I have been inside this airplane and I've got some pics to share: https://egorfine.com/photo/mriya/
Looks like Nostromo: big, old, dark, messy spaceship.
The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
81–90 of 111 posts
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#822 years ago they landed this plane here in Brazil, when they camt to pick hidroeletrical generator parts. I gone with a plane enthusiast friend to see the thing take off. I know the phisics, but amazes me that something that big can fly. Theres hope that more of this are made in the next years. It looks like China is interested in making a few units;
Seeing it take off is really something. I used to work on the grounds of an international airport, and one of these flew in one day to pick up a crane or something. It dwarfed the other planes, 747s included. And seeing it slowly rumbled down the runway gave you the impression that there was simply no way it would have enough speed by the time it reached the end, but somehow it lifted off and flew.
It is weird how the size of a plane screws with how our brains interpret the speed.
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#83The H-4 Hercules could plausibly be considered larger. It has a larger wingspan, height, and cargo volume, but only ever flew once (for about a mile) and has significantly lower weight capacity. It was also bult several decades before the AN-225. cf https://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/hk1_specs.asp
Stratolaunch has widest wingspan, Hercules has highest height and Mriya is the longest/heaviest. So... they are all demonstrations for how we learned to build extreme aircrafts.
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#84Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#85It's crazy how this can be economical with economics of scale=1. Every replacement part for maintenance must be custom-made, there must be no market for trained pilots and technicians on that particular plane, etc.
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#86Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#87Paul Allen's Stratolaunch has a wider wingspan, but less cargo capacity. Wonder where that monster will end up. It's intended for high-altitude rocket launches and not useful for much else.
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
It always amazed me that you could strap a space shuttle to a modified 747 and ... fly. The whole idea of "just strap it to another flying machine and move it that way" seems like something my 4 year old would come up with. It is clear my mental model of 'things that can fly good' is deficit when we see things like the AN-225 and etc.
Interestingly, there was some doubt within NASA as to whether the 747 piggyback was a good idea. One of the proponents of the idea was a scale model builder, and made a model to demonstrate it; the model's success was persuasive enough that they continued to study the idea. In the end, the 747-Space Shuttle combo actually has better crosswind landing characteristics than a normal 747, but it has atrocious fuel econom…
Moving rockets and shuttle parts reminded me of the story of the limits hit when organising shuttle transport - railways have a gauge and tunnels are made to fit the gauge. The gauge was chosen based on cart wheel spacing and this was chosen by the romans.
A bit of googling suggests this may be an urban myth as weight. Eg https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/4064/how-fair-is-t...
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#89I have been inside this airplane and I've got some pics to share: https://egorfine.com/photo/mriya/
Thanks for this.. killer photos..
Was this at an airshow? Was someone following you around to make sure you didn't pull on any wires or anything you weren't supposed to be touching?
Re: The AN-225: How the Cold War created the world's largest airplane
#90Antonov is really struggling to keep the shop open, I wonder if it's possible to keep such plane operational with the manufacturer on the brink of bankrupcy. Las time I checked Boing was supplying some parts that couldn't get imported from Russia now, but AFAIK the are not really having many customers.
The reasons it's not going to bankrupt, as well as will not develop any AN-225v2 are: Antonov is not a private company. As a part of Ministry of Defense, it may let itself to be unprofitable and not competitive, cause the losses would be covered by budget. And yes, it is not considered a desirable workplace among locals due to rather low salaries and predominantly well-aged equipment. Moreover, Antonov suffered from…
How is Ukraine doing with its tech and military industry? Are they keeping up with the times or slow fading away? I don't see them doing much active development, amd I wrong?