Well, it's just me surprised about this scene?
This might be just another day for the Ukranian folks but damn, this is fantastic.
Am I overreacting too much about it?

Mods, please reclassify the thread if it doesn't belong here.

I think the Ukrainians might take issue with labelling the AN-225 Russian!
Beautiful shot though.

spencer32 wrote:

I think the Ukrainians might take issue with labelling the AN-225 Russian!
Beautiful shot though.

Fixed. Thanks for the advice.

Amazing picture of an amazing aircraft. It may be guzzly, temperamental, and awkward, but anything that can lift 250 tonnes into the air and fly it intercontinental distances deserves much respect. Just for comparison's sake, that's a couple Super Dutys more than the payloads of a 747-8F and a 777F put together.

I wonder what her operating costs per hour are?

727200 wrote:

I wonder what her operating costs per hour are?

If you need to ask, you can’t afford it!

seabosdca wrote:

Amazing picture of an amazing aircraft. It may be guzzly, temperamental, and awkward, but anything that can lift 250 tonnes into the air and fly it intercontinental distances deserves much respect. Just for comparison's sake, that's a couple Super Dutys more than the payloads of a 747-8F and a 777F put together.

It's a badass plane for sure, but let's not get carried away on range. It's an intercontinental aircraft when it's empty, but with a 250-ton payload the range would be more like 2000 miles. It takes several hops to get such a load from place to place.

Carrying such massive loads may be a niche market, but it is a market and there is a need for it. What will happen on the very sad day when this monster's flying career will be over? No-one seems to even think of designing a successor. Or perhaps An will just build another Mriya, identical to this one?

seabosdca wrote:

It may be guzzly, temperamental, and awkward, but anything that can lift 250 tonnes into the air ...

That's more than an A330 at MTOW.

rigo wrote:

Carrying such massive loads may be a niche market, but it is a market and there is a need for it. What will happen on the very sad day when this monster's flying career will be over? No-one seems to even think of designing a successor. Or perhaps An will just build another Mriya, identical to this one?

Good question and one I was about to post


There was a second -225 that was only half way built


There have been rumors this would be completed but they’ve never panned out


Anyone know the latest on this and any plans to build another one from scratch ?

She is kind of range limited when loaded down. A few years ago there was a typhoon that hit Samoa and they sent a big emergency generator from Caterpillar in Peoria IL to American Samoa. After getting loaded up they broke the trip up with stops at ONT and Honolulu. She was at Ontario for a couple of days and I was deathly ill with bronchitis and missed the chance to drive down and see her. Damm.

Max Q wrote:

rigo wrote:

Carrying such massive loads may be a niche market, but it is a market and there is a need for it. What will happen on the very sad day when this monster's flying career will be over? No-one seems to even think of designing a successor. Or perhaps An will just build another Mriya, identical to this one?

Good question and one I was about to post


There was a second -225 that was only half way built


There have been rumors this would be completed but they’ve never panned out


Anyone know the latest on this and any plans to build another one from scratch ?

There have also been rumours about a new assembly line in China, but I don't know if that went anywhere either.

Ok, so I found the cost per hour.

Seems there is a wide range since they can't put an actual figure on it, but the minimum quoted, in 2016, was $30,000 and hour to fly it. The max said upwards of $195,000 in 2018. So I guess, pick a figure in between, but 30K 2 years ago and with fuel up, could be $40K..

here is the amazing video of where that photo came from..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmhgMNWd8E

now lets wait and see when the next a.netter post the exact same video without reading this thread. Its coming..

crownvic wrote:

here is the amazing video of where that photo came from..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmhgMNWd8E

now lets wait and see when the next a.netter post the exact same video without reading this thread. Its coming..

What a fantastic machine...
I miss the opportunity to see her just a few days ago when it was here in northern Chile and I was traveling outside borders...
Better luck next time...

crownvic wrote:

here is the amazing video of where that photo came from..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmhgMNWd8E

now lets wait and see when the next a.netter post the exact same video without reading this thread. Its coming..

Beautiful amateur camera work, on a nice sunny (cold) day. The youtube video refers to an 'upgrade' - any details? Also the title indicates a return to the sky -was it out of service?

BOACVC10

An amazing machine that must be near the top of every spotter's bucket list.
I haven't seen it yet.

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

crownvic wrote:

here is the amazing video of where that photo came from..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmhgMNWd8E

now lets wait and see when the next a.netter post the exact same video without reading this thread. Its coming..

That really is an amazing video.

rigo wrote:

Max Q wrote:

rigo wrote:

Carrying such massive loads may be a niche market, but it is a market and there is a need for it. What will happen on the very sad day when this monster's flying career will be over? No-one seems to even think of designing a successor. Or perhaps An will just build another Mriya, identical to this one?

Good question and one I was about to post


There was a second -225 that was only half way built


There have been rumors this would be completed but they’ve never panned out


Anyone know the latest on this and any plans to build another one from scratch ?

There have also been rumours about a new assembly line in China, but I don't know if that went anywhere either.

After the little green men showed up and took away Crimea, enthusiasm — and more importantly, funding — seems to have dried up. IIRC, some more work had been completed on the second -225 airframe, but it's a long way from flyable.

Motorhussy wrote:

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

Absolutely — though there aren't many options with more thrust than the D-18T! More problematically, all of the other engines are first of all Western, and second much more modern — both of which would require externsive rework of the avionics in order to function properly.

SamTheGeek wrote:

rigo wrote:

Max Q wrote:

Good question and one I was about to post


There was a second -225 that was only half way built


There have been rumors this would be completed but they’ve never panned out


Anyone know the latest on this and any plans to build another one from scratch ?

There have also been rumours about a new assembly line in China, but I don't know if that went anywhere either.

After the little green men showed up and took away Crimea, enthusiasm — and more importantly, funding — seems to have dried up. IIRC, some more work had been completed on the second -225 airframe, but it's a long way from flyable.

Motorhussy wrote:

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

Absolutely — though there aren't many options with more thrust than the D-18T! More problematically, all of the other engines are first of all Western, and second much more modern — both of which would require externsive rework of the avionics in order to function properly.

I don't think a Ukrainian company would have any opposition to western powerplants. Ukraine has FTA's with a number of western countries (including the EU), and even without an FTA, they had almost $2 billion in trade with the USA last year.

SamTheGeek wrote:

Motorhussy wrote:

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

Absolutely — though there aren't many options with more thrust than the D-18T! More problematically, all of the other engines are first of all Western, and second much more modern — both of which would require externsive rework of the avionics in order to function properly.

How about slightly less newer Western engines? I would think an RB211-524D would work well, would it not?

SamTheGeek wrote:

rigo wrote:

Max Q wrote:

Good question and one I was about to post


There was a second -225 that was only half way built


There have been rumors this would be completed but they’ve never panned out


Anyone know the latest on this and any plans to build another one from scratch ?

There have also been rumours about a new assembly line in China, but I don't know if that went anywhere either.

After the little green men showed up and took away Crimea, enthusiasm — and more importantly, funding — seems to have dried up. IIRC, some more work had been completed on the second -225 airframe, but it's a long way from flyable.

Motorhussy wrote:

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

Absolutely — though there aren't many options with more thrust than the D-18T! More problematically, all of the other engines are first of all Western, and second much more modern — both of which would require externsive rework of the avionics in order to function properly.

The Chinese plan come up after Crimea Incident.

Bricktop wrote:

An amazing machine that must be near the top of every spotter's bucket list.
I haven't seen it yet.

Caught it in Pakistan during the 2008 earthquake relief efforts.

LEAPING LEVIATHAN ! ! ! That dude is HUGE ! ! !

Suppose a deal is struck to build a few more of these. Can you imagine how awesome it would be if one of them was converted into a water bomber?

boacvc10 wrote:

The youtube video refers to an 'upgrade' - any details? Also the title indicates a return to the sky -was it out of service?

If I remember correctly the An-225 wasn't active for over a year. I think there was a thread where someone asked about her status.

Regarding the upgrade: Flightradar24 mentioned it included an ADS-B transponder.
https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/the-antonov-an-225-spring-2018-flight-schedule/

neomax wrote:

crownvic wrote:

here is the amazing video of where that photo came from..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmhgMNWd8E

now lets wait and see when the next a.netter post the exact same video without reading this thread. Its coming..

That really is an amazing video.

Yes, thanks for posting this Video and @ ojjunior for starting this thread. I never saw a picture or a video of such a An-225 low pass.

It’s actually a girl.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

SamTheGeek wrote:

Motorhussy wrote:

Could the re-engine with more moddern power0ants to increase range?

Absolutely — though there aren't many options with more thrust than the D-18T! More problematically, all of the other engines are first of all Western, and second much more modern — both of which would require externsive rework of the avionics in order to function properly.

How about slightly less newer Western engines? I would think an RB211-524D would work well, would it not?

Isn't that essentially exactly what the TF39 was in the C5 Galaxy? I think thrust and size are almost identical, and the USAF converted to CF6 very efficiently.

It wouldn't be a huge leap forward in technology, but I'd imagine the dimensions and such are fairly similar and you'd get a good ~36klb thrust bump and the accompanying range / payload increases - basically exactly what happened when they re-engined the C5 except the impacts are ~33% larger when swapping 6 engines instead of 4. I'd have to imagine parts and maintenance would be a huge driver for this as well.

It's still an icon of the Ukrainians (and like it or not, Russia to many people lol) - they'll almost certainly keep everything domestic including the engines. It's a cool thought though!

EDIT: Actually, I'm an idiot. The D18 IS basically the CF6 from an engineering / timeframe point of view. The TF39 was out a good two decades before the D18 really. So not much advantage there, but obviously the same logic applies to many of the more modern engines we now have today. At that thrust range you've got many options.

Link to the photo

ish2dachoppa wrote:

Caught it in Pakistan during the 2008 earthquake relief efforts.

Damn, amazing pics... thanks for sharing. More maybe?

estorilm wrote:

EDIT: Actually, I'm an idiot. The D18 IS basically the CF6 from an engineering / timeframe point of view. The TF39 was out a good two decades before the D18 really. So not much advantage there, but obviously the same logic applies to many of the more modern engines we now have today. At that thrust range you've got many options.

You're definitely not an idiot! I think the problems with avionics would be the real barrier — especially because the An-225 is a one-off, so there's not a ton of money in all the software/integrations/plans. I wouldn't be shocked if they had to rebuild the cockpit to do a swap to a newer-generation engine.

SamTheGeek wrote:

estorilm wrote:

EDIT: Actually, I'm an idiot. The D18 IS basically the CF6 from an engineering / timeframe point of view. The TF39 was out a good two decades before the D18 really. So not much advantage there, but obviously the same logic applies to many of the more modern engines we now have today. At that thrust range you've got many options.

You're definitely not an idiot! I think the problems with avionics would be the real barrier — especially because the An-225 is a one-off, so there's not a ton of money in all the software/integrations/plans. I wouldn't be shocked if they had to rebuild the cockpit to do a swap to a newer-generation engine.

Well, thanks Yeah it wouldn't be worth it - for the prices that thing demands, I don't think fuel is a big issue, and they always make many short hops anyways. Plus it isn't FADEC either right? Upgrading the systems for 6 FADEC engines wouldn't be cheap.