aircraft

According to its performance characteristics, AN-225 can be used for the following transport operations:

1. Transportation of various long, oversized and heavy cargoes, which can have a total weight of up to 250 tons;
2. Non-stop inland transportation of goods. In this case, their weight can be up to 200 tons;
3. In intercontinental transportation of goods, the total weight of the transported can be up to 150 tons;
4. Transportation of oversized cargo that can be placed outside by attaching it to the fuselage of the aircraft. Outdoor cargo can weigh up to 200 tons.

In addition, the AN-225 "Mriya" is a ready-made chassis for the design of various space systems.

Reading the description and the weight of the transported goods, it is impossible to accurately imagine the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the AN-225. To get a rough idea of ​​the actual dimensions of the aircraft cargo hold, you need to consider specific examples:

• The cargo compartment of the AN-225 can fit 50 cars;
• 16 large aviation containers UAK-10;
• Large unit loads such as mining trucks, industrial generators or turbines.

Many are interested in what fuel consumption this huge aircraft has? An-225 consumes about 15.9 tons of fuel per flight hour.

Flight history AN-225 "Mriya"

The first flight of the AN-225 was carried out at the end of 1988. After that, the AN-225 was used only to move the Buran, since the launch vehicles were transported on the Atlant aircraft. In 1989, the AN-225 was presented at the Paris Air Show. In 1991, several flights were made over the Baikonur cosmodrome for demonstration purposes.

In 1994, all flights on the AN-225 were stopped, and its main components were removed and put on the AN-224 Ruslans.

Already in the 2000s, it became clear that having the only working AN-225 in the world was not only prestigious, but also profitable. It took about a year to finalize the aircraft to the standards of modern civil aviation. Although the same Soviet instruments remained inside the AN-225 cockpit, many modern systems were added to them. On May 23, 2001, Antonov Airlines received all the necessary certificates and permits, which allowed the AN-225 to start working in the field of air transportation.

The base of the AN-225 aircraft is the most suitable for the implementation of flying complexes for the launch of space systems. A vivid confirmation of this is the Max system, which is a joint aerospace system of Ukraine and Russia.

Records AN-225 "Mriya"

Although the AN-225 did not fly so many flights during its short existence, it managed to set many records in aviation:

1. AN-225 is the largest and heaviest operating aircraft in the world. The only aircraft that surpassed it in wingspan was the HuglesH-Herkules, which made only one flight in 1947;
2. In 1989, when the AN-225 took to the air weighing 156.3 tons, it was able to break 110 aviation records at once. Although many believed that this weight was the limit of its capabilities, in 2004 the updated AN-225 took to the air, carrying a load of 250 tons on board;
3. In 2009, the AN-225 was again able to get into the Guinness Book of Records. This time he transported the heaviest single cargo in the history of world aviation. It was a German generator set that weighed 187.6 tons;
4. The heaviest weight ever carried by an AN-225 is 253.8 tons;
5. In mid-2010, the longest cargo in the history of cargo aviation was transported - windmill blades, each of which was 42.1 meters long.

In total, there are about 250 records that the AN-225 managed to break during its existence.

The main differences between the AN-125 "Mriya" and the AN-224 "Ruslan"

Although the development of the AN-225 is based on the AN-224 aircraft, there are several significant differences between Ruslan and Mriya:

1. AN-225 has two additional engines that are needed to lift such a huge aircraft into the air;
2. The fuselage was significantly increased in length due to special inserts;
3. For the AN-225, a new center section of the aircraft wings was developed;
4. The tail unit was replaced with a new one;
5. The AN-225 does not have a cargo hatch in the tail section;
6. Since the AN-225 can carry external cargo, it has a special fastening system for cargo that the ship is forced to transport from the outside;
7. Since the chassis had to hold a large load, additional racks were added to it.

Most of the other parameters and characteristics of the An-225 practically do not differ from the design of the An-224 Ruslan, which greatly simplified its development and accelerated the release of this model.

Parameters of the aircraft AN-225 "Mriya"

Although the AN-225 aircraft was created as a transport platform for the transportation of the Buran spacecraft, its creation on the basis of the AN-124, which is a transport aircraft, determined its scope in the field of cargo transportation.

The cargo compartment of the AN-225 aircraft has truly impressive dimensions:

1. Its length is 43 meters;
2. The width is 6.4 meters;
3. The height of the cargo compartment is 4.4 meters.

Although the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the AN-124 Ruslan are almost the same (the only difference is the length of the cargo compartment, it is 1.5 meters less), the total weight that the AN-225 can lift is 100 tons more. The cargo compartment is completely sealed, which greatly expands its capabilities for the transportation of various types of cargo.

The cabin for a shift crew, which is located above the cargo compartment, can accommodate not only the direct members of the AN-225 crew in the amount of 6 people, but also 88 people accompanying the cargo. The front cargo hatch is designed in such a way as to make loading and unloading operations as quick and convenient as possible. A special set of onboard equipment helps to carry out this type of work.

Since the fuselage of the AN-225 is equipped with a system of fastenings for the external transportation of bulky cargo, Mriya is able to transport such cargo that does not fit in its large cargo hold. Since the attachment system on the fuselage of the aircraft was developed for reliable fixation of the Buran spacecraft, there is no need to worry about the safety of the cargo attached to the fuselage.

Flight parameters and dimensions of the AN-225

The flight characteristics of the AN-225 "Mriya" are as follows:

1. The cruising speed of the aircraft is 850 km/h;
2. The flight range with a cargo weight of 200 tons is about 4,500 km;
3. With a load of 150 tons, the flight range of the AN-225 is increased to 7,000 km.

AN-225 has the following dimensions:

1. The wingspan is 88.4 meters;
2. Aircraft length - 84 meters;
3. Height - 18.1 meters.

AN-225 is made in only one copy. The second An-225 aircraft, which was assembled back in Soviet times, is only 70 percent assembled. According to information from the Antonov plant, in order to complete the assembly of the second aircraft, about 120 million dollars are needed (including tests). If an investor appears who is ready to invest this amount, then the aircraft can be completed within a few years.

In 2015, an interesting incident occurred with the AN-225 Mriya aircraft. Having taken off with cargo from Prague (the plane was carrying a generator intended for an Australian power plant) and, having made several landings en route for refueling, the plane suddenly disappeared from the locator screens. As it turned out later, the plane was simply delayed in taking off, although this incident made many people seriously worried.

Although the AN-225 Mriya aircraft is a fairly old development, no foreign manufacturer has yet been able to produce a similar analogue. Now only two models can compete with the AN-225. These are the Airbus A3XX-100F and Boeing's 747-X, although their payload is limited to 150 tons.