An-225 "Mriya" - the largest aircraft in the world
An-225 "Mriya" (translated from Ukrainian - "dream") is the heaviest cargo aircraft ever to fly into the air. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 640 tons. The reason for the construction of the An-225 was the need to create aviation transport system for the project of the Soviet reusable space shuttle Buran. The plane exists in a single copy.
The aircraft was designed in the USSR and built in 1988 at the Kiev Mechanical Plant.
Mriya set a world record for take-off weight and payload. 22 March 1989 of the year An-225 flew tons of 156,3 cargo, thereby breaking the world's aviation records 110, which is a record in itself.
Since the start of operation, the aircraft has flown 3740 hours. If we assume that the average flight speed (taking into account take-off, climb, cruise flight, descent, landing approach) is about 500 km / h, then we can calculate the approximate mileage: 500 x 3740 = 1 870 000 km (more than 46 turns around the Earth at the equator).
The scale of An-225 is amazing: the length of the aircraft is 84 meters, the height is 18 meters (like the 6-storey 4-access house)
Visual comparison of the Mriya and the passenger Boeing 747.
If we take the largest of the Boeing 747-800 as a basis, then the length of the An-225 will be longer by 8 meters, and the wingspan will be by 20 meters.
Compared to the Airbus A380, the “Mriya” is longer by 11 meters, and in wing span it exceeds it by almost 9 meters.
It happens that the airport does not have adequate parking for such a large aircraft, and it is placed directly on the runway.
Of course, we are talking about a spare runway, if one is available at the airport.
The wingspan is 88,4 meters, and the area - 905 m²
The only aircraft that surpasses the An-225 in wing span is the Hughes H-4 Hercules, which belongs to the class of flying boats. The ship rose into the air only once in the 1947 year. History this aircraft is reflected in the movie "Aviator"
Since the Buran spacecraft itself and the Energia launch vehicle units were larger than the Mriya cargo compartment, the new aircraft provided for securing loads outside. In addition, it was planned that the aircraft will be used as the first step at the start of the spacecraft.
The formation of a wake from the oversized cargo fixed at the top of the aircraft required the installation of two-tail tail units in order to avoid aerodynamic shadowing.
The aircraft is equipped with X-NUMX D-6T engines.
In takeoff mode, each engine develops 23,4 tons of thrust (or 230 kN), that is, the total thrust of all 6 engines is 140,5 tons (1380 kN)
It can be assumed that each engine in take-off mode develops power around 12 500 horsepower!
Engines of the An-18 D-225T aircraft are the same as those of the An-124 Ruslan.
The height of such an engine is 3 m, width is 2,8 m, and weight is more than 4 tons.
Starting system - air, with electric automatic control. The auxiliary power unit, consisting of two TA-12 turbine units installed in the left and right chassis fairings, provides autonomous power for all systems and engine start.
The mass of fuel in the tanks is 365 tons, it is placed in the 13 wing tanks-caissons.
The aircraft can remain in the air for 18 hours and cover a distance over 15 000 km.
The refueling time of such a machine ranges from half an hour to a day and a half, and the number of tankers depends on their capacity (from 5 to 50 tons), that is, from 7 to 70 tankers.
The fuel consumption of the aircraft is 15,9 tons / h (in cruise mode)
When fully loaded, the aircraft can be in the sky without refueling no more than 2 hours.
The chassis includes a two-post nasal and 14-rack home (7 racks on each side) supports.
Each rack has two wheels. Total 32 wheels.
Wheels need replacing every 90 landings.
Tires for "Mriya" produced at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. The price of one tire is about $ 1000.
On the nose strut - the wheel size 1120 x 450 mm, and on the main - the wheel size 1270 x 510 mm.
The pressure inside is 12 atmospheres.
Since 2001, An-225 has been performing commercial freight as part of Antonov Airlines
Cargo cabin dimensions: length - 43 m, width - 6,4 m, height - 4,4 m.
The cargo cabin of the aircraft is sealed, which allows for the transportation of goods of various types. Inside the cab, you can place 16 standard containers, up to 80 passenger cars, and even heavy-duty dump trucks of the type BelAZ. There is enough space to fit the entire body of the Boeing-737.
Access to the cargo hold through the nose of the aircraft, which leans back up.
The process of opening / closing the cargo ramp takes no more than 10 minutes.
To lay out the ramp, the plane performs the so-called “elephant bow”.
The front landing gear is deflected forward, and the weight of the aircraft is transferred to the auxiliary supports, which are installed under the front threshold of the cargo compartment.
Auxiliary support.
Control panel of the squat system of the aircraft.
This method of loading has several advantages in comparison with the Boeing-747 (which is loaded through a compartment in the side of the fuselage.
“Mriya” is the record for the weight of the transported cargo: commercial - 247 tons (which is four times the maximum payload of the Boeing-747), commercial single cargo - 187,6 tons, and the absolute record of carrying capacity - 253,8 tons. June 10 2010 transported the longest cargo in the history of air transportation - two blades of a windmill with a length of 42,1 m each.
To ensure safe flight performance, the center of gravity of an aircraft with cargo must be within certain limits along its length. The lode master performs the loading in strict accordance with the instructions, after which the co-pilot checks the correct placement of the cargo and reports this to the crew commander, who decides on the possibility of flying and is responsible for this.
The aircraft is equipped with an onboard loading complex consisting of four lifting mechanisms, each with a load capacity of 5 tons.
In addition, there are two floor winches for loading non-self-propelled wheeled vehicles and cargo on the loading ramp.
At this time, An-225 chartered the French engineering company Alstom to transport 170 tons of cargo from Zurich to Bahrain, with refueling in Athens and Cairo.
This is a turbine rotor, a turbine generator for the production of electricity and components.
Flight Manager Vadim Nikolaevich Deniskov.
For towing the An-225 aircraft it is impossible to use the carrier of aircraft of other companies, therefore the carrier is transported on board the aircraft.
And since the plane is not equipped with a rear weight lifter and the towing carrier is unloaded and loaded through the front load lifter, which requires the aircraft to squat on the front foot full cycle, as a result, at least 30 minutes are lost and the design of the aircraft and squat system is spent unnecessarily.
Technician Brigadier for THAT Sun.
To ensure turns when the aircraft is moving along the ground, the last four rows of the main support struts are orientated.
Aircraft maintenance technician: specialization “hydraulic system and chassis”.
The heavy weight of the aircraft leads to the fact that the landing gear leaves traces on the asphalt.
Ladder and hatch in the cockpit.
The passenger compartment is divided into 2 parts: in the front is the crew of the aircraft, and in the rear is the accompanying and support staff.
Sealing cabins separate - they are separated by a wing.
The back of the cabin accompanying, designed for eating, working with technical documentation and conferences.
The aircraft provides 18 seating for crew members and members of the engineering brigade - 6 seats in the front cabin and 12 in the rear.
Ladder and hatch in the cabin accompanying the tail end of the aircraft.
The technical compartment, located in the rear of the cockpit.
On the shelves are visible blocks that operate the various systems of the aircraft, and pipelines of the pressurization system and air conditioning and anti-icing system. All aircraft systems are highly automated and require minimal crew intervention during operation. Their work is supported by 34 on-board computers.
The wall of the front side member of the center section. It is installed (from top to bottom): the transmission of the slats and pipelines for air extraction from the engines.
Before her stationary cylinders of the fire protection system with the fire extinguishing agent "Freon".
Stickers - souvenirs from numerous visitors on the panel on the casement hatch emergency escape aircraft.
The most distant point from the base airport, which was able to visit the plane, is the island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia.
The distance along the shortest arc of the globe is about 16400 km.
Rynda An-225
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mason, mentioned in the engraving, is an engineer for the operation of the Armed Forces, who for many years worked for Mriya.
The aircraft commander (FAC) - Vladimir Y. Mosin.
To become the commander of the An-225, you must have experience flying the An-124 as the commander for at least 5 years.
Weight and centering control is simplified by installing weight loads on the chassis.
The aircraft crew consists of 6 people:
the commander of the aircraft, co-pilot, navigator, senior flight engineer, flight engineer for aviation equipment, a radio operator.
Ore
To reduce the efforts on the ORES and improve the accuracy of the installation of engine operating modes, a system of remote control of the engines is provided. In this case, the pilot makes a relatively small effort to move the lever of the electromechanical device mounted on the engine using cables, which reproduces this movement on the lever of the fuel regulator with the necessary effort and precision. For the convenience of joint control on take-off and landing, thrusters of extreme engines (RUD1 and RUD6) are coupled respectively with RUD2 and RUD5.
The steering wheel controls the largest aircraft in the world.
Control of the aircraft is booster steering surfaces are deflected exclusively by hydraulic steering gears, in the event of which they are not able to manually control the aircraft (with an increase in the required effort). Therefore, a fourfold reservation is applied. The mechanical part of the control system (from the steering wheel and pedals to hydraulic steering gears) consists of rigid rods and cables.
The total length of these cables is: aileron control systems in the fuselage - about 30 meters, in each console (left, right) wing - approximately 35 meters; The elevator and rudder control systems are about 65 meters each.
When an empty plane - for takeoff and landing enough 2400 m runway.
Takeoff with a maximum weight - 3500 m, landing with a maximum weight - 3300 m.
At the executive start, the engine starts warming up, which takes 10 minutes.
Thus, the engine surges on take-off are prevented and its maximum take-off thrust is ensured. Of course, this requirement leads to the fact that: the take-off is made during the minimum load of the airport, or the aircraft waits for its turn for take-off for a long time, skipping flights on a schedule.
The speed at take-off and landing depends on the take-off and landing weight of the aircraft and is 240km / h to 280 km / h.
Climbing is carried out at a speed of 560 km / h, with a vertical speed of 8 m / s.
At an altitude of 7100 meters, the speed increases to 675 km / h with a further continuation of the climb to flight level.
Cruising speed An-225 - 850 km / h
When calculating the cruising speed, the weight of the aircraft and the range that the aircraft must travel is taken into account.
Dmitry Viktorovich Antonov - senior PIC.
The middle panel of the dashboard pilots.
Backup instruments: artificial horizon and height gauge. Fuel lever position indicator (UPRT), engine thrust indicator (UT). Indicators of deviations of steering surfaces and landing gears (slats, flaps, spoilers).
Dashboard senior flight engineer.
In the lower left corner is a side panel with controls for the hydraulic complex and chassis position signaling. Top left panel of the aircraft fire protection system. Right above the panel with the organs and instruments of control: the launch of the APU, pressurization and air conditioning systems, anti-icing system and a block of signal boards. Below is a panel with governing bodies and control systems for the fuel supply system, engine operation monitoring and on-board automated control system (BASK) for all aircraft parameters.
Senior on-board engineer - Polishchuk Alexander Nikolaevich.
Dashboard control engine operation.
At the left, at the top, a vertical position indicator of the fuel levers. Large round gauges - indicators of revolutions of the high-pressure compressor and the engine fan. Small round devices - indicators of oil temperature at the engine inlet. The block of vertical devices at the bottom is an indicator of the amount of oil in the engine oil tanks.
Dashboard engineer for aviation equipment.
Here are located the controls and instruments for monitoring the power supply system of the aircraft and the oxygen system.
The navigator - Anatoly Binyatovich Abdullaev.
Flight over the territory of Greece.
Navigator instructor - Yaroslav Ivanovich Koshitsky.
Short-haired man - Gennady Y. Antipov.
ICAO's call sign for An-225 on the flight from Zurich to Athens was ADB-3038.
Airborne engineer - Yuri Anatolyevich Mindar.
Runway Airport Athens.
Landing at night on the “Mrie” is performed instrumentally, that is, using instruments, from a leveling height to touch, visually. According to the crew, one of the most difficult landings is in Kabul, which is associated with high mountains and many obstacles. Sunset starts at a speed of 340 km / h to a height of 200 meters, then gradually speed drops.
Landing is carried out at a speed of 295 km / h with fully released mechanization. It is allowed to touch the runway at vertical speed 6 m / s. After touching the runway, the thrust reverser is immediately shifted on engines from 2 to 5, and 1 and 6 are left on low gas. The chassis braking is carried out at a speed of 140-150 km / h to a full stop of the aircraft.
Aircraft life - 8000 flight hours, 2000 takeoffs and landings, 25 calendar years.
The aircraft can still fly up to 21 December 2013 of the year (25 is executed years from the moment of its start), after which a thorough study of its technical condition will be performed and the necessary work to ensure the extension of the calendar life to 45 years will be performed.
Due to the high cost of transportation on the An-225, orders appear only for very long and very heavy loads, when transportation by land transport is not possible. Flights are random: from 2-3 per month to 1-2 per year. Periodically there is talk of building a second instance of the An-225, but for this you need an appropriate order and appropriate funding. To complete the construction, an amount approximately equal to $ 90 million is needed, and taking into account the tests, it increases to $ 120 million.
Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful and impressive aircraft in the world.
Thanks to Antonov Airlines for help in organizing photography!
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