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China and Ukraine to restart production of world's largest cargo airc OPERATOR 16/09/02(Fri)12:54 No. 21255 ID: d4c8ee

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/an-225-revival-proposed-in-new-antonov-china-pact-428949/

>Ukrainian aircraft designer Antonov has agreed to cooperate with a Hong Kong-based Chinese company, intending first to revive production of a partially-assembled An-225 freighter and then restore the series production.

>The agreement with Airspace Corporation of China signed on 30 August breathes life into the Soviet-era manufacturing programme for the world’s largest aircraft, which has remained dormant for 22 years.

>In the late-1980s, Antonov completed the first six-engined An-225 by stretching the fuselage of the four-engined An-124, lengthening the wing and adding a split tail. The aircraft was designed to carry a payload up to 225,000kg payload either internally or externally. In particular, the An-225 was needed to carry the Buran, the Soviet space shuttle.

>The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the cancellation of the space shuttle programme. The first An-225 was moved into storage for several years, while a second An-225, which is designed with a single, straight tail, was left uncompleted inside Antonov’s factory complex in Kiev.

>The new agreement begins discussions to allow Airspace Corporation of China and Antonov to resume assembly of the second An-225 in phase one. A follow-on second phase would restart series production of the heavy airlifter in China under license, Antonov says. Both phases would be initiated after the signing of separate contracts.

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>>	Avgas 16/09/03(Sat)11:37 No. 21260 ID: 9dcda2   >>21255 Five engines is fine too. Qantas Airlines: The Fifth Pod: A Behind the Scenes Look

>>	Avgas 16/09/03(Sat)11:43 No. 21261 ID: 9dcda2   Wow Qantas has some great videos. Qantas and GoPro: Day in the life of a plane

>>

Avgas 16/09/03(Sat)11:49 No. 21262 ID: 9dcda2   Our Aircraft Engineers | QANTAS AME - Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, similar to our A&Ps. Canada and other UK derived maintenance, I believe, have stricter certification standards. While American A&Ps can work on everything from a hot air balloon (airframe rating) to the space shuttle, AMEs have to be certified on the type of aircraft they will be working on. (Props, jets, helos.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Maintenance_Engineer

>>	GoobsPhone!!MuAzVkLJH4 16/09/04(Sun)14:22 No. 21264 ID: 7e827c >>21255 I worked at an airport for UPS and got to see one of these in person. I wish I got to see it closer, but it was mind-bendingly large.

>>	KnifeKnut 16/12/30(Fri)11:31 No. 21482 ID: bb86e7 I got to see a An-124 in flight, (donor design for the 225) and that thing was so large it seemed to just hang there in the sky while on landing approach.

>>	KnifeKnut 16/12/30(Fri)11:32 No. 21483 ID: bb86e7 What the heck do they plan on hauling that makes this necessary instead of something smaller?

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Iron Knight !!RlAwZkMTLm 16/12/30(Fri)16:37 No. 21485 ID: cca113 >>21483 The existing one gets used a lot for outsize cargo (and occasionally as a flying RO/RO ferry, from what I'm seeing on Google Images). A lot of it tends to be industrial parts, especially power-generating equipment like gas turbines and transformers, to places where land/sea transport would be impossible or prohibitively expensive.

>>	OPERATOR 17/01/04(Wed)14:45 No. 21489 ID: d4c8ee File 148356990231.jpg - (69.02KB , 541x415 , Axum_obelisk_returned_to_Ethiopia_4976789.jpg ) >>21485 Also sometimes you need to move around a ancient Ethiopian obelisk.