World's Largest Airplane visits US!

[willbav8r]

I believe that there was only ever one of these beasts made (AN225).

Plenty of AN124's though.

 

[rfeathe1]

I think there was only 1 AN 225 built. I read somewhere that it was too expensive to operate (even for the Soviet Union). I've seen several AN 124s. Saw one in ABQ about 1995--they were changing no. 4 engine on the military side of the airport. The USAF gave them some help, loaning them engine stands, air compressors etc. I taxied within 200' of it & was surprised at the size of the engine cowlings--there was room to park a full size pickum up truck in one of them.

 

[crosscut]

Sometime in the mid 80's, there was one parked on static display at the annual Oshkosh EAA airshow. It was parked nose to nose to a Lockheed C-5. It.....
Very big airplane, and yes, it was considerably larger than the C-5

You're thinking of the -124, not the -225. The Antonov 225 wasn't even produced till '89 or late '88.

Also, the rest of you referencing C-5, ya'll, too, thinking of the Antonov 124, which, btw, resembles the C-5. -225 couldn't even be compared size- or shape-wise to anything out there: twin fins/rudders, 3 engines on each wing. I suppose as "different" as it sounds/looks, I have heard it being contrasted to the Spruce Goose before.

Antonov 225: http://airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=389

Antonov 124: http://airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=40

 

[jarhead]

Thank you....I stand corrected. Still, it was an awfully big airplane.

 

[crosscut]

undesputedly so.

 

[Flightjock30]

Yes one was only ever built according to a website about the AN-225. The strange thing is how inefficient the flightdeck layout and avionics were for a plane built in the late 1980s. You would think it would have a glass cockpit and just 2-3 crew members flying it. Resembles more like an old 747 or 707.

 

[ratings:all]

didnt they convert one of the original -225's to fly their space shuttle around? i think they used that one for spare parts to get the now airworthy -225 flying. or am i thinking of the 124?

taxied next to a -124 at IAH once-it was like the box the bird i was on came in.

 

[crosscut]

...taxied next to a -124 at IAH once-it was like the box the bird i was on came in.

Huh?

You lost me. Do you mean,

a)“this bird was like the box it came out of,” as in…. the airplane was as square-looking as the box it came out of? or

b)the IAH (& the city of Houston) smells like the birds’ box, or

c)are you telling “us ‘bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above…?”

 

[cargoflyr69]

Saw an AN-124 on approach up in Cleveland about a week ago. We were #1 and were cleared to go, capt looked to the left an stomped on the brakes as he thought it was more like on a 1/4 mile final vs. the 4 mile final tower had advised. Needless to say we were rolling down the centerline seconds later. If there is a next time, I will gladly hold short and take the wake turbulence delay in the mighty Saab just to see that beast on an aircraft land!

 

[metrodriver]

The An225 was originally designed to carry the russian space shuttle around, but since the shelving of the space shuttle program they finally figured out that there is a way to make money with this beast of an airplane. And since its original task was carrying the shuttle I think the russians figured it wouldn't make much sense to put a very advanced cockpit in this machine if it only flies once in a while.