An-225 "Mriya" (from Ukrainian. Dream) is an extra-heavy transport aircraft. It was designed by the OKB im. O. K. Antonova in the 1980s of the last century. It is the largest aircraft in the world. In just one flight in March 1989 in 3.5 hours the plane simultaneously broke 110 world records, which in itself is already a record. An-225 was built at the Kiev Mechanical Plant in 1985-1988. In total, 2 aircraft were laid down, currently one copy of the An-225 is in flight condition and is operated by the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines. The second copy of the aircraft is 70% ready, it will be completed only if there is a customer (about 120 million dollars are required for completion and testing).
The An-225 Mriya heavy transport aircraft was primarily designed to meet the needs of the Soviet space program, in particular, the transportation of goods - components of the Energia rocket system and the Buran reusable spacecraft. At the same time, the aircraft could easily carry cargo for other purposes, which could be placed both on the "back" of the aircraft, and directly in its fuselage. The prototype made its first flight on December 21, 1988. Only 3.5 years have passed since the start of work on the aircraft. Such a short period of work became possible due to the wide unification of the giant's units and assemblies with the already created units and assemblies of the An-124 Ruslan aircraft.
One of the most significant days in the history of the aircraft was March 22, 1989. On this day, An-225 "Mriya" flew to break world records. After weighing the cargo, the mass of which was 156.3 tons, as well as sealing the necks of the centralized refueling, the plane set off on a record flight. The highest achievement report began immediately after the plane took off from the runway. Having entered into a rivalry with the American Boeing 747-400, which previously held the record for the maximum take-off weight (404.8 tons), the Soviet aircraft exceeded the American achievement by 104 tons at once.
In this one flight alone, the plane was able to set 110 world records at once. Including a record of flight speed along a closed route with a length of 2000 km. with a load weighing 156 tons - 815, 09 km / h, the record of flight altitude with this load - 12 430 meters. On May 3, 1989, the plane that took off in Baikonur carried its first cargo on its back - the space shuttle "Buran" weighing more than 60 tons. Over the next 10 days, this bundle was tested for controllability, fuel consumption and flight speed were measured. Already on May 13, this unique transport system carried out a non-stop flight on the Baikonur-Kiev route, covering the distance of 2,700 km in 4 hours 25 minutes. At the same time, the takeoff weight of the aircraft was almost 560 tons.
The pendulum of fate of this giant aircraft, which so swiftly brought it to the apogee of fame, just as swiftly went down, for a long time frozen at its lowest point. With the collapse of the USSR and the disappearance of the "Buran" program, its main task for the aircraft, for which it was designed, disappeared. For many years the plane froze on the outskirts of the Ukrainian Gostomel airfield. There was simply no hope of success in the transportation of commercial goods in the mid-1990s of the last century in the post-Soviet space. The sharp transition to world prices for aviation fuel has led to the fact that in the CIS countries the demand for air transportation of goods, including unique ones, has dropped sharply. Abroad, there was not always enough work even for a relatively small fleet of other giants - An-124 Ruslan.
As a result, until the summer of 2000, the aircraft stood in a semi-disassembled state, some of its units were used to maintain the An-124 aircraft fleet in flight condition. The aircraft was repaired by ANTK them. O. K. Antonova at its own expense, as well as JSC "Motor Sich", which at its own expense supplied new engines for the An-225 and undertook obligations for their operational support. For the Zaporozhye company, the cost of restoring the car and the share in future profits amounted to 30%, respectively. In addition, on a contractual basis, a large number of other enterprises joined the work on the restoration of the aircraft, which supplied new or repaired old components and assemblies for the An-225.
On May 7, 2001, An-225 took off again, this date went down in the history of the aircraft, air cargo transportation and all of Ukraine. On this day, the second birth of the machine took place, which, after passing many checks and tests, took off again. Once again, like 12 years ago, aviation magazines, newspapers, television started talking about the plane, its photos again appeared on the covers. Today the aircraft is used by Antonov Airlines for the transportation of oversized cargo. To date, he holds 250 world records. In August 2004, he set an absolute record by transporting 250 tons of special equipment ordered by Zeromax GmbH from Prague to Tashkent, making a stopover in Samara.
Description of construction
The fuselage of the An-225 aircraft has the same cross-section as that of the An-124 Ruslan, but at the same time its length has been significantly increased. The cargo compartment of the giant aircraft has the following dimensions: length 43 meters, width - 6.4 meters, height - 4.4 meters. Inside its cargo compartment, you can easily place up to 16 standard containers, up to 80 cars, as well as mining dump trucks BelAZ, Yuclid, Komattsu. In order to reduce the weight of the structure during the design, it was decided to abandon the rear cargo hatch. At the same time, the forward-folding hatch, as well as the system of squatting the front landing gear of the aircraft, were retained. The main supports of the An-225 "Mriya" were significantly changed, although they received a minimum number of structural alterations. Instead of 5 two-wheeled struts on each side, the aircraft is equipped with 7 such struts. The last four rows of bogies self-oriented during maneuvering on the runway, and could get stuck during takeoff and landing. An-225 can make a U-turn on a 60-meter wide runway.
The Mriya wing was a modified version of the An-124 wing, which was supplemented with a new central section, its span was increased. In order to transport bulky cargo on the "back" of the aircraft, a two-keel vertical tail was installed on the An-225. Thanks to such a constructive solution, cargoes can be transported on the external sling of the transporter, the dimensions of which significantly exceed the capabilities of other delivery vehicles. For example, the An-225 can carry rectification columns up to 70 meters long and 7-10 meters in diameter.
Unlike the An-124, the An-225 power plant received 2 additional D-18T engines, their total number, thus, increased to 6 units. The total thrust of 6 engines is 140 400 kgf. The engines are mounted on pylons, 3 under each of the aircraft wing consoles.
An-225 "Mriya" was equipped with on-board radio-electronic equipment approximately comparable to the equipment of the "Ruslan" aircraft. For example, the fly-by-wire control system designed for the An-124 was also used on the Mriya. Despite the fact that the aircraft had different flight dynamics, it was only required to make some changes to the software of the on-board computers.
In addition to performing purely transport operations, the An-225 was planned to be used as the first stage of the space complex for launching payloads into space, in a variation of the Svityaz aviation rocket-comic complex. This complex made it possible to launch up to 9 tons of payload into low earth orbits. It was also planned to use a giant aircraft in a multipurpose aerospace system called MAKS, which could ensure the launch of up to 10 tons of payload into low-earth orbit, as well as 2 cosmonauts, and in an unmanned one-time version - up to 17 tons of payload.
The project of an aviation-maritime search and rescue complex (AMPSK) called Mriya-Orlyonok was also of some interest. This complex, in addition to the transport aircraft itself, also included the ekranoplan Eaglet and could be based on military and civil airfields. In the event of a receipt of information about an accident at sea, the carrier aircraft took off and followed to the area of the accident, discharging the ekranoplan with the engines turned on near the accident site. The developed wing of the Eaglet ekranoplan allowed him to make a gliding descent and landing on the water. The ekranoplane was supposed to accommodate special equipment for first aid, its salons could accommodate up to 70 people.
Unfortunately, all these projects were not implemented, and today the An-225 is used only as a transport aircraft when performing commercial air transportation of oversized cargo. According to Aleksey Isaykin, director of the Russian company Volga-Dnepr, the market demand for aircraft with a carrying capacity of up to 250 tons is estimated at 2-3 aircraft. At the same time, the Russian airline itself would not mind purchasing one An-225 aircraft. Time will tell whether these desires will ever come true.
The performance characteristics of the An-225:
Dimensions: maximum wing span - 88.4 m, length - 84.0 m, height - 18.1 m.
Wing area - 905.0 sq. m.
Aircraft weight, kg.
- empty - 250,000
- maximum takeoff - 600,000
Engine type - 6 turbofan engines D-18T "Progress", thrust - 6x229, 47 kN.
Maximum speed - 850 km / h, cruising speed - 800 km / h.
Practical flight range (with maximum load): 4,000 km.
Ferry range: 15,000 km.
Service ceiling: 11 600 m.
Crew - 6-7 people.
Payload: up to 250,000 kg. cargo
