The World’s Largest Airplane Flies Again | FerrariChat

The World’s Largest Airplane Flies Again

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by NYC Fred, Mar 29, 2020.

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  1. NYC Fred

    NYC Fred F1 Veteran
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  2. tejasemser

    tejasemser Rookie

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    Saw one parked on the ramp while over-flying KAFW some years ago. Huge doesn't do it justice ... and I've been around several C-5's....
     
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  3. Smiles

    Smiles F1 World Champ
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    G0sh.

    The B-52 is 185’ wingspan.

    Matt
     
  4. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    Saw it fly at Farnborough in 1990 - very impressive. Supposedly they have enough parts to build a second one, but not the finances to do so.
     
  5. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    There is only one? I thought a few were built.
     
  6. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    1.6 were built. Second one is in the plant in parts, still..

    Read the article in the link...., quote:

    "There’s also a second AN-225 that has been sitting in a state of only partial completion for decades. In 2016, Antonov initiated efforts to complete it, but there have been few updates since then."
     
  7. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    I guess I just assumed there were a few of them.
     
  8. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    She shows up enough in movies to make you think there were a bunch of them.
     
  9. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    And it's easy to confuse with the An-124 (many of them) if one is just glancing.

    To build the An-225, they just lengthened the An-124 fuselage, Lengthened the wings (at the roots) and added a couple engines (same engines).
    Also added the twin tail to clear their space shuttle.
    So it looks very similar.... both are huge.

    I've seen the An-124 a number of times.... big.
     
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  10. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    I have seen the 124 a couple of times. It is big. 225 I have only seen pictures.
     
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  11. Mule

    Mule F1 Rookie
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    #11 Mule, Mar 31, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2020
    An-124 is in Anchorage a lot. An-225 was up here in 1989 with two Mig-29s. Back then it was a USSR military plane, now after a bunch of paint jobs, it's a contract plane. I think the last visit to Anchorage was a decade ago.
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  12. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    An-124's used to come to Denver regularly, Martin Marietta used them to haul rocket boosters to Florida.
    Could see them parked at DIA often...huge... have not seen them recently.

    When they fly over here at altitude you can tell, the sound (engine) is unique.
     
  13. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    I saw an An-124 at Palm Beach International once. Supposedly it had been hired by Pratt & Whitney to transport a 777 engine to their testing facility nearby.

    I was told that the span of the horizontal stabilizer on the An-225 is greater than the wingspan of an Avro Lancaster bomber!
     
  14. Bob Parks

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    When the AN225 visited Abottsford in 1990 I got to climb all through it except where the crew lived. They had quarters with beds and showers and an eatery.
    The construction wasn't like what you would see on a 747, or C-5. I noticed spot welded skins in the lower fuselage. All of the landing gear assemblies were the same and none of them articulated in a turn, they simply scrubbed around on the ramp or runway. They had a huge load of wheels and tires in the hold. When it was their time to perform they cranked it up and went to the west end of the east/west runway. Then they did a short loud take off and made a steep climb out while making a tight turn to the north , made a tight turn to the west and kept the turn to bring them around to the show line runway. They made smoky landing in front of the crowd and poured the coal on and did a touch and go. Then headed east to get turned around and made a landing on the short east/west strip. Impressive piloting and an impressive air plane.
     
  15. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Lots of steel on Russian airplanes.
     
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  16. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Probably two of the most interesting airports to see BIG airplanes are Burbank and San Diego. C-5's used to go into Burbank to pick up stuff from Skunk Works. Recall seeing an AN-124 at SanDiego picking up or dropping off SDYC's 12m America Cup boat.
     
  17. tritone

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  18. Bob Parks

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    What happens if the guy in right airplane decides to make a right turn and the in the left wants to make a left turn?? That center section has to be a bit stout !
     
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  19. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    I know Burt Rutan is a smart guy and all but for the life of me I cannot figure out why he left it to the center section alone to provide all that torsional support. I don't think attaching the horizontal stabs would have been an issue for its design purpose. But then I have never designed an airplane not made of paper or built one not made of balsa.
     
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  20. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Interesting considering they are the second largest producer of titanium and one of the best working with it. They built a submarine from the stuff.
     
  21. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    We postulated that the MiG-25 had lots of titanium in intelligence reports in the early 70s. Then Belenko gifted us one in 1976 and lo and behold, lots of those titanium parts were steel. Some of them were even rusting on a pretty much brand new aircraft.
     
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  22. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #22 Rifledriver, Apr 2, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2020
    I know. I just find it interesting. They have been famous for making second rate crude stuff work and work quite well. The Foxbat was a one trick pony but it sure was fast. Motors were junk though apparently. T34's won the war on the Eastern front and from all accounts it was a tinker toy. Tigers sank in the mud because they were so over weight and only a Tiger could tow a Tiger. Russia is mud about 6 months a year so that was kind of important. AK47 was a crude POS but I would have much preferred going to battle with one than the garbage we issued. Many were used by our SF guys for that reason.
     
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  23. zygomatic

    zygomatic F1 Rookie
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    Ironically we were the ones buying their titanium to build airplanes. Specifically, the SR-71.

    I've never seen the 225 fly, but I imagine the takeoffs would be something like this:
     
  24. rcrx

    rcrx Rookie

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    The World’s largest aircraft is the Hughes “Spruce Goose” - 320ft wingspan.
     
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  25. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    We not only buy their titanium (not much choice really) we have them deliver the finished product very often because the stuff is so difficult to work with and they are very good at it.
     
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