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World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

ch-aviation.com

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Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#151

Post by masklinn »

verisimi wrote: post #89

I was confused about this. I presumed Antonov Airlines was a Russian airline, so I was wondering why the Russians would destroy their own planes. But Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_Airlines The plane was designed in Soviet (Russian) Ukraine (ie before 1991) to carry the Soviet (Russian) space shuttle. edited to say Soviet, not Russian

Antonov wasn’t even an airline originally it was a design bureau, the airline was set up to handle chartering of 124s, and later the restored 225.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#153

Post by sheepybloke »

chunkyks wrote: post #132
KMnO4 wrote: post #130

Does anyone know why this will cost "over USD$3 Billion to restore"? The entire aircraft costs approximately $300 million, so I would have expected a number less than or equal to that. Even the B-2 Spirit bomber, most likely the most expensive aircraft only costs $2.1 billion.

All the tooling, manufacturing, everything for the b2 is gone. They made twenty something, then converted the factories to other things. So whatever the sticker associated with one b2 is, the replacement cost is much higher because you have to include redevelopment, new tooling, everything.

Exactly. Since the Antonov was built before the Soviet Union fell, I wouldn't be surprised if none of that exists for this plane as well, and will take a lot of resources to build it back up.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#154

Post by mkhpalm »

I've never gotten the image out of my head every time I see the AN-225 that its missing its Russian space shuttle on its back. Also strange that Soviet Russia built it only for Russian Federation to destroy it. But after Ukraine saved it from the same fate that fell on almost all the other equipment from the Buran program.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#155

Post by masklinn »

lbriner wrote: post #122
masklinn wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mriya’s crew were definitely rated for other planes (almost certainly the An-124 it was derived from for instance): Mriya was expensive to fly, and you’d only charter if if you really needed its lifting capabilities (whether weight or volume). It would not be flying year-round in the first place, so you’d want multiple crew rated for it (so one would be available when an order came in) but you wouldn’t want those cre…

I think it was in-use more than you might think. I remember seeing a program about it and there are plenty of people needing to shift large cargo at expedited speed and as one customer put it, "if you are 2 weeks behind, you can pay for the 225 and buy that 2 weeks back compared to a ship". Also, the amount of time it takes for them to fly these vast distances means it was only available 2 or 3 times per week anyway.…

Most of the large cargo would be shifted by the eminently capable, more easily available, and in many ways more flexible, 124s.

Keep in mind while Mriya was a towering giant, the An-124 is literally the next best thing. You'd only call on the 225 if the 124 did not suffice either in lift or in volume[0]; of possibly in the rare cases where no 124 was available, the 225 was, and you didn't mind paying a premium.

[0] mostly in length as the 124 and the 225 holds have the same cross-section of 6.4m wide and 4.4 high, but the 225's is 6 meters longer.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#157

Post by masklinn »

H8crilA wrote: post #18
sofixa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Badly. Even more so because it's little brothers ( still enormous, second biggest cargo aircraft), the An-124s, and everything else by Antonov, will have to be grounded due to lack of spares.

There are still the Boeing Dreamlifter and the Airbus Beluga.

There really isn't.

The Beluga has especially low (not to mention unpressurised) lifting capabilities, it can only lift about 45 tonnes. The XL can lift a bit more, but the main change was internal volume.

The Dreamlifter is better (by quite a bit), but also way short.

An other issue is because both were designed for ferrying airline parts between plants neither is autonomous: both need lifting gantries (especially the beluga but the dreamlifter isn't exactly ground-level), and the dreamlifter needs dedicated trucks to open and close its tail.

Meanwhile the Antonovs are fully autonomous. Both the 124 and 225 were roll-on/roll-off (and able to "kneel" for easier access, not sure about the 225 but the 124 even packs extension ramps for even shallower angles), with a very capable internal crane. On the 124, the crane even extends out back so you can just drop containers there and let the loadmaster handle it. They even carry a bunch of spare parts and a maintenance team. In fact they even carry their own tow bar.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#158

Post by coolspot »

trhway wrote: post #64
fuoqi wrote: post #27

It's not clear whether it truly was destroyed by Russian airstrikes. The plane was based on the Gostomel airport, which got captured by the Russian airborn forces in the early days of the invasion. The news of destruction begun after the Ukrainian forces tried to retake the airport.

On this image it is clear that shell or missile which killed Mria came from the left https://s30121.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screen-Sho... That is North direction. Right toward the Russian forces which at the time had made that huge advance through Chernobyl toward Kiev. The trace in the pavement points to a large and fast shell or missile. Ukrainians are using up to 203mm which looks too small for that tra…

Your pucture is rotated.

Here is the place: https://goo.gl/maps/kPKyJVTkDoFyWZD47

It looks like the south part of the hangar was damaged.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#159

Post by yardie »

pcardoso wrote: post #124
yardie wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Russian space program isn't even in Russia. Baikonur Cosmodrome is in Kazakhstan. So you can see these countries hold a very high strategic value to Russia. The ghosts of the Soviet Union are still haunting us to this day.

There is a new launch site within Russia. https://spacenews.com/the-long-road-to-vostochny-inside-russ...

I new they were building a new cosmodrome I hadn't heard much about it. Most of their launches are still from Baikonor, but I could be mistaken.

Re: World's only An-225 destroyed by Russian airstrikes

#160

Post by mark-r »

masklinn wrote: post #50
lordnacho wrote: post #41

How does type rating work for this one off kind of plane? How do you get hours in the one plane, and is there a simulator? Also what do you do when the plane you're rated for is destroyed?

Mriya’s crew were definitely rated for other planes (almost certainly the An-124 it was derived from for instance): Mriya was expensive to fly, and you’d only charter if if you really needed its lifting capabilities (whether weight or volume). It would not be flying year-round in the first place, so you’d want multiple crew rated for it (so one would be available when an order came in) but you wouldn’t want those cre…

> the landing gear is so overbuilt

That was something that caught my eye in the picture, it seems to have an endless number of tires on the ground.

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