About Antonov 225 Mriya

The Antonov 225 Mriya, or An-225, called by NATO the Cossack, is a strategic freighter transport aircraft, built by Antonov Design Bureau, a Ukrainian company that manufactures aircraft. The An-225 is the largest fixed-wing aircraft in the world. The design, built to transport the Buran spacecraft, was a development to augment the successful An-124 Ruslan. Mriya (Мрiя) means "Dream" (Inspiration) in Ukrainian.

The Antonov An-225 is commercially available for carrying large loads due to the unique size of its cargo compartment. To get an idea of its size, it could easily hold more than fifteen hundred people. In addition, it can, as already mentioned, carry loads on the outside and top of the fuselage. Being used to transport cargo in this way, the carrying capacity drops to just under two hundred tons. However, the load measurements increase. The length, for example, goes from just over forty-four meters to over seventy. It is only necessary that this load has a minimum of aerodynamics. Currently, there is only one aircraft in operation.

the first flight happened  on December 21, 1988. The aircraft was in a static demonstration at the Paris Air Show in 1989 and flew during the days released to the public at the Farnborough Air Show in 1990. Two aircraft were ordered, which are currently operated by Antonov Airlines, registered UR-82060 and UR-82070. These are commercially available for carrying overly heavy and large loads, up to 250,000 kg internally, or 200,000 kg above the fuselage. The cargo in the upper part of the fuselage can be up to 70m long.

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The second An-225 was partially built during the late 1980s for use by the Soviet Space Program. The design of the second An-225 included a rear cargo door and a redesigned tail with a single vertical stabilizer, making it more effective for freighter transport. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the cancellation of Buran's Space Program, this An-225 was stored in 1994. The six Ivchenko Progress engines were removed from use on the An-124. The first An-225 was later re-engined and put into service.

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• In September 2001, he flew carrying a payload of 253.86 tons at a maximum altitude of two kilometers and an average speed of 763.2 km/h. The distance covered was a thousand kilometers, approximately.

• It is the largest operating aircraft in the world.

• The only aircraft to have a larger wing span than the An-225 is the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose". However, the Spruce Goose is shorter, lighter, has never flown above twenty-one meters (70 feet) and has flown only once, whereas the An-225 has performed hundreds of flights.

Curiosities

• The An-225 uses more than 95,000 liters of fuel to cover a distance of just over 5,000 kilometers while the Boeing 747 uses 65,000 to cover the same distance.

• The design of the fictional An-500 aircraft, featured in the 2012 film, was based on the An-225.

Specifications

Registration: UR-82060

Aircraft Type: Freighter

Propulsion: 6 ZMKB Progress Lotarev D-18T Engines (with 229.50 kN of propulsion each)

Maximum load weight allowed to take off: 600 ton.

Maximum payload weight (internal or external): 300 - 300 ton.

Wing span: 88.4 m

Length: 84 m

Speed: 865 km/h

Height: 18.1 m (excluding landing gear)

Flight autonomy with maximum load: 4,500 km

Flight autonomy with full fuel tanks: 15,400 km

Crew: 6 people.

Cargo area would fit the equivalent of: 1,500 people

Comparison of the largest aircraft in the world: An-225 (green). Hughes H-4 Hercules (yellow) Boeing 747 (blue) and Airbus A380 (red):