I don’t want to bore you with the history about airplane and it’s existence. My interest in aviation started after meeting with a good friend who is a pilot and she took me through the wonderful experience of flying an aircraft ranging from airplane to helicopter. Since then I love to watch documentaries about it, talk and listen to people talk about it. Today I will like to talk about this new “creature” though it has been around for long. The Antonov An-225 Mriya; it is the largest airplane in the world with a wingspan about the length of a FIFA football field and the world has only one of this beautiful and effective aircraft.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
My reaction was wow 😳 when I first read about it. This aircraft was first used by Soviet Union to carryout a military mission of transporting Buran Spaceplane before it was approved as a commercial cargo flight for Antonov Airline which can carry oversized payloads. The airlifter holds the absolute world record for an airlifted single-item payload of 189,980 kilograms (418,830 pounds), and an airlifted total payload of 253,820 kg (559,580 lb). It has also transported a payload of 247,000 kg (545,000 lb) on a commercial flight. It can travel at full speed of 850km/hr and cruise at 800km/hr
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
Unlike regular planes, It is powered by 6 turbocharged engines with 3 on each wingspan instead of 1 and has 40 tires, instead of 18.⠀Also the initial An-225 had a maximum gross weight of 600 t (660 short tons), but from 2000 to 2001 the aircraft underwent modifications at a cost of US$20M such as the addition of a reinforced floor, which increased the maximum gross weight to 640 t (710 short tons)
ACCEPTANCE
Due to the size and uniqueness of An-225, people frequently visit airports to see its scheduled arrivals and departures, such as in Perth, Australia in May 2016 where a crowd of more than 50,000 gathered at Perth Airport to watch such breakthrough in aviation world.
I look forward to country like China, Japan, USA, Russia and other countries who are vast in technology to come up with something of this magnitude or bigger.
With science and technology we can make this world better and easier.
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