The Antonov An-225 Mriya
Source: Pavel VANKA
“Antonov An-225 ‘Mriya'” by Pavel Vanka is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is an aircraft that was planned by the Antonov Design Bureau company in the Soviet Union throughout 1980s.
It has a length of 225 ft. and a wingspan of 290 ft. It weighs around 285 tons even when nothing is inside it. Making it the longest and heaviest airplane ever built. To handle all the weight, this aircraft has 32 wheels all around it’s landing gear.
It’s powered by 6 huge Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofan engines, each of those engines is able to pump out above 51,600 lbs. of thrust on takeoff.
There was only one aircraft of this kind that was completed and it costed around $250 million USD. A second aircraft of this kind was also started but wasn’t completed.
It has also set over 200 world records, like airlifting the worlds longest cargo and the worlds heaviest cargo.
RELATED ARTICLES:
https://interestingengineering.com/the-amazing-antonov-an-225-the-worlds-largest-cargo-plane
