ANTONOV An-225 - How it works - The World's Largest Aircraft/ @Learnfromthebase

The giant in the skies. The largest airliner in the world. This is the Antonov An-225 Maria. The world's largest cargo aircraft ever built. The plane was a modern engineering marvel, able to transport up to 250 tons of cargo. The Maria attracted a high degree of public interest, attaining a global following due to its size and uniqueness. The An-225 has a wingspan of 290 feet, longer than the Statue of Liberty is tall, and a length of 275 feet. It weighed 285 tons when empty, making it the world's largest cargo plane. The aircraft is well renowned for holding the of the world's heaviest plane and the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. However, it has also achieved 214 other national and 124 international records, including the airlift of the most significant payload ever at 279 tons. Today we will be exploring the legend of aviation. Antonov An-225 was initially intended to take the Soviet Buran space shuttle back from its landing site to the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. After the end of the space program, Antonov Airlines converted the An-225 into a cargo plane. The Antonov An-225 Maria was designed and manufactured by Ukraine's Antonov Design Bureau, ADB. It made its first flight on December 21, 1988. The An-225 rose to be the workhorse of the Antonov Airlines fleet as it began carrying cargo that was once thought impossible to move by air, including 130-ton generators, diesel locomotives, and wind turbine blades. Let's take a quick look at the aircraft. This is the fuselage, which is the body of the aircraft. Here is the cockpit, located just above the main cargo bay, to ensure the aircraft has as much capacity as possible for carrying cargo. You must ascend a ladder to enter the cockpit because the main deck is reserved for the cargo bay. Usually, the An-225 has six crew, including a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, radio operator, and two flight engineers. Down here are the aircraft's landing gears. An-225 Maria had a landing gear setup comprising 32 wheels, some of which could be steerable. The twin nose gear units, having two wheels each, could kneel to facilitate more effortless loading and unloading of cargo. The main landing gear consisted of 28 wheels, seven pairs on each side, four of which were steerable. On a runway that is 60 meters wide, the aircraft can do a complete turn. Fuel tanks are located inside the wings. The tank capacity is 365 tons. 18 integrated wing tanks hold the fuel. The aircraft has an 18-hour flight time and can go over 15,000 km. For a cruising flight, the fuel consumption rate is 15.9 tons per hour. The aircraft can fly for around two hours without refueling when fully loaded. The nose of the aircraft is a cargo door, which allows maximum loading size of cargo. The upper deck with a cockpit, crew rest cabin, and cabin for accompanying personnel, and the lower deck is the cargo compartment, and also it has an aft cargo door. Right here is the cargo room. The cargo compartment measures 43 meters in length, 6.4 meters in width, and 4.4 meters in height. Since the cargo area is pressurized, AN-225 can transport several types of cargo. The cargo area can accommodate up to 16 standard containers, roughly 80 passenger cars, or even big trucks. The interior has enough room to fit a Boeing 737. Let's take a look at cargo handling. For loading cargo, first, the nose gear has to be retracted. The front of the aircraft kneels. To stabilize the plane, the plane added additional support struts. The 175-ton nose gear is now fully retracted and suspended slightly in the air. The Antonov 225 is now supported only by the struts. Then, a tongue-like cargo loading ramp unfurls. Then, multiple sections of a track system are assembled. Next, they add skids on the track. That will maximize the friction between cargo and track. Subsequently, the heavy cargo load will be placed on these orange skids with the help of mobile cranes. Once the cargo is placed on the way, the load is attached to a steel rope connected to two cable winches. Centimeter by centimeter, they pull the load into the aircraft. Two crew member on board to make sure the cords are evenly distributed on the spool. The string has to wind evenly. Once the cargo reaches its desired location, the trank system is dismantled and the nose door will be closed. The interior of the cargo hold comprised the main cargo deck, featuring a built-in crane capable of moving a 33-ton load. The massive aircraft needs a tremendous amount of thrust, so it has six engines. The Ivchenko-Progres-Loharev D-18T three-shaft turbofan engines are used to power the An-225 Brion, each with a maximum thrust capacity of 229.5 kN. The last mission of the An-225 was from February 2-5, 2022, where it was to collect 90 tons of COVID-19 test kits from Tianjin, China and deliver them to Billund in Denmark. While being stored in a hangar in Hostomel, Ukraine. During this time, the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out and the airfield was raided by Russian troops. Eventually, it was discovered that the An-225 was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport. Meanwhile, debris of the An-225 remains in the hangar where it was destroyed. In May 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to have the plane rebuilt and make it a tribute to all the Ukrainian pilots who died during the Russian-Ukraine war. The Antonov An-225 is such a phenomenon. That is why it is no surprise that aviation fans around the world frequently visit airports to observe the plane's scheduled arrivals. If you enjoyed this video, hit that subscribe button and the bell so you're notified when I make a new video. For more updates and suggestions check out Learn From The Base social medias. Thank you for watching this video. I hope you learned a lot and I will see you next time.