Antonov Russian Plane

[Robinette Ith]

Theaircraft that you seen would have been an Antonov 124-100

freighter. Russian company Volga Dnepr operates several of these

aircraft in co-operation with UK based freight company HeavyLift.

(H for HeavyLift on the tail)

Other aircraft operated by HeavyLift are Belfast, Il-76, Hercules, CL-

144, and B707. Boeing charter them in the US for movement of aircraft

engines etc. Royal Air Force charter them for movement of heavy freight.

When I was down the Falklands this year one delivered a Sea King to

Mount Pleasant airfield. The reason why a C-5 is not used is because

the USAF probably has strict operating rules regarding operating for

civilian contracts. It's cheaper and simpler to go for civilian

heavylift freight companies.TJ1234.

>

>> Why would NASA contract one of these instead of a C5?

>

>There are 2 Tupolev transports that are a good bit larger than the C-5.

>

>Can't recall their designations at the moment though. One is the

>'Condor', the other is the 'Dream'

I saw it there across from the big hangar about two years ago. I don't

think NASA is using it; we got as close as we could and it looked like it

just might be a private operation. Damn impressive airplane, though!-gatt

> A huge jet tansport with hinged nose and rear ramp (Antonov?)

> in Aeroflot livery has been at the south ramp at Moffett quite

> frequently over the past year. Although it bears a Russian flag

> on the vertical stabilisor, it also bears the "H" logo of a private

> operator.

>

> Pandit Baba wrote:

> > A huge jet tansport with hinged nose and rear ramp (Antonov?)

> > in Aeroflot livery has been at the south ramp at Moffett quite

> > frequently over the past year. Although it bears a Russian flag

> > on the vertical stabilisor, it also bears the "H" logo of a private

> > operator.

> >

> The aircraft that you seen would have been an Antonov 124-100

> freighter. Russian company Volga Dnepr operates several of these

> aircraft in co-operation with UK based freight company HeavyLift.

> (H for HeavyLift on the tail)

> Other aircraft operated by HeavyLift are Belfast, Il-76, Hercules, CL-

> 144, and B707. Boeing charter them in the US for movement of aircraft

> engines etc. Royal Air Force charter them for movement of heavy freight.

> When I was down the Falklands this year one delivered a Sea King to

> Mount Pleasant airfield. The reason why a C-5 is not used is because

> the USAF probably has strict operating rules regarding operating for

> civilian contracts. It's cheaper and simpler to go for civilian

> heavylift freight companies.

>

> TJ1234.

>

> A huge jet tansport with hinged nose and rear ramp (Antonov?)

> in Aeroflot livery has been at the south ramp at Moffett quite

> frequently over the past year. Although it bears a Russian flag

> on the vertical stabilisor, it also bears the "H" logo of a private

> operator.

Are you sure it was six engined ??AFAIK The six-engined Antonov An-225 (NATO Cossack, Russian Mriya/Dream -

the worlds largest plane) has been grounded at Gostomel near Kiev for the

past few years providing spare parts for the FOUR engined Antonov An-124

(NATO Condor, Russian Ruslan - the worlds largest PRODUCTION plane).The An-124 is used all over the world for heavy freighting - I suspect that

this is what you saw. I would love to be proved wrong though.My pics of both a/c are at :-

Somewhat interesting sidenote... In Russian the word MRIYA does not mean

Dream. It actually doesn't exist. MRIYA was borrowed from the language of

one of the republics, Latvia I would venture to guess. They also had a

pretty tasty candy that had the same name ;-)2Fast4U

I thought mriya was russian for "peace", and was chosen to emphasize

that the mission of the AN-225 was non-military, which is why it has no

rear doors or ramp. Has anyone actually seen it? I was lucky wnough to

get to go see it when it came to Bradley International Airport in

Connecticut. I think it was there to pick up supplies for a

humanitarian mission, but it was open to the public. It is nothing

short of awe inspiring. I also got to talk to the pilot, who had also

flown the Condor and other russian heavy lifters.

silverpelican wrote:

> I don't have the newspaper anymore but will try to get either the web

> copy or a tear sheet later. The plane I saw definitely had 6 engines as

> it was on approach before rolling into final.

I agree, Vladimir, that the only possible six-engined a/c is theAn-225, but didn't the one of the contributors to this thread say thatthere was a RECENT sighting of a SIX-ENGINED transport at St Augustine??

>>Couple of months ago, a six engine a/c, described by the localpaper as the second >>largest in the world (AN-225?) flew into St. Augustineunder contract to >>Northrup-Gruman. The St. Augustine General Aviationairport sports twin 12k foot >>runways, handled this a/c with aplomb. Thea/c flew right over my house, was >>pretty impressive.

Note :- this thread started out as report about an Antonov An-124 atMOFFETT, then it got confused with a supposed SIX-ENGINED transport atSt Augustine - see quote above retrieved from Dejanews.My query still is - how can the An-225 have been seen at St Augustine 'a couple of months ago' when it hasn't flown for the last 5 years?? Or is there something I don't know ?Just curious

> I thought mriya was russian for "peace", and was chosen to emphasize

> that the mission of the AN-225 was non-military, which is why it has no

> rear doors or ramp. Has anyone actually seen it? I was lucky wnough to

> get to go see it when it came to Bradley International Airport in

> Connecticut. I think it was there to pick up supplies for a

> humanitarian mission, but it was open to the public. It is nothing

> short of awe inspiring. I also got to talk to the pilot, who had also

> flown the Condor and other russian heavy lifters.

>

> Sent via Deja.com

> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

Is 'H' red or blue? It probably refers to Heavylift, a UK company who

specialise in lifting big heavy things. I think they operate some

Antonovs as a joint venture with Aeroflot.

--

JohnPreston, Lancs, UK.

The Russian aircraft at Moffett Field has four engines

and clean horizontal stabilisors - no auxiliary vertical

stabilisors at the ends.So I gather that its an AN124 charted by Lockheed/Martin

to haul satellites or other space junk. Sure looks like a

heavy lifter to me! You could hold a hockey game in the

cargo hold...

> Somewhat interesting sidenote... In Russian the word MRIYA does not mean

> Dream. It actually doesn't exist. MRIYA was borrowed from the language of

> one of the republics, Latvia I would venture to guess.

The reason is simple: An-124's are seen all over the world

in air freight service for cargo that would not fit even

inside a 747-400F freighter.Well, at least the An-124 fleet is making lots of hard

foreign currency shipping outsized cargo around the world.Re-engine the An-124 with Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines

rated at 70,000 lb thrust and give it Western-made cockpit

electronics--there will certainly be a market for such a

plane.* Sent from RemarQ The Internet's Discussion Network *

The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!

On a recent trip to the Aviastar 'factory' at Ulyanovsk, I saw three An-124 in

various states of repair in one hangar - I don't know where they are built -

Kiev ??The Russian AF fleet were recently grounded following the engine failure that

caused the crash at Urkutsk - we saw a line-up of them at Ulyanovsk, but weren't

allowed near them. I think they may now be flying again.As for re-engining, the Antonov Design Bureau example that appeared at RIAT

Fairford in July, was a contender for the RAF heavy-lift leasing requirement.

Antonov were proposing (with operator Air Foyle) to fit RB-211's and western

avionics to meet the requirement - but the whole RAF request for tenders is now

apparently back in the melting pot. Rather cheekily, Antonov had some great

publicity photographs at Fairford showing the An-124 with some outsize loads -

and a schematic showing a 'typical' load of SEVEN AH-64 Apache helicopters !As for the comparison with the 747F - while it may have the volume, it can't

take the really heavy loads - like an M-1 Abrams or a couple of large

excavators.

This is a really stupid thing to do, given that the EU has found that there is no right to confiscate russian assets.

Furthermore, the assets would have to be returned to the original owner.

Finally, note that the cargo plane had just transported COVID vaccines from China to the Government of Canada.

When it is all said and done, and this works through the court system, it will be the Canadian taxpayers that have to cough up the damages.

What is to prevent Russia from intercepting a Canadian plane in international airspace and seizing it in compensation? This is s seriously idiotic move. Canada has no legal right to seize Russian private property.

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