World's Largest Airplane Lands At RDU

WRAL ^ | October 27, 2006

[NCjim]

RALEIGH, N.C. -- People around the Raleigh-Durham International Airport had the chance to see an unusual sight above them Friday, as the world's largest aircraft swept down to land.

The six-engine, 275-foot-long Antonov AN-225 was originally designed to provide a piggy-back for the Soviet Buran space shuttle. The plane is headed to Tanzania with a 242,000-pound portable power plant on board. It's scheduled to take off again around midnight.

[NCjim]

Here is a link to a picture of this beast:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1124701&size=M&width=1200&height=812&sok=JURER%20%20%28ZNGPU%20%28nvepensg%2Cnveyvar%2Ccynpr%2Ccubgb_qngr%2Cpbhagel%2Cerznex%2Ccubgbtencure%2Crznvy%2Clrne%2Cert%2Cnvepensg_trarevp%2Cpa%2Cpbqr%29%20NTNVAFG%20%28%27%2B%22NA-225%22%27%20VA%20OBBYRNA%20ZBQR%29%29%20%20BEQRE%20OL%20cubgb_vq%20QRFP&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=

[Kozak]

A real BUFF....

[Nailbiter]

I think I saw this at Oshkosh '79 or 80

[Paladin2]

All of the wheels and tires on the landing gear remind one of the 160,000# trucks on the roads in Michigan.

[Alia]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[Paladin2]

Examples:

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/t_gibson.htm

[AZRepublican]

I'd hate to get stuck with the refueling bill on that baby!

[Kozak]

I'd hate to have the check the tire pressure...

[AZRepublican]

I'd like to see a 747 parked next to that thing....

[The Worthless Miracle]

"I'd hate to have the check the tire pressure."

lol

[sporkweasel]

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I would hate the job of painting that damn thing, you would never be done.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I would hate the job of painting that damn thing, you would never be done.

[Fractal Trader]

aerospace ping

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

I like the image of the Goose still dominating the newer big planes. Pretty proportions too.

C-17 and C-5 need to be thrown in the mix.

[greasepaint]

about the cargo

a 240,000 pound, power plant

It has to go by air?

a ship would not work?

[Paladin2]

Might be faster to fly. Time is money.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Strange Aviation Quotes

Aviation Quotes

Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." -- General Douglas MacArthur

"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." – USMC Gunnery Sergeant

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing." -- At the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base
Kadena, Japan

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." -- Paul F. Crickmore, test pilot

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

"Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky."

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe."

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

"Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club."

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, the pilot dies"

“Never trade luck for skill."

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are:
"Why is it doing that?"
"Where are we?"
and "Oh S***!"

“Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."

"Progress in airline flying: now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant."

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."

"A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication."

"I remember when sex was safe and flying was dangerous."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"

"Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries."

“Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

"When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten."

"Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day."

Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII: "When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and gently as possible."

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." -- Attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot

"A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum." -- Jon McBride, astronaut

"If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible." -- Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot)

"Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you."

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." -- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."

Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?" The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!"

[GreenAccord]

a ship would not work?

Not if it was manufactured/assembled inland, as Raliegh, NC is. And the cost to route the item across highways and roads might be prohibitive.

I'd bet the cost, end to end, from Raliegh to the destination is less this way. I still woudn't want to pay for it, although if I get a cut of the profits...

[Excellence]

It may be well inland in an area with roads too narrow for the truck required to haul it.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Might be a turbine or generator. They'ed be small enough. Expensive, but relatively small.

Transformers are 250,000 to 540,000 lbs. Also a possibility. Gas turbine itself?
Any other those would cut days or weeks off of the delivery time, if the previous generator or transformer blew out. A power plant earns 250,000.00 to 100,000.00 per hour, so a six week ocean voyage is very expensive if the plant is shutdown because the part is late.


Ship traffic is so slow, and then not always accessible to the power plant, even after it gets to the other country. Many power plants are not on the main rivers where arge traffic can go.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

I got the impression that the plane landed for refueling, not delivery.

[patton]

Must be one heck of a fed ex bill.

[digger48]

Lots of really cool pictures there

[cavador]

You can never have too many parachutes.
If you can fly to your destination without having to ask instructions you have performed a miracle.

[July 4th]

In Australia, they have "road trains." Those things freak me out.

http://www.ausfuel.com.au/photoarticles-B0952EFB-BBE1-4AEA-84A88F51C623A070.htm

[IncPen]

I just saw something on the History or Discover channel about this plane. Seems they used it to transport a rocket to NASA in two parts. They showed some footage of a crash. Seems the big planes crash as well as any other...

But dang, that is a big plane

[Paladin2]

That's not a train, it's a pipeline! Nice 'roo guard too.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good looking plane...

[Youngman442002]

I wonder what the stewardesses look like......

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

In Australia, they have "road trains." Those things freak me out.

Well, sure.

Now, iffen you'd only been on the right side of the road, you wouldn't feel so left out as the roo guard approaches your head ....

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

Similarly: "You always have enough fuel to get you to the crash site."

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Not if it was manufactured/assembled inland, as Raliegh, NC is.

Isn't that why almost all manufacturing plants for heavy equipment are located adjacent to bodies of water?

Of course, could be that transport internal to Africa is so problematic, it's cheaper fly the whole thing the whole way, rather than off loading it for overland transport at an African port.

[Vinnie]

Missed the landing but I went out to RDU and watched it take off. Me and about 200 others.
It left right at midnight in a light rain.
Used most of the 13k runway.
Beautiful aircraft. Surprisingly quiet. Everone cheered when it lifted off

[mewzilla]

It looks like a pregnant guppy.

[NormsRevenge]

That is one B.. A.. bird. wow.

How the heck it even gets off the ground .. Thanks!

[CTOCS]

Refueling from where???

She's already a helluva long way from home.

BTW, where in Africa is there a runway long enough for this beast?

[Fiddlstix]

Ditto

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Dunno. Not enough info in the original story. 8<)

Russian militray jet = can do lots of unexpected stuff on rough fields. Africa's a big continent, it has decent airports. In some places.

[Paleo Conservative]

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[phantomworker]

Cool. I guess that's one way to get a shuttle from place to place.

[RightWhale]

NASA has that piggyback Shuttle transport too. They use it when the Shuttle has to land in California.

[verity]

I saw the same fascinating program. Either in the same program or a different one in the same series, they featured a Soviet rotary wing aircraft deemed to be the largest ever built.

Seems as though they liked their large toys.

[Aeronaut]

I think I saw this at Oshkosh '79 or 80

I think you saw the AN-124. It is (slightly) bigger than the C-5A. It looked to me like it was built by a bridgeworks.

[Professional Engineer]

You can say that again!!

[Moose4]

Yep, there's only that one An-225 in existence. Although supposedly Antonov has a second Mriya partially assembled, and there's talk that they're going to go ahead and finish it. There may be enough of a market for it to make it profitable.

The 124s are apparently in quite high demand world-wide for large cargo, things too bulky to fit even in a 747-400F.

}:-)4

[Central Scrutiniser]

Coool.....

[phantomworker]

Interesting comparisons! From the basic planform, it looks like the A380 fuselage isn't that much larger than the 747, yet the wing and tail are huge. It's probably not drawn to scale, though.

[JusPasenThru]

LOL bump.