Sky Giants: Exploring the Legacy of Antonov AN-225 Mriya

 


Our skies are packed with thousands of aircrafts serving a multitude of purposes ranging from military to passenger to freight/cargo carriers. However, among these planes, a famous name stands out, the Antonov An-225 Mriya.

The Antonov An-225 is the largest and heaviest airplane in the world and is commissioned by the Ukrainian (former Soviet Union) based company, Antonov in 1985. The aircraft is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft. It took its first flight in 1988 and continued flying till 2004 until it was decided that such a large aircraft was not needed. Its 6 engines were thus then removed and used for other developments. Later it was decided to redesign the An-225 and was placed back into service by Antonov Airlines. The plane had a massive capacity of 190 tons and had a wingspan of a whopping 88.4m.

The purpose of the An-225 was to deliver airlifts and resources to a lot of places in the world. Some of their missions are as follows: 

  1. 216,000 prepared meals from Stuttgart, Germany to Thumrait, Oman for American soldiers.
  2. Various trips to transport military supplies to the Middle East. 
  3. Chimney duct from Denmark to Kazakhstan. 
  4. On 11 August 2009, the heaviest single cargo item ever sent by air was loaded onto the An-225. At 16.23 m (53 ft 3 in) long and 4.27 m (14 ft 0 in) wide, its consignment, a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia along with its loading frame. 
  5. On 11 September 2001, carrying five main battle tanks at a record load of 253.82 tonnes (279.79 short tons) of cargo. 
  6. On 11 June 2010, the An-225 carried the world's longest piece of air cargo, two 42.1 m (138 ft) test wind turbine blades from Tianjin, China, to Skrydstrup, Denmark. 
The Antonov An-225 also has 240 world records to its name. 

The aircraft's last commercial mission was from 2 to 5 February 2022, to collect almost 90 tons of COVID-19 test kits from Tianjin, China, and deliver them to Billund, Denmark, via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. After that it returned to the Antonov Airport near Kyiv, Ukraine. On 24 February 2022, the Russian army attacked Ukraine and the airport was one of its prime targets. In the following Battle of Antonov Airport, the An-225 was destroyed and was the only such model of its kind made. 

This was the story of the king of the skies, The Antonov An-225 Mriya. 


By Ishan Sheth