The One and Only!
Let's start from the beginning, initial plan of Our team was a trip to Leipzig - the temple of the various and most impressive cargo aircraft of the European continent. Then the information was spread between the spotters about the arrival of Antonov 225 Mriya to Rzeszow, Poland. In the beginning, it wasn't in serious consideration, cause such info quite often proves not to be true. The days went by, and there was more and more information appearing about the Mriya. We decided to take the risk - all or nothing! In the early morning of November 13th, our camera batteries were charged, the whole set of various lenses, camera bodies, tripods, and similar stuff was packed, and our crew started the long 700-kilometer journey to Rzeszow, Poland! In the evening of the same day, we were at the hotel near RZE airport, while the schedule was no confirmed, but we knew that it will happen! The next morning, the news has reached us, that the plane will show up tonight. We were extremely excited, but still had a lot of homework to do! The whole day was designated for meetings with local colleagues, airport and photography spots investigation. Then after a quick lunch flightradar24 notification hit our phones - Mriya is coming! Spotmobile was started again, and then it was long 3 hours waiting before it happened. To be honest, we were not expecting so many people will come to see this plane. The roads around the airport were blocked with cars, and eventually, the police had to close these roads.
Local media reports that around 3000 people gathered for this couple of seconds event. We felt more like in the concert of the famous rock band, then in the casual planespotting. Anyway, then we saw a tiny light far far away, this was it! Mriya, or Marusya according to the pilots of the plane was slowly but surely approaching us, and I was shocked in a good way when I saw its size in real life. The plane has landed, and for the next 3 or 4 hours, there was almost no space all around the fence of the airport. Everyone was trying to capture landing, taxi, parking, and nose opening for the offloading of Mriya! To put it simply, the next day before departure, it was the same situation only in the opposite order, it is worth mentioning that even with mandatory 4 minutes engine heat up, it took off right on the schedule!
Now let us speak a little about the plane itself. Antonov An-225 Mriya (Mriya means dream in Ukrainian). The first flight of it took place in December 1988. It was designed in the Antonov Design Bureau, and probably can also be considered as a deep modernization of An-124 Ruslan heavy transporter. The aircraft is powered by six Progress D-18T turbofans, providing 229.5kN of thrust each! It is the biggest and heaviest aircraft, used in commercial service, in the whole world! Mriya was originally built to carry the Soviet "Buran" space shuttle and its rocket "Energia". After the collapse of the soviet union, it was left abandoned, and approximately in 1994 disassemble process started, in the example, the engines were used to power the smaller An-124 aircraft. The reborn happened in 2001 when the Ukrainian Aircraft builder managed to restore the A/C to its former glory, as well as local government-issued type certificate and approved commercial operations. Aircraft started to carry the world's heaviest loads all around the planet. From the inside Mriya almost does not have differences from An-124, there are two passenger seats equipped cabins inside. One is right behind the cockpit, for the flight crew rest, another one is at the back of the plane - it is designed to be home for technical staff. The cockpit crew consists of 6 people on this beast! Two pilots, two flight engineers, a navigator, and a radio operator, pretty impressive right? Even more impressive thing is the maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons! The cargo hold volume is 1300 cubic meters, as well as the maximum range of empty aircraft can reach up to 15000 kilometers!
Few interesting facts about Marusya:
- Its maximum payload is 250 000kg, to compare a Boeing 747 empty weight vary between 180-220tons!
- An-225 has set more than 240 world records! In 2001, during one flight it has transported the heaviest payload ever - more than 253tons! In 2009 the same aircraft transported the heaviest ever mono cargo - the weight was 189tons! A year later again, Mriya transported the world's longest piece of cargo - 42meters, it was wind turbine blades.
- Mriya's wingspan is 88.4m and length - 84meters. We will just inform You that basketball court measurement under FIBA standards is 28x15m.
- Antonov Airlines is the only operator in the world of An-225 Mriya.
- Slogan of Antonov airlines is based on Mriya's performance - "Antonov - no other name carries more weight".
- Arrival of the 225 is always a challenge for the airports - every turn in the apron and every lighting pole must be taken into account.
- Antonov 225 has an almost identical cockpit, crew rest area, controls, and engineering solutions compared to its smaller sister ship An-124 Ruslan.
- Only one Mriya was ever built, but the second one is in preserved state at Antonovs plant in Kiyv. The readiness is 60-80% based on sources.
According to the Antonov company, Marusya should stay in active service till 2033, but there are hopes that after some maintenance, the certificate of airworthiness will be extended till 2050. We sincerely recommend on behalf of the entire AviapixBaltics team, If you find out that this plane will visit your or a nearby city, please take some time to see it live! There are no words, that can describe the size, power, and spirit that this plane has! This is the sight that every aviation lover with no exception must see and feel!
Best regards,
Your AviapixBaltics!