AN-225 "Mriya" - the largest aircraft in the world

AN-225 "Mriya" is the heavy hoisting aircraft ever to take to the skies. Maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 640 tons. The reason for the construction of An-225 aircraft was a need to create a transport system for the project of the Soviet space shuttle "Buran". The plane exists in a single copy.
Pictures of the miracle of technology-




The plane was designed and built in the USSR in 1988 at the Kiev Mechanical Plant.
"Mriya" set the world record take-off weight and payload. March 22, 1989 An-225 made the flight with a cargo of 156, 3 tons, beating the same time 110 world aviation records, which is a record in itself.









Since the beginning of operation of the aircraft has flown 3740 hours. Assuming that the average speed of flight (including take-off, climb, cruise, descent, approach) is about 500 km / h, it is possible to calculate the approximate value of the distance covered: 500 x 3740 = 1.87 million kilometers (more than 46 turns around the Earth at the equator).







The scale of the An-225 strike length of the aircraft - 84 meters, height - 18 meters (as a 6-storey building entrances 4)





Visual comparison "Mriya" and passenger Boeing 747.
If we take the largest of the Boeing 747-800, the length of the An-225 is more than 8 meters, wingspan - 20 meters.
Compared with the Airbus A380 «Mriya" long by 11 meters and a wing span it exceeds it by almost 9 meters.









Weight of fuel in the tanks of 365 tons, is located in 13 wing tanks-caissons.
The aircraft can stay airborne for 18 hours and cover a distance of more than 15 000 km.



Wingspan is 88, 4 meters, and the area - 905 m²
The only aircraft that surpasses the AN-225 wing span, is Hughes H-4 Hercules, which belongs to a class of flying boats. The air boat rose only once, in 1947. The history of this aircraft is reflected in the film "The Aviator»





The chassis includes a two nasal and 14 rack-mounted home (7 racks on each side) of the support.
Each rack placed on two wheels. Total 32 wheels.







Dimensions of cargo cabin: length - 43 m, width - 6, 4 m, height - 4, 4 m.
The cargo compartment of the aircraft is tight, which allows for various types of freight. Inside the cabin can accommodate 16 standard containers, up to 80 cars and even large trucks such as "BelAZ". There is enough space to fit the entire body of a Boeing 737.



The aircraft is 6 engine D-18T.
On takeoff thrust per engine develops 23, 4 tons (or 230 kN) r. E. Overall thrust of 6 engine is 140, 5 tons (1380 kN)



















"Mriya" - the champion of the weight of cargo: commercial - 247 tons (which is four times greater than the maximum payload of 747), commercial monocargo - 187, 6 tons carrying capacity and an absolute record - 253, 8 tons. June 10, 2010 transported the most lengthy in the history of air cargo transportation - two windmill blade length 42, 1 m each.







For towing aircraft An-225 aircraft carrier can not use other companies, so the carrier is transported on board the aircraft.
And as the plane was not equipped with rear gruzolyukom and towing the carrier is unloaded and loaded from the front gruzolyuk that requires a full cycle of squats airplane on the front support, as a result, lost at least 30 minutes and unnecessarily consumes a resource of the aircraft structure and systems squats.















The passenger compartment is divided into 2 parts: the front is the crew, and in the back - and accompanying staff.
Sealing separate cabins - they are separated wing.



The rear of the cabin attendants, intended for eating, working with technical documentation and conferences.
The airplane provides 18 places for rest of the crew and members of the engineering team - 6 seats in the front cabin and 12 in the rear.















The crew consists of 6 persons:
the aircraft commander, co-pilot, navigator, flight engineer senior, flight engineer on aircraft equipment, radio operator.





Steering wheel control the largest aircraft in the world.
Control of the aircraft that the booster control surfaces are deflected solely by means of hydraulic steering gear failure which control the aircraft by hand (with an increase in the required effort) is not possible. Therefore applied quadruple redundancy. Mechanical control system (on the wheel and pedals to the hydraulic steering gear) consists of rigid rods and cables.
The total length of these cables is as follows: aileron control system in the fuselage - about 30 meters, each arm (left, right) wing - approximately 35 meters; elevator control system and the rudder - about 65 meters each.









































Landing at night "Mrie" performed instrumentally, t. E. The instrument, from the height and alignment to the touch - visually. According to the crew, one of the hardest landings - in Kabul, which is associated with high mountains and a lot of obstacles. Sunset start at a speed of 340 km / h to a height of 200 meters, then gradually speed reset.







Planting is carried out at a speed of 295 km / h with fully released mechanization. Allowed to touch the runway at a vertical speed of 6 m / s. After touchdown, immediately shifted reverse thrust on the engines from 2 to 5 and 1 and 6 left at idle. Chassis Braking is carried out at a speed of 140-150 km / h to a full stop of the aircraft.



Resource aircraft - 8000 flight hours, 2000 aircraft movements, 25 calendar years.
The plane can still fly up to December 21, 2013 (the 25th anniversary since the beginning of its operation), and then will perform a thorough investigation of its technical condition and carry out the necessary work to ensure the extension of the calendar life of 45 years.



This is probably one of the most beautiful and impressive aircraft in the world.



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