An-225 owns each and every plane on planet earth

I've always been amazed at certain countries building huge machines for seemingly no reason. That plane is huge btw! Why are there only 2 of them? Will they build anymore?

There is only one of them that is operational, there were two of them during the soviet era because it was only used to transport the Russian shuttle and you don't need that many An-225 for that.
But now a company has bought the An-225 and operates it, I don't know if they can build more since they would need to recreate an assembly line that is no longer there.

there is a 2nd aircraft in parts which last I heard... they were trying to get put back together, seeing as the 1st aircraft is booked up solid for the next 5 years

With todays techology, we can essentially build an aircraft of any size, we could have a wing of a mile wide if we want, because it doesnt matter the size, it matters the density. We could build a flying wing with 500 landing gears and it would work marvelously, economical, hell no, unless your transporting 5 million people. The an-225 is an awesome plane, has the heaviest take off weight of all time, over a million pounds and did exactly what it was designed to do, be a big ass transport. Does it OWN, theres only one of them, so id say no.

Train

Originally posted by BigTrain
With todays techology, we can essentially build an aircraft of any size, we could have a wing of a mile wide if we want, because it doesnt matter the size, it matters the density. We could build a flying wing with 500 landing gears and it would work marvelously, economical, hell no, unless your transporting 5 million people. The an-225 is an awesome plane, has the heaviest take off weight of all time, over a million pounds and did exactly what it was designed to do, be a big ass transport. Does it OWN, theres only one of them, so id say no.

Train

Some versions of the A-380 might exceed the empty weight of an An-225.

The Airbus A-380-800F, the cargo version, comes close to the An-225's empty weight but falls short in maximum gross weight and particularly in maximum payload. The A-380-800F has a maximum payload of 150,000kg limited by a maximum landing load of just 383,000kg. The much sturdier An-225 can take-off and land with a load of 250,000kg!

In terms of simple fuel efficiency, the aerodynamically smaller Airbus is slightly ahead. With a full fuel load of 260,900kg, the Airbus can travel 10,370km, or 25.2kg/km, whereas with a full fuel load of 300,000kg, the Antonov can travel 10,950, or 27.4kg/km.

The An-225 can also land on just about any kind of surface you can imagine, so in my book its without a doubt the best designed cargo aircraft. Its also a fair bit cheaper than a 747-400.

Thought I'd add a top 10 list of the heaviest aircraft:

Aircraft----------------Max. Gross Weight----Length-----Span
An-225 Cossack---------1,322,750 lb--------275'7"------290'
Airbus A380F-------------1,305,000 lb--------239'3"------261'8"
Caspian Sea Monster---1,080,000 lb--------348'--------131'
Boeing 747ERF-------------910,000 lb--------231'10"----211'5"
An-124 Condor-------------892,872 lb--------226'8.5"---240'5.75"
Lun Ekranoplan------------882,000 lb-------- 240'--------144'
C-5 Galaxy------------------840,000 lb --------247'10"--- 222'9"
Airbus A340-600-----------807,400 lb--------246'11"----208'2"
Boeing 777-300ER---------775,000 lb--------242'4"-----212'7"
Boeing 777------------------660,000 lb--------242'4"-----199'11"
Tu-160 Blackjack-----------606,261 lb--------177'6"-----182'9"

Honorable mention due to sheer size:
HK-1 Spruce Goose--------400,000 lb--------218'6"------320'


[edit on 25-10-2005 by orca71]

Originally posted by Lucretius
there is a 2nd aircraft in parts which last I heard... they were trying to get put back together, seeing as the 1st aircraft is booked up solid for the next 5 years

Regarding my latest visit in Ucraina in may 2005 (I live only 50 km away from its west border):

There is one operational aircraft, CCCP(RA)-82060.
Second aircraft is finished nearly at 90%. They planned first flight this year, but now it seems, that it will be reality at 2006.
Thrid aircraft is manufactured at about 50% and from fourth plane now exist only some parts of wing and three fuselage sections.

link

The 747 Cargo version still holds the all time air lift record with transporting over 1000 people out of somewhere in Africa during some crisis. They crammed as many people as they possibly could, maxxed it out, it took off no prob. Seeing as the 747 is so old, this is an amazing accomplishment. It can also take off with more weight than a war-time loaded c-5 galaxy. The 747-400 is a great aircraft. The A-380 picks up right were the 747 left off.

Train

I've never heard that about the 747 before. Sounds amazing, have you any more info or links on it?

Here ya go Waynos, The 1000 figure was off the top of my head, but heres are the official loads.

Israeli AF/El Al Ethiopian Airlift Smashes Passenger-Load Record

In a record-breaking airlift, the Israeli Air Force, aided by El Al, brought 14,000 Ethiopian Jews from Addis Ababa to Israel—1,200 of them in one 747—within 33 hours, just days before the capital fell to rebel troops.

Some of the flights were performed by a specially configured El Al 747, carrying 1,200 passengers. The top-secret Operation Solomon began on 24 May when an Air Force C-130 Hercules brought the first group of high-ranking Israeli officers and experts to Addis Ababa International Airport. The airlift was completed a few hours before the first rebel units reached the airport area.

The group, head by Deputy Chief of Staff Gen Amnon Shahak, set up a command post in the airport while Israeli special forces and paratroops secured the runway and airfield perimiter. An Israeli mobile air traffic control unit performed advisory control, parallel to that given by the airport's tower.

By noon on 24 May preparations were complete and the green light was given for the first aircraft to land. In the next 24 hours, 18 Air Force C-130s and eight Boeing 707s aided by nine El Al aircraft—three 747s, four 767s and two 757s—flew 14,000 Jews from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. All El Al aircraft had their logos covered.

An El-Al 747-200C Combi was converted to passenger configuration, with 760 seats. With the arm rests folded, these seats allowed 1,200 of the new Israeli immigrants to be crammed into the aircraft. (The previous record was 674 people in a Quantas 747 after a cyclone hit Darwin.) The 747 was on the ground at Addis Ababa for only 37 min before leaving with the record number of passengers.
The passenger-configured 747s carried 920 passengers on their 454 seats and on the floor, while the 767s carried 430 on their 224 seats and floor. The 757s carried 360 passengers on their 197 seats and in any available space. An Ethiopian Airlines 757 made one flight to Tel Aviv as part of the airlift. The Air Force's 707s had their seats removed and rubber mattresses put on the cabin floors. Each 707 carried 500 passengers and 180 passengers were packed into Air Force C-130s.
The Israeli authorities had notified some Arab and African countries along the Tel Aviv - Addis Ababa route about the traffic near their airspace.

What a great airlift, 1200 freakin people!

Train

Thank you. 1200 is even more impressive! I doubt we'll see the A380 beat that, unless a similar circumstance arises somwhere where one is available.

Some free time, so now I can also show what I was talking about. This is second prototype of An-225 (some parts are still not installed).



[edit on 9-2-2006 by matej]

and the little Antonov in the foreground is thinking "I wonder if I can sneak out before he wakes up and eats me?"

The AN-225 is pretty impressive when you see one on landing approach going 50m above your house
They brought some powerplant turbines here a few years back with one... If i recall it correctly it's loud as hell even compared to flight of Tornadoes going over head. (living under an airport landing vector, gives you an ability to compare plane sounds)

I was talking to one of the guys that loads C-5s out here one day a few years ago. The heaviest C-5 ever launched out of here weighed in at 1.2 million pounds. That's a/c, fuel, cargo, crew. We routinely launched the E-4Bs out at 800,000 pounds or more.

1200 people on one plane scares me from the point of view of figuring out just where they rest on weight and balance tables! Then again, 1200 is a high enough figure to make the laws of averages work in your favor.