The impressive video in this post shows the giant Antonov An-225 Mriya blowing away the perimeter fence of the base runway at the moment of the takeoff.
Taken on Jun. 24, 2021 at RAF Brize Norton by our friend Dafydd Phillips, the impressive video in this post shows the giant Antonov An-225 Mriya blowing away the perimeter fence of the base runway at the moment of the takeoff.
‘The Antonov 225 Mriya gave us one final treat as it departed Brize Norton to head home to Kiev in the Ukraine. A quick blast on all six was enough to destroy the fence at the end of runway 25,’ says Phillips.
According to Gloucestershire Live, the Antonov arrived yesterday to Brize Norton from Karachi.
The giant aircraft, capable of lifting 700 tonnes, is a part of the NATO forces‘ withdrawal process as foreign troops leave Afghanistan.
The aircraft is carrying three Royal Airforce (RAF) helicopters from Afghanistan to the UK.
The An-225 participated in the COVID-19 pandemic relief effort, conducting flights to deliver medical supplies from China to other parts of the world.
It is powered by six turbofan engines and is the heaviest aircraft ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit. ‘dream’ or ‘inspiration’; NATO reporting name: Cossack) is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft that was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union during the 1980s. It is powered by six turbofan engines and is the heaviest aircraft ever built. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. The single example built has the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060. A second airframe with a slightly different configuration was partially built. Its construction was halted in 1994 because of lack of funding and interest, but revived briefly in 2009, bringing it to 60–70% completion. On Aug. 30, 2016, Antonov agreed to complete the second airframe for Airspace Industry Corporation of China (not to be confused with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China) as a prelude to commencing series production.
The Antonov An-225 was an enlargement of the successful Antonov An-124 that was initially developed for transporting the Buran spaceplane. The only An-225 airplane was completed in 1988. After successfully fulfilling its Soviet military missions, it was mothballed for eight years. It was then refurbished and re-introduced, and is in commercial operation with Antonov Airlines carrying oversized payloads. The airlifter holds the absolute world records 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.
Photo credit: Dafydd Phillips
