We are currently living in the age of rectification. After centuries and decade worth of damage, our foreseeable future is aimed at being more green, and that’s why we might love a brand new A320 Neo aircraft and its march to an idea of quieter, safer and more efficient aircraft. But as far as appeal goes you cannot deny the magic of an aircraft that was designed in the Soviet Union and the countries that once formed a part of it.
Trace the history textbooks and these are the aircrafts that have offered a wide range of designs along with unique quirks that is nothing short of mind-boggling. Loud and Smoky, yes. Worse for the environment and less comfortable yes. But definitely more fun. Today, Soviet Planes are a rarity. Go ahead, try and find a Tupolev or Ilyushin in passenger service these days. It’s not easy as most of the places of their operations are diminishing while the remaining ones are being retired as we speak.
So on the very note of Soviet aircraft admiration, we thought we will focus on a legend today, that is Ukraine’s own Antonov An-225 Mriya. Now to start with a little bit about Antonov, the company was formerly called as the Antonov Design Bureau which was later changed to somewhat less catchy, Antonov State Enterprise. But anyways it’s still Antonov and it’s still in business.
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Over the years Antonov has built over 22,000 aircrafts. Nowadays, it operates as a part of the Ukrainian Defense conglomerate called the Ukroboronprom. As compared to other glorious Soviet-aircrafts, finding an Antonov is fairly easy. It’s maybe not a surprise that one of the best places to fly an Antonov these days is in Ukraine. Specifically, with Motor Sich Airlines. The airline is owned by the Ukrainian engine manufacturer of the same name: Motor Sich.
Spawning a Generation of Gargantuan Planes
Now coming to Antonov’s Belle of the Ball, the AN-225 Mriya. There are a few reasons why the aircraft is one of the most spectacular planes out there. It carries over 200 world records having carried the heaviest total cargo, the heaviest single cargo and many more. But the most astonishing aspect is the reason for its development. The story of the An-225 begins back in the 1960 and ’70s when the Soviet Union was locked in a race into space with the United States. By the end of the 1970s, the need arose for transporting large and heavy loads from their places of assembly to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the sprawling spaceport in the deserts of Kazakhstan that was the launchpad for Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space voyage of 1961.
The cargo in question was the Buran spacecraft, the Soviet Union’s answer to NASA’s Space Shuttle. Since there were at the time no airplanes capable of carrying it, the Antonov company was ordered to develop one.
The airplane is based on the smaller AN-124 and retains the nose design allowing it to kneel and load cargo through its large open front. The empennage of the aircraft was redesigned with twin vertical stabilisers to enable the carriage of large external loads, leaving it without a rear cargo door.
Only one AN-225 was ever built by the Antonov company, which came up with the design. Romantically named Mriya, which stands for dream, it first took flight in 1988 and has been in service ever since, drawing crowds of admirers wherever it spreads its huge wings.
After the first example was built, the construction was begun on a second plane, a sister for this aerial leviathan. But while Mriya is breaking world records in the skies, her twin still lies in pieces, only able to dream about leaving the ground.
The Hidden Sister
The fate of Mriya’s hidden sister is a fascinating story about big ambitions and even bigger frustrations caught up in the turbulent history of modern Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The story isn’t over though. Antonov remains optimistic it’ll get the second An-225 off the ground.
A True Giant
Powering the AN-225 are six D-18 engines. Its cargo loading bay measures 43 meters long by 6.4 meters wide by 4.4 meters tall, with 1300 cubic meters of usable cargo area capable of carrying just over 250 tonnes. All of this weight is supported by the main landing gear featuring 14 wheels per side and a dual front gear with 4 wheels. It has a top speed of 800kmph and is capable of travelling 15,400 km in one go.
The AN-225’s maximum total weight at take-off is 640 tons. That is more than twice as heavy as the Statue of Liberty.
After the cancellation of the Buran the AN-225 was stored until 2001. However, in the following year, it enter commercial cargo service. Till date, the aircraft has carried food stuffs, military equipment, oil and gas machinery and relief supplies all over the world.
In 2016, after completing flights to Australia and Chile, the AN-225 received several notable upgrades including the installation of an ADS-B transponder. In 2018, the aircraft returned to service making multiple trips between Germany and Saudi Arabia carrying oil and gas equipment. In the summer, the aircraft came to the western hemisphere, bringing large mining equipment and generators to Bolivia. And in September 2018, the An-225 performed an around-the-world flight from Kyiv, bringing relief supplies to Guam in the wake of Typhoon Mangkhut via Oakland and Honolulu, then returning home via Rayong. From 2018, the An-225 has spent over a year receiving major upgrades to its power plant control systems as well as electrical modifications, such as LED lighting. In April 2020 it began multiple flights to bring medical supplies for battling COVID-19 from China to Europe.
As smaller engines take the spotlight. The fate of bigger airplanes like the Mriya is uncertain. Now the Mriya flies once or twice a year and we can do is cherish the time it spends in the skies.
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