Antonov An-225 Mriya (Cossack)
The Antonov An-225 Mriya, or "Dream," was designed mainly to transport the Russian space shuttle and its components from a service area to a launch site. This heavy transport plane was designed and built within the period of four years, between 1984 and 1988. In June 1989 the massive Antonov An-225 Mriya flies in to Paris-Le Bourget for the 1989 Paris Air Show, carrying the Soviet Shuttle Buran on its back. When it took of from Kiev to fly to Paris, the combination has a takeoff weight of 1,234,600 lb., the greatest weight ever lifted into the air. The An-225, has a 290 foot wingspan exceeded only by the 320 foot wing of Howard Hughes giant flying boat, popularly known as the Spruce Goose.
There is only one An-225 aircraft that is nowadays in service. A second An-225 was partly built, but became stored before it was finished. Early 2002 Antonov was working again on this second aircraft to bring it to flying status. It is possible that more aircraft of the type will be built, depending on market demand.
The project of the plane appeared because of the necessity to transport heavy cargo by air and to cover long distances. The plane was designed so as to carry the cargo inside the special compartment as well as on an externally fixed mount. Besides, “Mriya” was designed to launch the space shuttles to the orbit. Technical characteristics of AN-225 “Mriya” engine unit, airplane equipment, other sets, systems and details are similar to those of An-124-100 “Ruslan”.
In March 1989 the first and only Antonov An-225 built establishes 106 new Federal Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) world records in several classes, most important of which is a speed of 813.09 km/h (505.2 mph) carrying a payload in the 70 -155 metric ton (154,320 - 341,710 lb.) class around a closed circuit of 2,000 km (1,243 miles).
On September 11, 2001, “Mriya” demonstrated the carrying capacity record by reaching the altitude of more than 2 km and lifting 253, 82 tons of cargo. Then four tanks offered by the Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense were used as a commercial cargo on “Mriya” board to fix the record.
Ukrainian heavy transport airplane An-225 “Mriya” found its place on the pages of the Guinness book of records as the transport vehicle with the longest list of aviation records. According to the Antonov’s plant press-service International Aviation Federation (FAI) has registered 6 world records set up by this airplane on June 16, 18 and 19, 2004. Thus, the total number of records fixed by the plane make 240. The representatives of the Antonov press service informed that 240 world records demonstrated by An-224 (with max cargo weight of 640860 kg on its board) had opened the way for “Mriya” to the Guinness book of records.
In particular, the experts registered the speed records of two S-1 and S-1t transport turbojet planes (with the take off weight exceeding 300 tons) at three air routes confirmed by FAI. The speed of “Mriya” on the Prague-Moscow route was 684,67 km/h, during the flight from Kyiv to Ulyanovsk – 662 km/h and the air distance from Kyiv to Tashkent was covered with the speed of 693,2 km/h.
When the Corps of Engineers’ Task Force Restore Iraqi Electricity was formed in September of 2003, the only power produced out of the Bayji site was from three generators at the Thermal plant producing approximately 210 megawatts (MW). RIE’s mission was to provide 184 MW of new power generation and place four existing gas turbines on the electrical power grid. Six General Electric TM 2500s were located in Guadalajara, Mexico, and one more in Guyana, Africa. Finally a Vulcan AMPS unit was located in Florida, USA, to complete the search. In order to meet the timeframes required by the Coalition Provisional Authority, Russian Antonov (An-225 Mriya) air freighter was rented for numerous flights to Turkey to deliver the eight mobile units and the other construction materials required. The major materials were delivered to the Bayji site between October 18 and December 17, 2003.
At the end of August 2007, the only fully operational AN-225 in the world arrived with a payload of jet engines for Boeing. Designed to carry the Russian space shuttle, the AN-225 has a 290-foot wingspan, a 275-foot-long fuselage, and a maximum gross weight of 1,411,000 pounds. It required special precautions during its arrival, departure, and taxi operations. Before its visit, Airport Operations, Air Traffic Control, and Boeing representatives developed a precise taxi and parking plan.
