Antonov An-225 at MIA Today

[Silverplate]

Its not a warbird but still gets big attention.

The World’s largest aircraft an Antonov An-225 landed at MIA today for an overnight stop prior to departing for Haiti. The flight originated at Narita, Japan with a stop in Fairbanks, Alaska and on to Miami. The flight is carrying aid relief for Haiti.

[Ztex]

Amazing!

[richkolasa]

I MUST photograph her!!!

Rich

[TimAPNY]

Can't tell is that is the same a/c I say in 1991 in CT, Looks different in those colors. I saw one it was in Soviet Colors. Very cool I'd love to see one again.

Tim

[CAPFlyer]

There is only 1 AN-225 flying, so if you saw the -225, then that's the one.

If it was in Connecticut though, you probably saw an AN-124, the slightly smaller, 4-engined variant. Most of the aerospace companies use AN-124s to move around aircraft and rocket parts because the C-5's aren't always available and (more critically for the rockets) not all fit inside a C-5B or even the C-5C. Lockheed is one of the largest users of the AN-124 for this purpose in the US moving Atlas V's between the plants and the launchpads.

[RareBear]

There are several AN-124's a week flying into CHS to carry the MRAP vehicles made locally to Iran and A'stan. Along with the Atlas, Evergreen, Callitta and Polar 747's there's a lot of heavy lift capability coming in here (besides the C-17's).

Walt

[RMAllnutt]

There are several AN-124's a week flying into CHS to carry the MRAP vehicles made locally to Iran and A'stan. Along with the Atlas, Evergreen, Callitta and Polar 747's there's a lot of heavy lift capability coming in here (besides the C-17's).

Walt

ummmm.... did you mean to say Iraq, rather than Iran, or was that a Freudian slip???

Great photos by the way.... she sure is a beast!!!

Cheers,
Richard

[Rick65]

Are the protrusions out the top of the fuselage leftovers from it's Buran carrying days?
According to Wiki was repainted in 2009

[airnutz]

She's a beauty..as with the Lockheed Constellation..flogged with a "French Curve" on the designers table. Gorgeous!

[The Inspector]

It is incredible to be next to, sort of like standing next to a pretty fair sized ship. Once you get your mind around the fact it flies extremely well, it's graceful and goes where it's pointed and it only weighs a million pounds! (watch YOUTUBE video of it's ABOTTFORD 1990 flight demo) When it was @ KPAE during the 'Goodwill Games' in 1990, we @ TRAMCO helped load the cargo hold with relief supplies for an earthquake in Uzbekistan (!??!) the aircraft swallowed everything brought to it (including three or four small cars purchased by the crew while they were here, plus the Su-26 demo flight team aircraft and equipment, and all their support equipment for the Su-27 FLANKERS) and still left over half empty. The airport had two 1 inch thick steel road plates brought in to keep the twin APU exhausts from melting the asphalt when they were running. The fueling panel must have had 50+ switches and crossfeed controls, the guy from FLIGHTLINE SERVICES just pumped the fuel aboard and one of the flight engineers did all the switching and loading of fuel, a truly amazing thing to be close to-

[CAPFlyer]

Having fueled the AN-124 at Denver most of its trips during 2002-2004, I know about the myriad of tanks and switches, but one of the FE's explained it all to me and it's not much more complex to fuel than the 747s (never trust the autoloader) and only slightly easier than the L1011 (the saving grace for the L1011 being the chart on the inside of the skin panel that shows how to break down the fuel load). The best part is that on the AN-124's I fueled, the auto fuel system actually worked well so most of the time he just setup the panel and let the plane do its thing. Considering that it usually took us 4-5 hours to fuel it due to the fact we only had 1 10,000 gallon truck and a 5,000 gallon trucks most of the time, it really was more useful for him to help load the plane than watch us fuel.

[richkolasa]

There is only 1 AN-225 flying, so if you saw the -225, then that's the one.

If it was in Connecticut though, you probably saw an AN-124, the slightly smaller, 4-engined variant. Most of the aerospace companies use AN-124s to move around aircraft and rocket parts because the C-5's aren't always available and (more critically for the rockets) not all fit inside a C-5B or even the C-5C.

AN-124s come into Bradley all the time, but the -225 has been there too, so it's quite possible that he saw Mriya there.

Rich

[davidbray]

I've seen a 124 before in flight shortly after take-off. It was quite the impressive sight. I'd love to see one on the ground up close sometime though.

[TimAPNY]

Here are some pictures I took of the aircraft.











Sorry for all the dust on the picts, someday I need to rescan them.

Besides being cold that day, they had setup barriers that made it very hard to get a good shot of the aircraft. I just could not gt far enough away to get them (and I had a 28mm lens on the 35mm camera).

Tim

[dred]

It's flying into Haiti? Is there room on the ramp for that wingspan?