One of the most responsible missions at the government level for the An-22 was to ensure the visit of US President Ford to the Soviet Union in 1973. From Moscow to Vozdvizhenka, a vehicle with tail number USSR-09310 of the 81st VTAP transferred government communications equipment necessary for the visit. After completing the mission, Antey entered the Vozdvizhenka runway, picked up speed and took to the skies. But at the same time, the left landing gear lost its pneumatics, which became known to the crew commander, Major N. F. Borovskikh, already in the air. I had to develop fuel to the required minimum and sit back on the Vozdvizhenka runway.
In the summer of 1973, "Antey" again solved strategic problems - provided the transfer of equipment and service personnel of the visit of Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev to the United States. During the An-22 flights, 69 people and 122 tons of cargo were transferred from Chkalovsky to Washington and Los Angeles.
Working days of the 81st military transport aviation regiment
In the autumn of 1973, the An-22 flew from Ramenskoye to Ivanovo (Severny airfield), during which the aircraft hit a thunderstorm front at an altitude of 5700 meters. As a result, Antey stopped obeying the rudders and began an intensive decline, which looked more like a fall. It was possible to catch the car only when it came out of the thunderclouds at an altitude of 4700 meters. Already in Ivanovo, torn off radomes and antennas were found.
March 1974 was also marked by an abnormal situation aboard the cargo giant - over the ocean at an echelon of 6,000 meters, one engine of the vehicle failed. It happened on the way from Cuba after work to secure L. Brezhnev's visit. It can be considered a lucky coincidence that no more than 300 kilometers remained to the coast of Iceland, and the crew managed to land the An-22 on three engines at the Reykjavik airport.
At the end of 1978, the crew of Major V. V. Zakhodyakin felt a strong shaking when landing at the Severny airport. The decision was made to land, and already on the runway, they found that the pneumatics of the middle right main pillar were torn. This was a consequence of the extrusion and destruction of the doors of the chassis compartment due to the shear bolts of the levers of the mechanics of the doors. One small problem pulled a heap of serious consequences that could lead to a disaster.
On the same "Antey" under the command of Major A. N. Bykov, the problem happened with the power plant - at an altitude of 7200 meters, the oil tank of the third engine began to leak. The commander decided to turn off and feather the engine. At the Bratsk airport, after landing on three engines, an eight-millimeter crack in the oil line was found.
Incidents with the reliability of aircraft engines of that time once again confirm the thesis that a four-engine layout for heavy equipment was simply necessary. The hypothetical An-22 with two super-powerful engines, with the failure statistics existing in the 60-80s, would fall much more often - a four-engine scheme partly saved the situation.
Emergencies with motors happened not only in the air, but also on the ground. So, on March 6, 1987, the fourth engine of "Anthei" flared up due to a kerosene leak on the hot surfaces of the power plant. It happened at the Ukurei airfield, and the crew promptly extinguished the fire with standard equipment.
Not all episodes of An-22 operation could be explained by a technical malfunction. Nikolai Yakubovich's book "Military transport giant An-22" recounts the memoirs of the commander N. F. Borovskikh:
“In June 1975, at night, when landing at the Algeria airport, on a landing course at an altitude of 600 meters, an orange-red ball appeared in the clouds in the bow, which increased before our eyes, so that I could not turn away from it. There was a strong crack in the headphones, the balloon exploded, which blinded the crew and partially deafened them. I groped the button for bringing to the horizon and gave the command - all engines are in nominal mode. Senior onboard technician Dementyev V. N. reported that the engines are working normally and it is necessary to inspect the port side. the blow was on the left. We landed at an alternate airfield. In the morning, having examined the plane, they found a slight melting of the rivets. What it was, ball lightning or "UFO", it was not possible to establish."
Working days of the 81st military transport aviation regiment
On May 22, 1977, the aircraft commander K. S. Dobryansky saw an amazing phenomenon for the first time - a glowing halo around the propellers of one of the engines. The whole thing turned out to be a burnout of one of the heating elements of the screw heating system with a further short circuit. The flight took place in difficult weather conditions, and the crew had to deal with the icing of the car using heating systems.
There were annoying incidents in the history of the An-22 due to the fault of the crew and service personnel. So, on October 5, 1989 at the Ganja airfield, the onboard technician and the crew commander forgot to put thrust blocks under the aircraft wheels. In the middle of the night, the pressure in the parking brake dropped, and the Antey rolled along the airfield. In an uncontrollable state and without a crew of cars, she walked three kilometers, demolished a lighting pole, crumpled a fuel pump and stood only on soft ground. As a result, two wheels, a landing gear fairing, as well as the Initiative-4-100 radar station were to be replaced. The unfortunate An-22 was restored and written off only in 1995 after 26 years of service.
And in 1987, at an echelon of 6,600 meters, an alarm about clogged filters on three motors was triggered on the An-22 №01 09 dashboard. This forced the crew under the command of N. A. Lelkov to switch to powering the motors from three stages. Having landed the car in Knevichi, they identified a shortage of anti-crystalline liquid "I" in the fuel. Not refilled on the ground …
1970 Peru earthquake
Peruvian squad emblem
Monument to the crew of An-22 USSR-09303 in Lima (Peru). The inscription on the monument: “You were in a hurry to help the victims of the earthquake. We worked here with you in mind"
The international mission to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake in Peru in the Soviet Union was assigned to five An-22 crews of the 12th WTDA and nine crews of the An-12 339 VTAP. The tasks of the pilots included the transfer in July 1970 of the year across the ocean of a field hospital with doctors from the Moscow Military District, several Mi-8s, ambulances and the mass of other oversized cargo. The mission was attended by machines USSR-09302, 09303, 09304, 09305 and 09306. Board 09303 under the command of Major A. Ya. Boyarintsev later disappeared without a trace over the Atlantic after takeoff from an intermediate airfield in Icelandic Keflavik (this was mentioned in the previous parts of the cycle). The distance that the Antei had to cover on the way to Peru was 17,000 km and was the longest for the Soviet giants at that time. It is worth noting that Brazil at that time refused to the USSR in airfields for intermediate landings of cars, which forced the sending of humanitarian aid along a more complex and dangerous route - Chkalovsky - Algeria - Halifax - Havana - Lima. The main problem of all the crews was in imperfect navigation equipment, therefore, on board each Antaeus up to Lima, there was a specialist from a specialized design bureau with special equipment for repairs. In addition, the military pilots had to learn (remember) the English language and master the international VOR / DME navigation system, the ILS course glide system together with the Loran-C and Omega hyperbolic systems. A military translator was additionally assigned to each aircraft.
From left to right: A. Ya. Boyarintsev, Sinitsin, L. N. Khoroshko, E. A. Ageev, V. G. Romanov. Chkalovsky airfield. Before leaving for Peru. July 18, 1970
On July 16, 1970, an An-22 with an onboard 09304 took off from the Chkalovsky, the next day - two machines 09305 and 09302, and finally, on July 18, the closing pair 09303 and 090306 took off. Refueling for the first time at the American airbase in Keflavik, then in Halifax and Havana - at each stop we rested for almost a day.
The result of the humanitarian mission in Peru was an increase in the political status of the Soviet Union, as well as invaluable experience gained by both the crews of the transport aviation and the KB specialists.
