The use of pressed panels and the development of new alloys for the An-124 "Ruslan" and An-225 "Mriya" aircraft

In April 1973, after graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute, I was assigned to the Kyiv Mechanical Plant (I come from the village of Velikopolovets, Kyiv region), where O.K. was the general designer. Antonov. Since outstanding specialists in the field of aviation taught at our institute, in particular, Eger S.M. (Deputy Tupolev A.N. for passenger affairs), I really wanted to get into the department of general views of KO-7, where the foundations of future aircraft are being laid. But the deputy Director of the plant for personnel Rozhkov M. S. said: "Either go to the RIO-1 strength department, or go back to Moscow." I had to reluctantly agree. And I was very lucky, because. I got into a wonderful team, where the leader was Elizaveta Avetovna Shakhatuni, the ex-wife of O.K. Antonova, a specialist of the highest qualification and a wonderful person. She always aspired to new knowledge and introduced it into strength calculations, took care of young specialists, helped in both production and domestic matters.

I ended up in a new fatigue strength team created 4 months ago, where there was only one leader Bengus G.Yu., and later I became his deputy. The fact is that in 1972, an An-10 passenger plane crashed near Kharkov, and also near Kuibyshev, in flight, the pilots heard something cracking in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe central part of the An-10 wing. Miraculously, there was no disaster. The commission determined that the cause was fatigue failure of the center section of the wing. As a result, by order of the Ministry aviation industry(MAP) in all experimental design bureaus (OKB) of the USSR such brigades were formed. Earlier in the USSR, the life of aircraft was determined by the results of laboratory life tests of full-scale samples of aircraft airframes, which were calculated only for static strength, as well as by the results of the operation of aircraft, the so-called leaders (greater flight time and more frequent and thorough inspections).

The task of the new brigade was to develop methods for calculating the life of aircraft at the design stage. Since there was little experience, they tried to make the most of the available foreign experience, and the work that was carried out in other design bureaus, in particular Loima V.B., who worked for Tupolev A.N., TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute), as well as the results of field tests aircraft KMZ. Carried out fatigue tests of samples and elements of aircraft structures. The main ones were samples with a hole, for calculating regular sections, and eyelets, for calculating irregular (transverse joints) sections of a structure. Based on these tests and materials, methods were developed for calculating the wing, fuselage, plumage and other complex structural elements of the airframe. Later, they began to carry out calculations and tests on the crack growth rate and the residual strength of samples and structural elements. These works were carried out by S.P. Malashenkov. All these developments were first used in the design of the An-72 aircraft, and then the An-74. Moreover, the strength workers, out of fright, (the prosecutors really wanted to put the specialists who were responsible for the life of the An-10 aircraft in prison, with great difficulty the management saved them) laid such a margin of safety that they could not destroy the wing during static tests. This made it possible to ensure a maximum carrying capacity of 10 tons, which is more than 1.5 times higher than the requirements of the TOR.

Also, I would like to separately note the work performed on the choice of alloy for complex milled parts from forgings and stampings for the An-72 and An-74 aircraft. In the USSR, for these purposes, mainly low-strength (ultimate strength 39 kg/mm2) AK6T1 alloy was used. Although the V93T1 alloy (48 kg / mm2) was already widely used in the An-22 aircraft, the big problems with its low resource (see below) were very frightening for the strength engineers. In the USA, a high-strength (56 kg/mm2) 7075T6 alloy was used for these purposes. Based on the results of many studies, it was known that the medium-strength (44 kg/mm2) D16T alloy has high fatigue life characteristics and surpasses the listed alloys, but is practically never used in the form of a forging alloy. However, we found in the literature that in the Caravel aircraft (France), an analogue of the D16T alloy was used for these purposes. The All-Union Institute of Aviation Materials (VIAM) scared us, but not specifically with any consequences, but, in general, that this alloy is not used for forgings and stampings. Nevertheless, we made experimental stampings at the Verkhne-Saldinsk Metallurgical Plant (VSMOZ), tested them, and Shakhatuni E.A. It was decided to use the D16T alloy for forgings and stampings of the An-72 aircraft. I was sent to the specified plant to agree on the technical specifications, where we laid down the strength slightly above the average level, because no one has yet canceled the problem of reducing weight in aircraft construction. No one at the plant wanted to subscribe to these characteristics. I ran for a whole week between the workshops and the authorities, I got frostbite on my ears, but the deputy helped us a lot. chief engineer Nikitin E.M., forcing the lower classes to sign our characteristics. (Subsequently, the management of KMZ took him to our plant as the chief metallurgist).

For more than 35 years, An-72 and An-74 aircraft have been operated in difficult climatic conditions and there are no problems with D16T alloy parts!

At the same time, life tests of the full-scale glider of the An-22 aircraft were carried out in the laboratory of static tests. And there cracks began to appear very early, especially in the transverse joints of the wing. The wing of the An-22 aircraft was made: the bottom was pressed panels from D16T alloy, the top was pressed panels from V95T1 alloy, and the transverse connecting elements, the so-called combs, were made from V93T1 alloy. So, literally after 1000 laboratory cycles, cracks began to appear in the details of the V93T1 alloy. And this alloy was also very widely used in the design of both the fuselage and the landing gear. And it was announced that whoever finds a crack will pay 50 rubles. And we climbed this wing like cockroaches looking for cracks. But they were found by specialists of the testing department, mainly by non-destructive control methods. Later, when there was already an understanding of the causes of such early cracks, we realized that not only the alloy was to blame, but also the designers and strength engineers who designed it. In particular, holes with a diameter of about 250 mm were made in the wing structure for installing fuel pumps. Around these large holes were many small holes for the bolts that held the pump in place. This created the highest concentration of stress. In the comb of the transverse joint, to which the wing panels were attached, in order to facilitate, longitudinal holes were made that intersected with the holes of the fasteners. All of these holes were sharp-edged and of poor quality. Therefore, it is not surprising that the structure began to collapse so early. For calculations, in order to increase the resource of transverse joints, Shchuchinsky M.S. A computer program was developed that made it possible to determine the load on bolts in multi-row joints. Using this program, specialists changed the diameter and material of fasteners in order to evenly distribute the load between the bolts. Later, to ensure the service life of the wing of the An-22 aircraft, the transverse joints were reinforced with steel plates, and the holes for the fuel pumps were cut and enlarged, removing the holes for the fasteners, which made it possible to significantly reduce the stress concentration. Fuel pumps were attached to the wing by means of adapters.

Shakhatuni E.A. doubts arose about the fact that the level of resource characteristics of domestic alloys was the same as that of their foreign counterparts, and in 1976 she instructed me to compare fatigue life. It was very difficult to do this, because. there were significant differences - we have samples with a hole, they have side cuts; we have a test frequency of 40 Hz, they have 33 Hz. The test modes did not always coincide: a pulsating load or a symmetrical cycle. Nevertheless, having shoveled a bunch of foreign sources, we managed to pick up some convincing results, where we showed some advantages of foreign alloys over domestic ones in terms of fatigue life. A small report was prepared, I signed it with E.A. Shakhatuni. and thought that Antonov O.K. she will sign herself. But Elizaveta Avetovna sent me. She agreed with the secretary Maria Alexandrovna to let me in to see Oleg Konstantinovich. He was aware of these works, because. Shakhatuni told him about it. And so I, a young specialist, get to Antonov with a report and a cover letter in which this report was sent to the heads of the TsAGI, VIAM and VILS branch institutes. And Shakhatuni wrote a rather tough letter. I show all this to Antonov, and he says that the letter needs to be corrected and softened, which he does. I object because Shakhatuni has already approved it, to which Oleg Konstantinovich very gently and delicately tells me why the letter needs to be redone. I later met with Antonov several times in different situations, and I got the impression that “sunny warmth” emanated from him. After meeting this outstanding Scientist, Designer, Organizer and Man, I wanted to work and literally “fly”!

After the distribution of this report, we started a real “war” with the leadership of VIAM and VILS (All-Union Institute of Light Alloys), who said that in the USSR all the characteristics of alloys and semi-finished products from them are the same as in the USA, and we don’t do anything to them yield. A particularly tough confrontation was with the head of laboratory No. 3 VIAM Fridlyander I.N. The leadership of TsAGI, represented by Deputy. head of TsAGI for strength Selikhov A.F. and the head of the department Vorobyov A.Z., although they took our side, they behaved very passively. The leadership of KMZ brought these issues to the level of the Ministry. We also took A.N. Tupolev as an ally. Over time, we at VIAM were supported by Academician S. T. Kishkin and his wife S. I. Kishkina, Doctor of Science, Head of the Strength Testing Laboratory. Later, when Shalin R.E. was appointed head of VIAM, joint productive work began. I was very lucky, because I worked with outstanding specialists in the industry of metallurgy, ranging from ordinary employees to the heads of institutes, metallurgical plants and MAP. In general, at that time there were many remarkable people and outstanding specialists in the industry metallurgy with whom we collaborated: Deputy. head of the VILS Dobatkin V.I., head of the VILS laboratory Elagin V.I., deputy. Head of VIAM Zasypkin V.A. and many many others.

In the USSR, they could not understand how foreign aircraft B-707, B-727, DC-8, etc. have a resource of 80,000-100,000 flight hours, while in the USSR 15,000-30,000. Moreover, when the aircraft was designed Tu-154, so the wing had to be redone twice already in operation, because it did not provide the required resource. Soon we had the opportunity to study the design of foreign aircraft. In Sheremetyevo near Moscow, a DC-8 aircraft of a Japanese airline crashed, and then on the Kola Peninsula, fighters “landed” a B-707 aircraft of a Korean airline, which got lost and entered the airspace of the USSR.

In the MMZ of the general designer Ilyushin S.V. pieces of structures were assembled and Shakhatuni sent me to select the necessary samples for research and study. They were also tested at TsAGI, in particular, for survivability (duration of crack growth and residual strength in the presence of a crack).

According to the results of research and testing, it was determined:

In design (empennage and longitudinal set of the fuselage) American aircraft the high-strength alloy 7075-T6 (an analogue in the USSR of alloy V95T1) is more widely used, while in domestic aircraft for these structures a less durable, but more high-life alloy D16T (an analogue in the USA 2024T3) was used;

The widespread use of bolt rivets and other fasteners, which were placed with an interference fit, which significantly increased fatigue life;

Automatic riveting of wing panels with rods by Gemkor machines, which ensured high fatigue characteristics and their stability, while in the USSR most of these works were performed manually;

The use of hard cladding on sheets, which increased their fatigue life. In the USSR, plating (coating to protect against corrosion) was carried out with pure aluminum;

Significantly higher level of structural design for high fatigue life;

More high quality manufacturing of structural elements and careful fitting of parts in production;

The lower content of harmful impurities of iron and silicon in 2024 and 7075 alloys than in domestic alloys, which increased the durability (duration of crack growth and residual strength in the presence of a normalized crack) of the structure;

High-strength (210 kg / mm2) steel was used in the chassis design, while we have 30KhGSNA steel with a strength of 160 kg / mm2.

The result of these studies and others subsequently became the widespread use in the design of the An-124 aircraft with an interference fit and high-purity alloys for the indicated impurities D16ochT, V95ochT2 and V93pchT2, an increase in culture and quality in mass production, the introduction of new technological processes, in particular, shot blasting panels and parts, etc., which made it possible to significantly increase the resource and corrosion resistance of load-bearing structures.

According to an unspoken tradition, if some kind of military transport aircraft was created in the USA, then something similar was built in the USSR: C130 - An-12, C141 - Il-76, C5A - An-124, etc. After the company in the USA Lockheed was created and the C5A aircraft took off in 1967, the USSR began to prepare an adequate response. At first it was called the product "200", then the product "400", later the An-124 aircraft. I don’t know why its creation was delayed, but it helped us a lot to create an outstanding aircraft, because. a huge amount of research, scientific, applied and design work was carried out, and the negative experience of operating the C5A aircraft, in particular, early fatigue damage to the wing in operation, was taken into account. They tried so hard to reduce the mass of the airframe structure when creating the aircraft that they completely forgot about the resource. When they began to carry out intensive transportation during the Vietnam War, they quickly discovered the appearance of cracks in the wings, and they were first forced to reduce the weight of the transported cargo, and subsequently change the wings on all aircraft to new ones with a longer resource.

In particular, there was an acute problem of choosing semi-finished products (pressed panels or rolled plates) for the manufacture of the load-bearing structure of the wing of the An-124 aircraft. The point is that overseas for the wings passenger aircraft, which have a huge resource, rolled plates with stringers riveted to them are used (the exception is the C141 and C5A military transport aircraft, where pressed panels are used), and in the USSR pressed panels were used more, where the skin and the stringer are one. This was due to the fact that in the USSR, on the initiative of the head of the VILS, Academician Belov A.F. in the early 1960s, for the production of the An-22 aircraft and taking into account the prospects in the industry, unique horizontal presses with a capacity of 20,000 tons for the manufacture of pressed panels and vertical presses with a capacity of 60,000 tons for the manufacture of large-sized stampings were developed and built. There was no such equipment anywhere in the world. In the late 1970s, such a vertical press was bought in the USSR even by the metallurgical company Pechinet France. Pressed panels were widely used in the wings of An-24, An-72, An-22, Il-62, Il-76, Il-86, and others, and therefore serial aircraft factories had equipment and technologies for their manufacture.

In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union considered the possibility of purchasing a B-747 passenger wide-body aircraft from Boeing. In Everett, where these aircraft were built, a large delegation of leaders of the MAP, OKB and institutes flew. They were very impressed by what they saw in production, and especially by the automatic riveting of the wing panels, as well as the fact that the resource of this aircraft was 100,000 flight hours. Then Boeing specialists flew in with reports on the B-747 aircraft to the USSR, where Elizaveta Avetovna also took part. After arriving in Kyiv, she gathered us and talked about this meeting. Shakhatuni was most struck by the fact that the Americans wore a new suit, tie and shirt every day (these reports lasted only 3 days), since we usually had one suit for all occasions.

Also, TsAGI specialists, in particular Nesterenko G.I., believed and showed, based on the results of testing structural samples, that the survivability of riveted structures is higher than monolithic structures made of pressed panels, and I always agreed with this. (By the way, the B-747 aircraft was never bought, but the Il-86 was built instead).
Impressed by what they saw on the Boeing, all industry institutes took the position that the wing of the An-124 aircraft should be made of a prefabricated structure from rolled plates! We took the position that the wing should be made of pressed panels. And then, as they say, I found a scythe on a stone. Our designers and technologists have shown that in the case of using pressed panels with a ending, it is possible to use a flange joint, rather than a shear one, which simplifies the joining of the end and central parts of the wing and reduces labor intensity, and simplifies the sealing of the wing box. The fact that in the USSR there is no production of long (up to 30 m) rolled plates, as in the USA. There were also other benefits shown on the posters, but I don't remember them anymore. But we still had to prove that both the resource and weight characteristics of such a wing would be no worse.

We prepared and coordinated with the institutes a large program of comparative tests, and in the summer of 1976 I flew to the Tashkent Aviation Plant, where Ermokhin I.G. was the head of our branch. At that time, the Il-76 aircraft was being built here, the wing of which was made of pressed panels. I was assigned K.I. Demidov as an assistant. and we selected 10 pressed panels from D16T alloy, which differed, within tolerance, in strength and in chemical composition. According to the "Program ...", the plant was to produce hundreds of different samples of various sizes for fatigue and survivability tests and send them to TsAGI, VIAM and KMZ. The performance of all this work, which was not specific to a serial plant, was then provided by Ermokhin and Demidov. Then I went to the MAP, where the leadership of the KMZ resolved the issue, so that they would accept me at the Voronezh Aviation Plant, and also coordinate and implement the Test Program. From Moscow, I went to Voronezh, where the Il-86 aircraft was produced, in the design of the central part of the fuselage of which rolled plates of the D16T alloy were used. I selected 3 slabs, agreed on the Program, resolved all issues and got acquainted with the plant. At that time, in addition to the Il-86, they also built the Tu-144 supersonic aircraft. Excellent workshops were built, the latest machine tools and equipment were purchased and installed, in particular, the aircraft wing was monolithic and was made by milling rolled plates from the AK4-1T1 heat-resistant alloy. I looked at all this splendor and thought, if all these funds that were invested in the creation of the Tu-144 aircraft were invested in subsonic aviation, then maybe we would have reached the level of the United States? The fact is that it was a “political” project that the Soviet Union never mastered. But this is from a different area.

Thanks to the great efforts of Shakhatuni and the leadership of the KMZ, funds were obtained from the MAP and special testing equipment from Schenk (USA) was purchased, on which various tests of large-sized structural samples were carried out. Muratov V.V. dealt with this issue. Less powerful equipment was also purchased and a team was organized under the leadership of G.I. Khanin, which was engaged in numerous tests of small samples. Then Elizaveta Avetovna created a team of fractographic studies and "knocked out" a special microscope for studying cracks. Burchenkova L.M., a highly qualified specialist in this field, was appointed the head of the brigade. In all these issues and in terms of the level of confidence in the results obtained, in a very short time we reached the level of TsAGI and VIAM laboratories, which were considered the best in the industry, and even more so in the USSR!

As a result of a huge amount of testing performed in 3 different laboratories of the D16T alloy, it was shown that:

Pressed panels outperform rolled boards in static strength by 4 kg/mm2;

Pressed panels are 1.5 times better than rolled plates in terms of fatigue life;

The fatigue crack growth rate in pressed panels is 1.5 times lower, and the fracture toughness of the CS is 15% higher.

These advantages were revealed only in one longitudinal direction, in which, in fact, the panels work in the wing structure. Microstructure studies have shown that pressed panels have a non-recrystallized (fibrous) structure, while rolled plates have a recrystallized structure, which explains the resulting difference in properties (see the thesis by A.G. Vovnyanko “Durability and crack resistance of new aluminum alloys used in the construction of an aircraft airframe” ", Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1985).

Based on the results of these studies, pressed panels were chosen for the manufacture of the wing of the An-124 aircraft.

Further, the huge work of VILS and VSMOS on the development of long-length (30 meters) panels with a tip for the wing tip, large-sized profiles for spars and massive extruded strips for the central part of the wing, their manufacturing technology, as well as the casting of large-sized unique ingots, the creation and development of equipment. It should be noted that VSMOS was the largest metallurgical plant. He made all kinds of large-sized pressed and stamped semi-finished products for most of the An aircraft, so we had very close and intimate ties. Electric furnaces were used at the plant for smelting aluminum alloys, while gas furnaces were used at other plants, which increased the purity of the metal. Also, all titanium blanks for aircraft, as well as semi-finished products for the manufacture of nuclear submarine hulls, were made at this plant, not to mention blanks for jet engine blades and much more. The People and the Team were amazing, solving the most advanced tasks in the aviation industry and the defense industry of the USSR!

After modifications and carrying out certification work and flight tests in 1991, the aircraft received a type certificate and began to be designated An-124-100. After that, other airlines, Russian and foreign, began to use it. The reserves included in the design made it possible to increase the carrying capacity from 120 tons to 150, and the resource to 40,000 flight hours and 10,000 flights. Now, at the request of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the possibility of further increasing the resource is being considered, because. long-term talk about the restoration of serial production of this aircraft is nothing more than an imitation of activity and self-promotion.
In the 1970s, a new generation of aluminum alloys appeared abroad: 2124, 7175, 2048, 7475, 7010, 7050 and technologies for manufacturing semi-finished products from them, as well as new two-stage aging modes T76 and T73 for alloys of the 7000 series. This made it possible to increase the entire complex strength and, especially, resource properties and corrosion resistance. It should be noted that, in general, the United States was 10-15 years ahead of the USSR in this area (see the article Vovnyanko A.G., Drits A.M., “Aluminum alloys in aircraft construction - past and present”, Non-ferrous metals, No. 8, 2010).

In January 1977, the leadership of KMZ, at the suggestion of Shakhatuni, decided to create a group "Structural strength of metals", and I was appointed head of this group. Zakharenko E.A. already worked for us, and I had to find the best guys for this job. I walked around the departments, asked, consulted, and I managed to pick up excellent (in every sense) young specialists: Vorontsov I.S., then later Kuznetsova V., who were engaged in aluminum alloys, Grechko V.V. - titanium alloys, and Kovtuna A.P. - structural steels. Later, Elizaveta Avetovna offered to expand the research, and we hired Nikolaichik A.I., who dealt with residual stresses in stampings and details from them. These specialists carried out a huge amount of research, analysis of the results, analysis of foreign literature, processing of results and compilation of reports, etc. Since I spent most of my time on long business trips, the group was actually led by Shakhatuni E.A.

In the RIO-1 department, Shakhatuni E.A. a huge work was organized to study foreign experience in various directions. Subscribed to domestic and foreign scientific journals. Shnaidman M.N., a translator who was specially introduced to the staff of the department. search work was carried out on everything new in the field of strength, resource, materials and alloys. All this was translated, analyzed and implemented. For example, during the Vietnam War, the latest F-111A tactical bomber crashed. The results of the research revealed that the cause was a minor manufacturing defect, from which a crack appeared prematurely. Abroad, work began in this direction, and we did not lag behind. On numerous, ordinary and constructive samples, tests were carried out and calculation methods were worked out by Malashenkov S.P. and Semenets A.I.. Most of the work on research on constructive samples ed. "400" was led by Vasilevsky E.T.

Since for a long time working with metallurgists, studying special literature and foreign research, I already began to understand some patterns in the field of creating alloys, and I was well acquainted with specialists and with the heads of institutes and metallurgical plants, the idea arose to create alloys specifically for the An-124 aircraft , since I knew what characteristics were needed. However, this was the prerogative of VIAM Laboratory No. 3, which was headed by Fridlyander I.N. Therefore, it was necessary to bypass them. VILS had a team of like-minded friends with great knowledge and a desire to do this work - Drits A.M., Zaikovsky V.B. and Schneider G.I. etc. We were all young and difficulties did not bother us. Shakhatuni E.A. supported us in this endeavor.

For the lower panels (work in tension in flight) of the wings of passenger and transport aircraft, medium-strength (44-48 kg / mm2) alloys were used, where the main alloying element was copper: 2024, D16 and their derivatives. These alloys have a high level of fatigue life and survivability. They have relatively low corrosion resistance. Since the level of stresses in the lower wing panels is determined (with the exception of the wing tips, where the thickness is so small that it is determined structurally) only by resource characteristics, their significant improvement increases the weight return and aircraft life. In the case of using pressed panels, it was also important to ensure that a non-recrystallized structure was obtained. This is facilitated by the introduction of a small amount of zirconium into the alloy. A very important characteristic for a prefabricated monolithic (11 panels in the root part) wing made of pressed panels is the duration of crack growth and residual strength in the presence of a two-span crack (one stringer is destroyed and the crack approaches two adjacent stringers). This wing was later determined to withstand operational loads with one panel completely destroyed. Here, some reduction in alloying of the alloy plays a role. However, it was necessary not to significantly lose the tensile strength and, especially, the yield strength.

For the upper panels (work in flight in compression) of the wing, high-strength zinc-based glories were used: 7075, B95. These alloys have also been widely used for fighter and bomber wings, where life requirements are not so high. With a single-stage heat treatment T1, they have high strength, but low resource characteristics and corrosion resistance.
First introduced abroad, and then in the USSR, two-stage aging modes, with a slight decrease in strength, somewhat increased the resource characteristics and, significantly, corrosion resistance. In the USSR, highly alloyed high-strength alloys V96, and then V96ts, were developed for disposable missiles. But they were not suitable for aircraft with a long resource, and it was impossible to make large-sized ingots from them, and therefore semi-finished products. In the USA, a high-alloyed high-strength universal alloy 7050 was developed and widely introduced, which replaced alloys 7075, 7175 for all types of semi-finished products. It surpasses these alloys in static strength by about 4-5 kg/mm2 and is used only in two-stage aging modes. We analyzed it, but it did not suit us in terms of technological properties, because it was impossible to cast large-sized ingots of the size we needed from it. Therefore, all efforts were directed to slightly increase the tensile strength and yield strength and, significantly, resource characteristics.

Alloy for the manufacture of forgings and stampings. As mentioned above, in the USSR there were 2 alloys AK6T1 and V93T1, which did not suit the designers, and we used the D16T alloy for the An-72 and An-74 aircraft.

The peculiarity of the B93 alloy is that iron is an alloying element in it. This allows you to harden the blanks in hot (80 degrees) water, which reduces the leads and the level of residual stresses. Fee - low survivability characteristics. The 7050T73 alloy used at that time in the United States for these purposes was significantly superior to all of these alloys in terms of the entire range of properties.

But we also had other problems, namely, for the manufacture of long panels and massive pressed strips of forgings and stampings, it was necessary to cast large-sized ingots with a diameter of up to 1200 mm, and we physically could not go for high alloying. A feature of transport aircraft is the high wing position to bring the fuselage closer to the ground and make it easier to load cargo. As a result of this, it is necessary to use very massive power frames, as well as chassis mounting brackets, power lowlands in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bfastening the front struts and the threshold of the rear cargo hatch. In aircraft with a lower wing arrangement, such massive semi-finished products and parts from them are not needed. This is the difference between the An-124 and the B747: in the latter, there are much fewer complex parts from stampings and they are much smaller in size.

Also, at this time it became well known that the impurities of iron and silicon, which are present in all these alloys, significantly reduce the survivability. Therefore, their content in alloys had to be reduced as much as possible. The development of new alloys is not done in one year, because it is necessary to carry out a large complex of research and testing, first in the laboratories of the institutes, and then in production and design bureaus.

We have just begun to carry out this work, and it was already necessary to decide what to use for the design and manufacture of the An-124 aircraft? Based on the knowledge gained, the following decisions were made: lower wing panels - pressed alloy panels from alloy D16 ochT (och - very clean); upper wing panels - pressed panels from V95ochT2 alloy; forgings and stampings from alloy D16ochT. Also, sheets and profiles made of high-purity aluminum alloys (pch) were widely used in the design of the airframe. Parts made of titanium alloy VT22 and high-alloy steel VNS5 were used in the critical load-bearing structures of the airframe and landing gear. The sheet flooring of the cargo compartment floor is made of sheets of titanium alloy VT6. Titanium alloys are also widely used in aircraft systems, in particular, air systems.

I am forced to interrupt the story about the development of new alloys here, because. all efforts during this period were directed to the manufacture and supply of semi-finished products, as well as the manufacture of parts from them for the construction of the first An-124 aircraft for flight tests and the second aircraft for static tests.

As I have already said, we used large-sized long (30 m) pressed panels with endings and profiles for spars for the aircraft. A large length was chosen due to not making an additional transverse joint, because it's bulky and labor intensive. In Verkhnyaya Salda, where these semi-finished products were made, there was no equipment for their hardening and stretching. Such equipment was in Belaya Kalitva, Rostov Region, because there they planned to expand the production of long-length rolled plates. But the rolling mill, purchased abroad, stood and rusted in the boxes. To deliver these panels, first to Belaya Kalitva, and then to Tashkent, where the wing was made, a special railway platform was made. And then one day the chief controller of the KMZ V.N. Panin calls me. and says that we need to go to the metallurgical plant in Belaya Kalitva to see how things are going there. The three of us, including O. G. Kotlyar, head of production, went there on a study tour. The first batch of panels was already there. And the workshop had just been built and the factory workers did not know from which side to approach these panels. The authorities took a ride and left for Kyiv, and they left me hostage, although I am not a metallurgist and did not understand anything about these matters. If in Verney Salda the panels fell vertically during hardening, then horizontally, because. it is impossible to build a bathtub 31 meters deep and drop a panel into it instantly. When lowering the panel, heated to a temperature of approximately 380 °, into cold water at a temperature of 20 °, it twisted in a terrible way. We spent probably a whole month, until various experiments provided an acceptable geometry. I will not reveal all the secrets here. Then, again, the required stretching of semi-finished products was experimentally determined in order to relieve residual stresses and obtain the required geometry. Difficulties were due to the different thickness of the regular section and ending, and consequently, the different degree of deformation.

Later, the lead designer from the wing department Kozachenko A.V. was sent to help me. Together it became more fun not only to work, but also to survive, because we worked 16 hours a day with a break only for sleep and no days off, because deadlines were pressed. We moved on to the next stage - checking for the presence of defects detected by ultrasonic testing methods. And then we were horrified! The number of such defects (laminations) inside the metal reached 3000-5000 pieces. And they were not evenly spaced, but in some kind of spots, as if someone was “shooting” this panel with a shotgun. No one could guarantee that it would not fall apart on the first flight. And so the whole first batch of panels. There is nothing to do - we went to Kyiv to report to the authorities. After I reported to Balabuev P.V., he called a meeting with the general designer Antonov O.K. There were few people. In addition to those listed, there were the chief technologist I.V. Pavlov, the head of the airframe design department, V.Z. Bragilevsky, the head of the wing department, G.P. I briefly reported on the problems. After that, Oleg Konstantinovich raised the question - what to do and what will be the proposals? Balabuev P.V., who, as the chief designer for the An-124 aircraft, was responsible for the deadlines, suggested cutting the panels and making an additional transverse joint. Bragilevsky spoke for a long time, but I did not understand what he proposed. When they gave me the floor, I said that we would try and make long panels. Why I said this, I still don’t understand, because. nothing depended on me. Probably from youth. After that, Oleg Konstantinovich took full responsibility and decided to continue work on providing high-quality long-length panels. In fact, quality for defects was provided in Verkhnyaya Salda, and not in Belaya Kalitva.

We went right after the meeting to Belaya Kalitva. There was a huge meeting of representatives of institutes, leaders from Tashkent, who were also running out of time (they made the central and end parts of the wing), Balabuev P.V. also flew in. After the meeting, before departure, Balabuev took me aside and said - “whatever you want do it, but provide panels for the first plane!”. Kozachenko and I had to take great risks and take responsibility. We have already focused not only on the number of defects, but also on how they are located in the design of the part, because a significant amount of metal is removed during the milling process. In difficult situations, they called up designers in Kyiv and they analyzed the location of defects and their effect on strength. For several months, from October 1978 to April 1979, we provided the necessary number of panels for the manufacture of the first wing, although the number of defects in them sometimes reached up to 1000-1500 pieces. Work, responsibility and stress were so exhausting that after 3 weeks the roof started to go, and we went home for 2-3 days with a report and at least one eye to see the family. After the report to Balabuev, he called the very next day and asked why you are sitting here, let's go back. On one of these trips from Belaya Kalitva to Kyiv there was a snowstorm. And in the steppe sweeps all the tracks and the movement stops. I had a day to get from Belaya Kalitva to Rostov, although the distance there is about 200 km. Paid truckers. I come to Kyiv, go to Shakhatuni and say that like this and that, I had to get there, spend money and ask for compensation. And Elizaveta Avetovna says: “I didn’t send you there. Go to the one who sent you there." I had to go to Balabuev and he wrote me out as much as 20 rubles. And so no bonuses, because. I was listed in the RIO-1 department, where there was a bonus fund for the work that the department did, and I worked for Balabuev and Shakhatuni did not like it. Those were the pies! I don't remember exactly, but probably about 50% of the panels went to waste. We took a significant number of substandard panels to Kyiv, where we then made samples and carried out various tests.

Only at the end of April I arrived in Kyiv, as a new problem - a sink in the ending (stratification inside the metal for the entire length of the ending). Again sent to Verkhnyaya Salda, and at the same time to Tashkent. It was May 11th, it was already plus 30° in Tashkent, I think it would not be very cold in the Urals, and I flew to Sverdlovsk in a suit. I arrive there, and there it is plus 3 ° and it is snowing. Frozen like a nut. I had to call on my wife's relatives and warm up. By the time I got to Verkhnyaya Salda, the factory workers, together with VILS, had already solved the problem - they reduced the pressing speed in the end zone and the defect disappeared.

In the summer of 1979 a new trouble came, now from Tashkent. Huge blanks of parts made of D16ochT alloy forgings began to crack after hardening. For the first aircraft, parts are made from forgings, because Making stamps is a long process. The Ministry gathered and urgently sent there a large Commission of representatives of VIAM, VILS and MAP. From KMZ - we are with Shakhatuni. We arrived there, and there about 10 blanks of parts had already cracked. Since the forgings are very huge, for example, for power frames about 4 m long, 0.8 m wide, 0.3 m thick and weighing up to 3 tons, they are pre-milled, leaving only a rough allowance. This is necessary so that the cooling rate is high and the part has the required strength and corrosion properties. After getting acquainted with the situation, we all the members of the commission sit at a large table and think, what kind of misfortune is this, what should we do? At this time, more and more new messages come: the workpiece has cracked and more. The account has gone already for 2 tens!

I look, the face of Elizabeth Avetovna has become yellow, like parchment. I was also scared, I thought that if they didn’t shoot me, they would definitely be sent to Siberia, because it was KMZ who insisted that forgings and stampings be made from D16ochT alloy. Urgently arrived Balabuev P.V. He took me aside for advice on what to do. I start to "bleat", like it should be done like the Americans for the C5A aircraft from the V95ochT2 alloy. And we, together with the institutes, had already carried out work on this alloy for forgings and stampings by that time, and it began to be used for fighter aircraft. But Peter Vasilyeva says - “No, let them (that is, VIAM) offer and answer. We've had enough!" VIAM offered V93pchT2 alloy. Since the tensile strength of these alloys is the same (44kg/mm2), there was no need to change the drawings. And since the V93 alloy is quenched in hot water, there are no quenching cracks in large-sized forged blanks, in contrast to the D16 alloy, which is quenched in cold water. The Commission wrote the Decision, where Elizaveta Avetovna nevertheless insisted that there be a point, such as continuing work on the D16ochT alloy for forgings and stampings, ed. "400". The procedure for writing off these blanks and forgings, which is about 300 tons of high-quality metal, was also described there, an instruction to allocate funds for the manufacture of new forgings from the B93 alloy, and much more. And they sent me to the MAP to approve this Decision with the Deputy Minister Bolbot A.V. there was a "slippery" item on alloy D16, but we hoped that Bolbot A.V. he will not "see" and will sign. Orlov N.M. planted me. under the office of Bolbot A.V. and says: “When you see that he is coming, call me right away.” I am sitting under the door of the office and suddenly Anufry Vikentievich appears and says: “Well, why are you sitting - come in.” I took the Decision and began to read quickly. He has reached this unfortunate point and says: "I do not make technical decisions, but can only give instructions to the institutions." Corrects this clause and signs the Decision. I, like a “beaten dog”, go to N.M. Orlov. and I get a scolding from him that I should not have gone to Bolbot, but should have called him. He himself went to Anufry Vikentyevich to leave that point in its original form, and came out with nothing. I arrived in Kyiv, went to Balabuev P.V. and I say that I no longer want to deal with the D16 alloy for forgings and let him tell Elizaveta Avetovna about this. To which he says to me: “Go yourself and tell me. She's a smart woman, she'll understand." But Elizaveta Avetovna was offended and did not speak to me for several weeks. But then our normal production relations resumed, and we, as we were "friends", remained the same.

My trips to metallurgical plants and to Tashkent continued to ensure the construction of the first, and then the second An-124 aircraft.

In the spring of 1982, Petr Vasilievich took me to a meeting at the Ministry, which was held by Minister Silaev I.S. The issue of providing semi-finished products for the serial production of the An-124 aircraft was considered. Serial production was launched without waiting for the results of flight tests, because. The USSR was already far behind the United States in terms of the quantity and quality of strategic military transport aircraft. We went by train to NE, and I took 0.5 Armenian cognac. They ate and drank. I am numb, and Balabuev P.V. whatever. In the morning he went to the apartment to put himself in order, and I went to the MAP. We met already in the meeting room, where various leaders began to gather - I was “from a hangover”, and Pyotr Vasilyevich was like a “cucumber”. Then Pyotr Vasilievich says - "I have business and I went, and you report." I fell into a stupor. The Minister came, academicians, heads of institutes and heads of metallurgical plants and Silaev asked, well, where is the speaker. There is nothing to do, I take the posters and go to hang them. When I was preparing posters for meetings, Elizaveta Avetovna taught me - “there, she says, there are bosses, they are elderly and have poor eyesight. Therefore, you write on the posters in small and large letters. That's exactly what I did. In general, stuttering and trembling with fright, I began the report. First, I showed what alloys are used abroad and that we are lagging behind in terms of performance. Ivan Stepanovich turned inquiringly to the leaders of VIAM and VILS, to which they began to prove that this was not so and that everything is the same with us. Since no one supported me, I had to move on to the second question. I reported numerous defects in semi-finished products and a large number of rejects. There was already nothing to cover and everyone agreed. It was written in the protocol that the institutes should carry out work and improve the quality of semi-finished products in order to significantly reduce defects, and metallurgical plants increased the number of semi-finished products produced to ensure serial production of the aircraft. But I still don’t understand why Pyotr Vasilyevich set me up like that? Perhaps he did not want to quarrel with the heads of the institutes?

For the first time in the industry, passports were introduced for all semi-finished products of the An-124 aircraft, where the entire range of properties was given. The test results were used not only by VIAM, but also by KMZ. Also, for the first time in the industry for these semi-finished products, control of the fracture toughness K1C was introduced at metallurgical plants.

In parallel, for 2 years VILS has been widely deployed to study the effect of various alloying elements on the entire complex of properties. Numerous ingots were cast and strips were pressed, and forgings were forged from forging alloys. The technology of their manufacture, temperature regimes and aging regimes were worked out. After that, samples were made and tests were carried out for strength, resource characteristics and corrosion resistance in VILS and KMZ. Zirconium was introduced into all the alloys under study as an alloying additive, since this improved the resource properties (See the article Vovnyanko A.G., Drits A.M. “Influence of the composition on the fatigue resistance and crack resistance of pressed semi-finished products from alloys of the Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Zn-Mg-Cu systems. Izv. Academy of Sciences of the USSR Metals, 1984, No. 1). After a large amount of research, chemical compositions and manufacturing techniques were selected for industrial testing. The “Research Program…” was written, and I went to Verkhnyaya Salda, where I agreed with the management on the production of an experimental batch of long panels and large-sized forgings of the An-124 aircraft from new alloys. It was an amazing time!!! Then these semi-finished products arrived at KMZ, where samples were made from them and sent for testing to VILS, TsAGI and VIAM. The test results confirmed the advantages of these alloys over the entire range of properties compared to the alloys used for the manufacture of critical load-bearing structures of the An-124 aircraft (see the article Vovnyanko A.G., Drits A.M., Shneider G.I. “Monolithic structures and aluminum alloys with zirconium for their manufacture". Technology of light alloys. August, 1984).
Then Drits A.M. called. and said: “We will draw up copyright inventions for the specified composition of alloys” and that VIAM specialists should also be included there. I was very indignant: “And why are they? They didn't do anything." To which, Alexander Mikhailovich, experienced in these matters, replied: “If we don’t include them in the team of authors, then we’ll introduce these alloys.” without the approval of VIAM it was impossible to apply something in aircraft. I also went to Elizaveta Avetovna and suggested that she become one of the authors. She was very indignant at this and said: “And what have I got to do with it? You've been busy, that's enough." I tried to prove to her that none of this would have been possible without her support. But she didn't talk to me anymore. This is what a noble and intelligent person means! After all, I knew bosses at KMZ who forced subordinates to enter themselves into the Author's, otherwise they would not sign documents. Drits A.M. applications were submitted and we received Author's certificates No. 1343857, registered on 06.08.1987, No. 1362057, 08.22.1987, No. 1340198, 05.22.1987). Subsequently, these alloys received new names 1161, 1973 and 1933.

But that's not all Achievements of Elizabeth Avetovna. After the aircraft had already been put into series and static and, in part, fatigue tests were carried out (by the way, on the initiative of Shakhatuni E.A., on one copy of the aircraft, which no one in the world had ever succeeded in), Elizaveta Avetovna managed to introduce these new alloys into serial production of the An-124 aircraft! The lower wing panels began to be made from 1161T alloy, the upper ones from 1973T2, stampings from 1933T2. Subsequently, in all new An-225, An-70, An-148 and other aircraft, these alloys began to be widely used.

In 1986, the developers of these alloys, including me, became laureates of the USSR Council of Ministers Prize.

In 1982, I came to Elizaveta Avetovna and said that I wanted to deal with airplanes, because. I had no prospects in the strength department. Shakhatuni went to Petr Vasilyevich and he gave the go-ahead for my transfer to the newly created service of leading designers for the An-70 aircraft. Shakhatuni Elizaveta Avetovna was such an amazing and bright Person!

In 1985, I was appointed head of the group of leading designers for the creation of the An-225 aircraft. And here we immediately introduced new aluminum alloys 1161T, 1972T2 and 1993T in all load-bearing structures of the wing, fuselage and tail unit. This made it possible to provide a load capacity of 250 tons, unprecedented in the world aircraft industry, while providing the resource specified in the TOR. There is no doubt that in the future this resource will be significantly increased by analogy with the An-124 aircraft.

In the early 1990s, A.M. Drits called. and invited me to make a presentation at the Boeing Company in Moscow. Leading specialists from VIAM and VILS gathered there, and Boeing recently opened its branch on the street. Tverskoy. I reported on the wide use of milled monolithic parts in the design of Antonov aircraft, as well as their fatigue and survivability characteristics. After some time, the head of the Boeing branch for the CIS countries Kravchenko S.V. came to us in Kyiv. I took him to the First Deputy General Designer Kiva D.S., where he proposed to make a joint research work along a monolithic all-milled pressure bulkhead in the forward part of the fuselage (this is where the containment area ends and the locator is installed in front). These pressure bulkheads on all aircraft, both here and abroad, were of riveted construction. Kiva D.S. said that if Boeing pays $1 million, then KMZ agrees to carry out such work. When we left, Sergey said: "I have a budget of only 3 million dollars for all the CIS, so this is unrealistic." As a result, they began to work with MMZ them. Ilyushina S.V. on the luggage rack using milled parts.

In the early 1990s Fridlyander I.N. “managed” to patent alloys 1161, 1973 and 1933 in a new way, introducing into the main chemical composition impurities in hundredths of a%, which are always present in all aluminum alloys. About us, the developers, of course, forgot.

What we developed and applied more than 30 years ago in the An-124 aircraft, is currently being used by Boeing in designs the latest aircraft B787 "Dreamliner", B747-8, etc. Even the name of the aircraft was stolen: "Dream-Dream-Mriya", because this name was invented by Balabuev P.V. for the An-225 aircraft. In these aircraft, monolithic milled parts made of aluminum alloys and, especially, titanium alloys are widely used. The fact is that the machining of parts with complex geometry on modern machines with the highest milling speed turns out to be significantly cheaper in production than the manufacture of a prefabricated structure, where there is a lot of manual labor. The number of parts, work operations, jobs, fasteners, tooling, etc. is significantly reduced. Boeing even created a joint venture with VSMOS (now AVISMA) for the production of blanks and parts from titanium alloys.

An-225 "Mriya" is a unique transport aircraft with an extra-large payload. It was developed by OKB im. Antonova. The project was led by Viktor Ilyich Tolmachev.

From 1984 to 1988, this unique aircraft was competently designed and built at the Kiev Mechanical Plant. He made his first flight on December 21, 1988. At the beginning of the development of the project, 2 aircraft were laid down, and now one Mriya is used by Antonov Airlines. As for the second car, its readiness is estimated at only 70%.

Specifications An-225

This model of the aircraft has a six-engine turbojet high-wing aircraft with a swept wing and twin tails, as well as 6 D-18T aircraft engines. They were developed by ZMKB "Progress" them. A. G. Ivanchenko.

An-225 "Mriya" is a jet transport aircraft with a huge payload, which received the NATO code name Cossack. It was designed back in the days of the Soviet Union by the chief designer Tolmachev V.I. at OKB im. Antonova. It first flew on December 21, 1988. Nowadays, only one instance of Mriya is in working flight condition, another one is 70% ready, but due to lack of funding (about $100 million is required), work is not being carried out. The operator of the one-of-a-kind giant aircraft is the Ukrainian airline AntonovAirlines.

History of creation

The need to design a large-scale transport jet aircraft arose in connection with the maintenance of the Buran spacecraft. The functions of such an aircraft included the transportation of individual heavy elements of the spacecraft and launch vehicle from the place of its assembly to the launch site. The fact is that rockets and spacecraft are launched mainly in the equator region, where the value of the Earth's magnetic field is minimal, and, accordingly, the risks of accidents during takeoff are reduced.

Also for the An-225, the task was to carry out the first stage of the air launch of the spacecraft, and for this its carrying capacity should be at least 250 tons.

Since the dimensions of the Buran and the launch vehicle exceeded the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the Mriya, to transport aircraft adapted external fastenings for the transport of goods from the outside. This specificity led to a change in its tail unit. I had to replace the tail of the aircraft with a two-keel one in order to avoid the heavy impact of aerodynamic flows.

All this suggests that the An-225 was designed as a highly specialized heavy transport aircraft, however, some features that were taken from the An-124 made it universal in its qualities.

Many sources mistakenly call Balabuev P.V. the chief designer of the An-225, but this is not so. Balabuev was the chief designer of the entire Antonov Design Bureau in 1984-2005, but Tolmachev V.I. was appointed the head of the An-225 project.

Cooperation ties during the creation of Mriya

Beginning in 1985, the leadership of the Central Committee of the CPSU set short deadlines for the development of the An-225. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of designers, scientists, engineers, technologists, pilots, military and workers from all the republics of the former USSR were involved in the design and creation of a transport heavyweight.

Consider the work of individual enterprises to create the An-225

• "OKB im. Antonova” (Kyiv) – the main project work. Production of most of the components, fuselage parts, fairings and fairings, nose, etc. Assembly: fuselage and general assembly of the aircraft.
• "Tashkent Aircraft Production Association named after. Chkalov" - the manufacture of the central and end parts of the wings based on the An-124.
• "Ulyanovsk Aircraft Industrial Complex" - production of large-sized milled power frames, fuselage brackets, some serial components and parts of the aircraft.
• "Kyiv Aircraft Production Association" - manufacturing of the forward fuselage, nose and horizontal tail surfaces, front landing gear, ball screws for fuselage struts.
• "Moscow Institute of Automation and Electromechanics" - design and manufacture of the A-825M aircraft control complex.
• "Zaporozhye Motor Building Plant" - production of serial engines D-18.
• "Hydromash" ( Nizhny Novgorod) - production of new chassis.
• Voronezh Aircraft Plant. Specialists were engaged in painting the aircraft in Kyiv.

The capabilities of the An-225 aircraft

• Transportation of general purpose cargo (heavy, bulky, long), with a total weight of up to 250 tons.
• Intracontinental non-stop transportation of goods with a total weight of 180-200 tons.
• Intercontinental transportation of goods up to 150 tons.
• Transportation of external monocargoes attached to the fuselage weighing up to 200 tons.
• Mriya is a promising base for the design of aerospace systems.

Consider the volume of the cargo compartment of the fuselage with examples.

• Cars (50 pcs.).
• Universal aviation containers UAK-10 (16 pcs.).
• Large-sized mono-cargoes with a total weight of up to 200 tons (generators, turbines, dump trucks, etc.)

Exploitation

The first flight of the Mriya dates back to December 21, 1988.

The aircraft was designed to transport the Buran spacecraft and Energia launch vehicles. However, before the completion of work on its release, the launch vehicles were already transported by the Atlant aircraft, and the An-225 was only involved in moving the Buran itself. In May 1989 it was presented at the Paris Air Show and made several demonstration flights over Baikonur in April 1991.

After the collapse of the USSR, in 1994, the only Mriya unit stopped flying. The engines and some other items of equipment were removed from it and put on the Ruslans. But by the beginning of the 2000s, it became clear that the need for a working An-225 was very great, so they tried to restore it at Ukrainian enterprises. In order to fit the aircraft under modern certificates civil aviation also required minor modifications.

On May 23, 2001, the An-225 "Mriya" received certificates from the International Aviation Committee and the State Department of Aviation Transport of Ukraine. They allowed to carry out commercial activities for the transportation of goods.

At the present time, the owner of a single copy of the An-225 is the airline "Antonov Airlines", which carries out commercial cargo transportation as part of a subsidiary of ANTK im. Antonova.

On the basis of the aircraft, a flying complex is being designed to launch various aviation and space systems. One of the promising projects in this direction is MAKS (Ukrainian-Russian multi-purpose aerospace system).

Records

During the short time of its existence, the An-225 has set hundreds of aviation records.

An-225 "Mriya" is the heaviest cargo-lifting aircraft that has ever taken to the air. In terms of wingspan, it is second only to the HuglesH-Herkules, which made only one flight in 1974.

The An-225 set especially many records in terms of carrying capacity. So, on March 22, 1989, having lifted a cargo with a total weight of 156.3 tons into the sky, he broke 110 world aviation records. But this is not the limit of its capabilities. August 2004 - the Mriya aircraft transports cargo consisting of Zeromax equipment in the direction of Prague - Tashkent with refueling in Samara, with a total weight of 250 tons.

Five years later, in August 2009, the name of the Ukrainian aircraft once again enters the Guinness Book of Records, this time for transporting the heaviest monocargo in the cargo hold. It turned out to be a generator, which weighed 187.6 tons together with an auxiliary installation. The cargo was sent from German city Frankfurt to Yerevan at the request of one of the Armenian power plants.

The absolute load capacity record of 253.8 tons belongs to the An-225 Mriya.

10.06. 2010 this aircraft transported the longest in history air transportation cargo - two blades of a screw windmill, each of which is 42.1 m in length.

If we sum up all the world records of Mriya, then there are over 250 of them.

The second copy of "Mriya"

The second An-225 is only 70% ready in our time. Its assembly began back in the days of the Union at the aircraft factory. Antonova. According to the management of the plant, when a customer appears, it will be able to bring it to operational flight readiness.

Based on the statement CEO Kyiv "Aviant" Oleg Shevchenko, now it takes about $ 90-100 million in investments to lift the second copy of the An-225 into the air. And if you take into account the amount needed for flight tests, then the total cost can rise to $120 million.

As you know, the development of this aircraft is based on the An-124 Ruslan. The main differences between the An-225 and the An-124 are as follows:

two additional engines,

increase in the length of the fuselage as a result of inserts,

new center section

tail replacement,

no tail cargo hatch,

fastening and pressurization system for external cargoes,

increase in the number of main landing gear racks.

As for the rest of the characteristics, the An-225 "Mriya" almost completely corresponds to the An-124, which greatly facilitated and reduced the cost of developing a new model and its use.

Appointment An-225 "Mriya"

The reason for the development and creation of the An-225 was the need for an aviation transport platform designed for the Buran spacecraft. As you know, the main purpose of the aircraft in the framework of the project was the transportation of the space shuttle and its components from the production site to the launch site. In addition, the task was set to return the Buran spacecraft to the cosmodrome, if it were suddenly forced to land on alternate airfields.

Another An-225 aircraft was supposed to be used as the first stage of the space shuttle air launch system. That is why the aircraft had to withstand a payload of more than 250 tons. Since the blocks of the carrier "Energy" and the spacecraft "Buran" itself had dimensions that somewhat exceeded the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the aircraft, it provided for external fastening of cargo. This, in turn, required the replacement of the base tail of the aircraft with a two-tail one, which made it possible to avoid aerodynamic shading.

As you can see, the aircraft was created to perform a few specialized transport tasks that were very responsible. However, building it on the basis of the An-124 "Ruslan" endowed new car many qualities of a transport aircraft.

An-225 has the ability to:

transportation of general purpose cargo (oversized, long, heavy), the total weight of which is up to 250 tons;

intracontinental transportation of goods weighing 180-200 tons without landing;

intercontinental transportation of goods, the total weight of which is up to 150 tons;

transportation of heavy monocargoes with a total weight of up to 200 tons and with large dimensions.

An-225 is the first step in the creation of an aviation-comic project.

The model has a spacious and roomy cargo cabin, so you can carry a wide variety of goods.

For example, it can be translated into:

fifty cars;

monocargoes with a total weight of up to 200 tons (dump trucks, turbines, generators);

sixteen ten-ton UAK-10, which are universal aviation containers.

Cargo compartment parameters: 6.4 m - width, 43 m - length, 4.4 m - height. The cargo compartment of the An-225 is sealed, which expands its capabilities. Above the cargo compartment there is a room designed for a shift crew of 6 people and for 88 people who can accompany the transported cargo. At the same time, all control systems have a quadruple redundancy. The design of the front cargo hatch and the onboard equipment allow loading / unloading cargo as conveniently and quickly as possible. The aircraft can carry bulky cargo on the fuselage. The dimensions of these cargoes do not allow them to be transported using other ground or air vehicles. A special fastening system ensures the reliability of these cargoes on the fuselage.

Flight performance An-225

800-850 km/h - cruising speed

1500 km - flight distance with maximum fuel

4500 km - flight range with a load of 200 tons

7000 km - flight range with a load of 150 tons

3-3.5 thousand m - the required length of the runway

Dimensions

88.4 m - wingspan

84 m - aircraft length

18.1 m - height

905 sq. m − wing area

To date, the An-225 "Mriya" is the largest aircraft in the world, as well as the most lifting. Moreover, the giant put a large number of world records, many of which are in terms of carrying capacity, take-off weight, cargo length, etc.

Possible competition

The President of Antonov Airlines claims that the launch of satellite vehicles from the An-225 will cost much less than the use of the infrastructure of the cosmodrome. Moreover, the aircraft will not compete with the Polet project, which involves launching from Ruslan. All this is because the Polet project planned the launch of so-called light satellites, weighing up to 3.5 tons. But with the An-225, it is possible to produce medium-type structures, weighing up to 5.5 tons.

Well, as for the updated projects of the West, we are talking about the A3XX-100F aircraft Airbus and about the Boeing 747-X aircraft model, their carrying capacity is no more than 150 tons, and they begin to compete with the An-225. And they have a lot of chances to win.

The last modernization of the An-225 took place in 2000, as a result of which it received navigation equipment that meets international standards.

An-225 "Mriya" (translated from Ukrainian - "dream") is the heaviest cargo-lifting aircraft ever taken into the air. The maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft is 640 tons. The reason for the construction of the An-225 was the need to create an aviation transport system for the project of the Soviet reusable spacecraft "Buran". The plane exists in a single copy.

The aircraft was designed in the USSR and built in 1988 at the Kiev Mechanical Plant.

"Mriya" set a world record for take-off weight and payload. On March 22, 1989, the An-225 flew with a load of 156.3 tons, thus breaking 110 world aviation records at the same time, which is a record in itself.

Since the start of operation, the aircraft has flown 3740 hours. If we assume that the average flight speed (taking into account takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, landing approach) is about 500 km / h, then we can calculate the approximate value of the distance traveled: 500 x 3740 \u003d 1,870,000 km (more than 46 orbits around the earth at the equator).

The scale of the An-225 is amazing: the length of the aircraft is 84 meters, the height is 18 meters (like a 6-storey 4-entrance building)

Visual comparison of "Mriya" and passenger Boeing-747.

If we take as a basis the largest of the Boeing 747-800, then the length of the An-225 will be 8 meters longer, and the wingspan will be 20 meters longer.
Compared to the Airbus A380, Mriya is 11 meters longer, and its wingspan exceeds it by almost 9 meters.

It happens that the airport does not have an appropriate parking lot for such big plane, and it is placed directly on the runway.
Of course, we are talking about an alternate runway, if the airport has one.

The wingspan is 88.4 meters and the area is 905 m²

The only aircraft that surpasses the An-225 in terms of wingspan is the Hughes H-4 Hercules, which belongs to the class of flying boats. The ship took to the air only once in 1947. The history of this aircraft is reflected in the film "Aviator"

Since the Buran spacecraft itself and the blocks of the Energia launch vehicle had dimensions that exceeded the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the Mriya, the new aircraft provided for securing cargo from the outside. In addition, it was planned that the aircraft would be used as the first stage at the launch of the spacecraft.

The formation of a wake from a bulky cargo fixed on top of the aircraft required the tail unit to be fitted with two tails in order to avoid aerodynamic shading.

The aircraft is equipped with 6 D-18T engines.
In takeoff mode, each engine develops a thrust of 23.4 tons (or 230 kN), i.e. the total thrust of all 6 engines is 140.5 tons (1380 kN)

It can be assumed that each engine in takeoff mode develops about 12,500 horsepower!

The D-18T engines of the An-225 aircraft are the same as those of the An-124 Ruslan.
The height of such an engine is 3 m, the width is 2.8 m, and the weight is more than 4 tons.

Starting system - air, with electric automatic control. An auxiliary power unit, consisting of two TA-12 turbosets installed in the left and right landing gear fairings, provides autonomous power to all systems and engine start.

The mass of fuel in the tanks is 365 tons, it is placed in 13 wing caisson tanks.
The aircraft can stay in the air for 18 hours and cover a distance of over 15,000 km.

The refueling time of such a machine ranges from half an hour to a day and a half, and the number of tankers depends on their capacity (from 5 to 50 tons), that is, from 7 to 70 tankers.

The fuel consumption of the aircraft is 15.9 tons / h (in cruise mode)
When fully loaded, the aircraft can stay in the sky without refueling for no more than 2 hours.

The chassis includes a two-column bow and a 14-column main (7 struts on each side) supports.
Each rack has two wheels. A total of 32 wheels.

Wheels require replacement every 90 landings.
Tires for Mriya are produced at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. The price of one tire is about $1000.

On the bow stand there are wheels measuring 1120 x 450 mm, and on the main stand there are wheels measuring 1270 x 510 mm.
The pressure inside is 12 atmospheres.

Since 2001, the An-225 has been performing commercial freight transportation as part of Antonov Airlines

Cargo cabin dimensions: length - 43 m, width - 6.4 m, height - 4.4 m.
The cargo compartment of the aircraft is sealed, which allows the transportation of various types of cargo. Inside the cabin, 16 standard containers, up to 80 cars and even heavy dump trucks of the BelAZ type can be placed. There is enough space to fit the entire body of a Boeing 737.

Access to cargo compartment through bow plane that tilts up.

The process of opening / closing the ramp of the cargo compartment takes no more than 10 minutes.

To unfold the ramp, the aircraft performs the so-called "elephant bow".
The front landing gear tilts forward, and the weight of the aircraft is transferred to the auxiliary supports, which are installed under the front sill of the cargo compartment.

Auxiliary support.

Aircraft squat control panel.

This method of loading has a number of advantages in comparison with the Boeing 747 (loading on which is carried out through a compartment in the side of the fuselage.

Mriya holds the record for the weight of transported cargo: commercial - 247 tons (which is four times the maximum payload of a Boeing 747), commercial monocargo - 187.6 tons, and an absolute record for carrying capacity - 253.8 tons. On June 10, 2010, the longest cargo in the history of air transportation was transported - two windmill blades 42.1 m long each.

To ensure safe flight, the center of gravity of the aircraft with cargo must be within certain limits along its length. The load master performs the loading in strict accordance with the instructions, after which the co-pilot checks the correct placement of the cargo and reports this to the crew commander, who decides on the possibility of flying and is responsible for this.

The aircraft is equipped with an onboard loading complex, consisting of four lifting mechanisms, each with a carrying capacity of 5 tons.
In addition, two floor winches are provided for loading non-self-propelled wheeled vehicles and cargo on the loading rack.

This time, the An-225 was chartered by the French engineering company Alstom to transport 170 tons of cargo from Swiss Zurich to Bahrain with refueling in Athens and Cairo.

These are a turbine rotor, a turbogenerator for the production of electricity and components.

Flight manager Vadim Nikolaevich Deniskov.

To tow the An-225 aircraft, it is impossible to use the carrier of aircraft of other companies, therefore the carrier is transported on board the aircraft.

And since the aircraft is not equipped with a rear cargo hatch and the towing carrier is unloaded and loaded through the front cargo hatch, which requires a full cycle of squatting the aircraft on the front support, as a result, at least 30 minutes are lost and the resource of the aircraft structure and the squat system is unreasonably spent.

Aircraft Maintenance Technician.

To ensure turns when the aircraft moves along the ground, the last four rows of the main support struts are made orientable.

Aircraft maintenance technician: specialization "hydraulic system and landing gear".

The large weight of the aircraft leads to the fact that the landing gear leaves marks on the pavement.

Ladder and hatch to the cockpit.

The passenger compartment is divided into 2 parts: in the front there is the crew of the aircraft, and in the back - the accompanying and maintenance personnel.
Cabin sealing is separate - they are separated by a wing.

The rear part of the attendant's cabin is designed for eating, working with technical documentation and holding conferences.
The aircraft provides 18 seats for rest of crew members and members of the engineering team - 6 seats in the front cabin and 12 in the rear.

Ladder and hatch to the cabin of the attendants in the tail section of the aircraft.

Technical compartment located at the rear of the cockpit.

On the shelves, you can see the blocks that ensure the operation of various aircraft systems, and the pipelines of the pressurization and air conditioning system and the anti-icing system. All aircraft systems are highly automated and require minimal crew intervention during operation. Their work is supported by 34 on-board computers.

The wall of the front spars of the center section. It is installed (from top to bottom): slat transmission and air bleed pipelines from engines.
In front of her are stationary cylinders of the fire protection system with Freon extinguishing agent.

Stickers - souvenirs from numerous visitors on the panel on the doors of the emergency escape hatch.

The farthest point from the base airport, which the aircraft managed to visit, is the island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia.
Distance along the shortest arc the globe about 16400 km.

Rynda An-225
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mason mentioned in the engraving is an aircraft maintenance engineer who worked for Mriya for many years.

Aircraft commander (PIC) - Vladimir Yuryevich Mosin.

To become an An-225 commander, you must have at least 5 years of experience in flying an An-124 aircraft as a commander.

Weight and balance control is simplified by the installation of a weight measurement system on the chassis.

The crew of the aircraft consists of 6 people:
aircraft commander, co-pilot, navigator, senior flight engineer, aircraft equipment flight engineer, flight radio operator.

ORES

To reduce the effort on the throttles and improve the accuracy of setting the engine operation modes, a remote engine control system is provided. In this case, the pilot makes a relatively small effort to move the lever of an electromechanical device mounted on the engine with the help of cables, which reproduces this movement on the fuel regulator lever with the necessary effort and accuracy. For the convenience of joint control during takeoff and landing, the throttles of the outer engines (THROTTLE1 and THROTTLE6) are coupled to the THROTTLE2 and THROTTLE5, respectively.

The steering wheel of the largest aircraft in the world.

Booster aircraft control i.e. the control surfaces are deflected exclusively by means of hydraulic steering actuators, in case of failure of which it is impossible to control the aircraft manually (with an increase in the necessary efforts). Therefore, a quadruple redundancy has been applied. The mechanical part of the control system (from the steering wheel and pedals to hydraulic steering gears) consists of rigid rods and cables.
The total length of these cables is: aileron control systems in the fuselage - about 30 meters, in each console (left, right) of the wing - approximately 35 meters; elevator and rudder control systems - about 65 meters each.

With an empty plane, 2400 m of runway is enough for takeoff and landing.
Takeoff with a maximum weight of 3500 m, landing with a maximum weight of 3300 m.

At the executive start, the engines warm up, which takes about 10 minutes.

Thus, engine surge during takeoff is prevented and its maximum takeoff thrust is ensured. Undoubtedly, this requirement leads to the fact that: the takeoff is performed during the period of minimum airport occupancy, or the plane waits a long time for its turn to take off, skipping scheduled flights.

The takeoff and landing speed depends on the takeoff and landing weight of the aircraft and ranges from 240 km/h to 280 km/h.

Climbing is carried out at a speed of 560 km / h, with a vertical speed of 8 m / s.

At an altitude of 7100 meters, the speed increases to 675 km / h with a further continuation of the climb to the flight level.

Cruising speed of An-225 - 850 km/h
When calculating cruising speed, the weight of the aircraft and the flight range that the aircraft must cover are taken into account.

Dmitry Viktorovich Antonov - senior PIC.

The middle panel of the dashboard of the pilots.

Backup instruments: artificial horizon and altitude indicator. Fuel lever position indicator (UPRT), engine thrust indicator (UT). Deviation indicators for control surfaces and take-off and landing devices (slats, flaps, spoilers).

The instrument panel of the senior flight engineer.

In the lower left corner there is a side panel with hydraulic complex controls and chassis position signaling. Top left panel of the aircraft fire protection system. At the top right is a panel with controls and instruments: starting the APU, pressurization and air conditioning systems, an anti-icing system and a block of signal displays. Below is a panel with controls and controls for the fuel supply system, engine operation control and an on-board automated control system (BASK) for all aircraft parameters.

Senior on-board engineer - Polishchuk Alexander Nikolaevich.

Engine control instrument panel.

On the left, at the top, a vertical indicator of the position of the fuel levers. Large round instruments - high pressure compressor and engine fan speed indicators. Small round instruments - oil temperature gauges at the engine inlet. A block of vertical instruments at the bottom - indicators of the amount of oil in the engine oil tanks.

Instrument panel of an aircraft equipment engineer.
Here are the controls and instruments for monitoring the power supply system of the aircraft and the oxygen system.

Navigator - Anatoly Binyatovich Abdullaev.

Flight over the territory of Greece.

Navigator-instructor - Yaroslav Ivanovich Koshytsky.

Flight operator - Gennady Yurievich Antipov.
The ICAO call sign for the An-225 on the flight from Zurich to Athens was ADB-3038.

On-board engineer - Yuri Anatolyevich Mindar.

Athens airport runway.

Landing at night on the "Mriya" is carried out instrumentally, that is, according to instruments, from the leveling height to the touch - visually. According to the crew, one of the most difficult landings is in Kabul, which is associated with high mountains and many obstacles. The approach is started at a speed of 340 km/h up to a height of 200 meters, then the speed is gradually reduced.

Landing is carried out at a speed of 295 km / h with fully released mechanization. It is allowed to touch the runway at a vertical speed of 6 m/s. After touching the runway, the reverse thrust is immediately shifted on engines 2 to 5, and 1 and 6 are left at idle. The landing gear is braked at a speed of 140-150 km/h until the aircraft comes to a complete stop.

Aircraft resource - 8000 flight hours, 2000 takeoffs and landings, 25 calendar years.

The aircraft can still fly until December 21, 2013 (25 years since the start of its operation), after which a thorough study of its technical condition will be carried out and the necessary work will be carried out to ensure the extension of the calendar service life to 45 years.

Due to the high cost of transportation on the An-225, orders appear only for very long and very heavy loads, when transportation by land transport is not possible. Flights are random: from 2-3 per month to 1-2 per year. From time to time there is talk about building a second copy of the An-225 aircraft, but this requires an appropriate order and appropriate funding. To complete the construction, an amount approximately equal to $ 90 million is required, and taking into account the testing, it increases to $ 120 million.

Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful and impressive aircraft in the world.

Thanks to "Antonov Airlines" for help in organizing photography!
Special thanks to Deniskov Vadim Nikolaevich for help in writing the text for the post!

For all questions regarding the use of photographs, write to e-mail.

An-225 "Mriya" is the largest aircraft in the world that has ever taken to the air ("Mriya" from the Ukrainian "dream"). The maximum lifting weight of the aircraft is 640 tons. The An-225 aircraft was built specifically to transport the Soviet reusable spacecraft Buran. The aircraft was produced in a single copy.

The aircraft project was developed in the USSR and built at the Kiev Mechanical Plant in 1988.
"An-225" set a world record for carrying capacity. On March 22, 1988, the plane took off with a load of 156.3 tons and broke 110 aviation records.

For the entire period of operation, the aircraft flew 3740 hours. If we assume the average speed of the aircraft is 500 km / h, the takeoff and landing times, it comes out to be approximately 1,870,000 kilometers or 46 around the Earth at the equator.

The dimensions of the An-225 are amazing: length - 84 meters, height -18 meters.

The photo shows an illustrative example of the An-225 and Boeing-747 aircraft.
If we compare the largest Boeing-747-800, then the An-225 is 8 meters longer, and the size of the wings is 20 meters.

Not all airports can park such a giant; in such cases, the aircraft stands right on the alternate runway.

Wingspan 88.4 meters. There is one aircraft in the world that surpasses the An-225 in terms of wingspan, this Hughes H-4 Hercules took off once in 1947.

On the An-225 aircraft, external mounts were provided for transporting bulky cargo, for example, the Buran spacecraft and blocks of the Energia launch vehicle. The cargo is secured at the top of the aircraft.

Loads fixed at the top could create a wake, which required a two-keel tail assembly to avoid aerodynamic shadowing.

The aircraft is equipped with six D-18T engines, each developing a thrust of 23.4 tons during takeoff.

Each engine develops 12,500 hp during takeoff.

The D-18T engine of the An-225 Mriya aircraft is also installed on the An-124 Ruslan. The weight of the engine is 4 tons, and the height is 3 meters.

The total volume of fuel tanks is 365 tons. The plane can fly 15 thousand kilometers and stay in the air for 18 hours.

It takes from 2 to 36 hours to refuel such a giant, it all depends on the volume of tankers (from 5 to 50 tons).

Fuel consumption 15.9 tons per hour (cruise flight). When fully loaded, the aircraft can stay in the air without refueling for no more than 2 hours.

The chassis consists of 16 racks, each rack has 2 wheels, a total of 32 wheels.

90 landings, this is the resource of all wheels, after which they need to be changed. Wheels are produced in Yaroslavl, the price of one wheel is about 30 thousand rubles.

Wheel size: on the main pillar 1270 x 510 mm, on the front 1120 x 450 mm. Wheel pressure 12 atmospheres.

An-255 has been performing commercial transportation since 2001.

Cargo cabin: length-43 meters, width-6.4 meters, height-4.4 meters.
The cargo compartment is completely sealed, which allows you to transport any kind of cargo. What can be placed on a plane, for example: 80 cars, 16 containers or BelAZ giant trucks.

The cargo compartment is opened by lifting the bow up.

It takes 10 minutes to open access to the cargo hold.

The landing gear is bent under itself, the front of the aircraft is lowered down on special supports.

Auxiliary steam.

Control panel "lowering system" of the aircraft.

This type of loading has a number of advantages over the Boeing 747, which is loaded from the side of the fuselage.

The An-225 aircraft carries cargo: commercial 247 tons (4 times more than the Boeing-747), and the record load capacity is 2538 tons. In 2010, the longest cargo in air transportation was delivered, 2 windmill blades of 42.1 m each.

For the sake of flight safety, loads are placed strictly according to the instructions, observing the center of gravity, after which the co-pilot checks the correct placement of the load and reports to the commander.

The aircraft is equipped with its own loader of 4 lifts, each lifts 5 tons. The floors are equipped with two winches for loading non-self-propelled cargo.

The services of the largest aircraft are used all over the world, for example: now you need to transfer 170 tons of cargo from a French engineering company from Zurich to Bahrain. Refueling will be required in Athens and Cairo.

Alston turbine rotor for electricity production.

An-225 Mriya aircraft towing

The very large weight of the aircraft leaves such traces on the pavement.

The technical compartment is located at the rear of the cockpit. There are many different systems here, but their work is controlled by 34 on-board computers, human intervention is minimized.

An-225 aircraft crew of six people: aircraft commander, co-pilot, navigator, senior flight engineer, aircraft equipment flight engineer, flight radio operator.

The helm, it is controlled by the largest aircraft in the world.

To take off an empty plane, 2400 meters of the runway is enough. If the aircraft is fully loaded, it is required runway 3500 meters.

It takes 10 minutes to warm up the engine before takeoff, which ensures maximum thrust.

The takeoff and landing speed depends on the weight of the aircraft (with and without cargo) and ranges from 240 to 280 km/h.

The aircraft is gaining altitude at a speed of 560 km/h.

After climbing more than 7 thousand meters, the speed increases to 675 km / h and further grows, the ship is gaining altitude to the flight level.

The cruising speed is 850 km/h. The speed is calculated taking into account the cargo carried and the flight range.

Pilots' dashboard (middle panel).

The instrument panel of the senior flight engineer.

Devices for monitoring the operation of engines.

Navigator.

Flight engineer.

Ship captain and co-pilot.

Landing at a speed of 295 km / h, braking of the landing gear occurs at a speed of 145 km / h and until the aircraft stops.

Aircraft resource: 25 years, 8 thousand flight hours, 2 thousand takeoffs and landings. The aircraft reached its service life in 2013 and was sent for a thorough study and repair, after which the service life will increase to 45 years.

The transportation services of the largest An-225 Mriya aircraft are very expensive. An aircraft is ordered when very heavy and long loads need to be transported, only if transportation by land and water is not possible. The company wants to make a second such aircraft, but this is just talk. The cost of building the second An-225 aircraft is about $90 million, taking into account all the tests, it increases to $120 million.

The largest aircraft in the world An-225 belongs to Antonov Airlines.

People are always attracted by some kind of record - record aircraft always get a lot of attention

Airbus A380 is a wide-body double-deck jet passenger aircraft, created by Airbus S.A.S. (previously Airbus Industry) is the largest serial airliner in the world.

The height of the aircraft is 24.08 meters, the length is 72.75 (80.65) meters, the wingspan is 79.75 meters. A380 can make non-stop flights at a distance of up to 15,400 km. Capacity - 525 passengers in the cabin of three classes; 853 passengers in single class configuration. A cargo modification of the A380F is also provided with the ability to carry cargo up to 150 tons over a distance of up to 10,370 km.

The development of the Airbus A380 took about 10 years, the cost of the entire program amounted to about 12 billion euros. Airbus says it needs to sell 420 aircraft to recoup its costs, although some analysts estimate the figure should be much higher.

According to the developers, the most difficult part in the creation of the A380 was the problem of reducing its weight. It was solved due to the wide use of composite materials both in load-bearing structural elements and in auxiliary units, interiors, etc.

Advanced technologies and improved aluminum alloys were also used to reduce the weight of the aircraft. So, 11-ton center section for 40% of its mass consists of carbon fiber. The top and side panels of the fuselage are made from Glare hybrid material. On the lower fuselage panels, laser welding of stringers and skin was used, which significantly reduced the number of fasteners.

According to Airbus, per passenger, the Airbus A380 burns 17% less fuel than "the largest aircraft today" (apparently referring to the Boeing 747). The less fuel burned, the less carbon dioxide emissions. For an aircraft, CO2 emissions per passenger are only 75 grams per kilometer. This is almost half the CO2 emission limit set by the European Union for cars manufactured in 2008.

The first A320 aircraft sold was delivered to the customer on October 15, 2007 after a lengthy acceptance testing phase and entered service on October 25, 2007 on a commercial flight between Singapore and Sydney. Two months later, Singapore Airlines President Chu Chong Seng said the Airbus A380 was performing better than expected and consuming 20% ​​less fuel per passenger than the company's existing Boeing 747-400s.

The upper and lower decks of the aircraft are connected by two ladders, at the nose and tail of the liner, wide enough to accommodate two passengers shoulder to shoulder. In a 555-passenger configuration, the A380 has 33% more passenger space than a Boeing 747-400 in standard three-class configuration, but has 50% more space and volume, resulting in more space per passenger.

The maximum certified capacity of the aircraft is 853 passengers when configured with a single economy class. The announced configurations range from 450 seats (for Qantas Airways) to 644 (for Emirates Airline, with two comfort classes).

Hughes H-4 Hercules (eng. Hughes H-4 Hercules) is a transport wooden flying boat developed by the American company Hughes Aircraft under the direction of Howard Hughes. This 136-ton aircraft, originally designated as the NK-1 and given the unofficial nickname Spruce Goose ("Goldfinch, Dude", literally "Spruce Goose"), was the largest flying boat ever built, and its wingspan still remains a record - 98 meters. It was designed to transport 750 soldiers fully equipped.

At the beginning of World War II, the US government allocated $ 13 million to Hughes for the manufacture of a prototype flying ship, but by the end of hostilities aircraft was not ready, due to the lack of aluminum, as well as the stubbornness of Hughes, who sought to create a flawless car.

Specifications

• Crew: 3 people
• Length: 66.45 m
• Wingspan: 97.54 m
• Height: 24.08 m
• Fuselage height: 9.1 m
• Wing area: 1061.88 m²
• Maximum takeoff weight: 180 tons
• Payload weight: up to 59,000 kg
• Fuel capacity: 52,996 l
• Engines: 8× air-cooled Pratt&Whitney R-4360-4A, 3000 hp each with. (2240 ​​kW) each
• Propellers: 8 × four-bladed Hamilton Standard, 5.23 m diameter

Flight characteristics

• Top speed: 351 mph (565.11 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 250 mph (407.98 km/h)
• Flight range: 5634 km
• Practical ceiling: 7165 m.

Despite its nickname, the aircraft is built almost entirely from birch, more precisely from birch plywood glued to a pattern.

The Hercules aircraft, piloted by Howard Hughes himself, made its first and only flight only on November 2, 1947, when it took off to a height of 21 meters and covered approximately two kilometers in a straight line over Los Angeles Harbor.

After a long period of storage (Hughes kept the aircraft in working order until his death in 1976, spending up to $ 1 million a year on this), the aircraft was sent to the Long Beach Museum, California.

The aircraft is visited annually by about 300,000 tourists. The biography of the creator of the aircraft Howard Hughes and the testing of the aircraft are shown in Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator.

It is currently on display at the Evergreen International Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, where it was moved in 1993.

This machine was designed and built in a very short time: the first drawings began to be created in 1985, and in 1988 the transport aircraft was already built. The reason for such a short time can be quite easily explained: the fact is that the Mriya was created on the basis of well-developed components and assemblies of the An-124 Ruslan. So, for example, the fuselage of the Mriya has the same transverse dimensions as the An-124, but longer than it, the wingspan and area have increased. The same structure as that of Ruslan has a wing, but additional sections have been added to it. The An-225 has two additional engines. The landing gear of the aircraft is similar to the chassis of the Ruslan, but it has seven instead of five racks. The cargo compartment has been changed quite seriously. Initially, two aircraft were laid down, but only one An-225 was completed. The second copy of the unique aircraft is about 70% ready and can be completed at any time, subject to proper funding. For its completion, an amount of 100-120 million dollars is needed.

On February 1, 1989, the aircraft was shown to the general public, and in May of the same year, the An-225 made a non-stop flight from Baikonur to Kyiv, carrying a Buran weighing sixty tons on its back. In the same month, the An-225 delivered the Buran spacecraft to the Paris air show and made a splash there. In total, the aircraft has 240 world records, including the transport of the heaviest cargo (253 tons), the heaviest monolithic cargo (188 tons) and the longest cargo.

The An-225 Mriya aircraft was originally designed for the needs of the Soviet space industry. In those years, the Soviet Union was building the Buran, its first reusable ship, an analogue of the American shuttle. To implement this project, it was necessary transport system, with which it was possible to transport large loads. It was for these purposes that Mriya was conceived. In addition to the components and assemblies of the spacecraft itself, it was necessary to deliver parts of the Energia rocket, which also had colossal dimensions. All this was delivered from the place of production to the points of final assembly. Units and components of "Energia" and "Buran" were manufactured in central regions USSR, and the final assembly took place in Kazakhstan, at the Baikonur cosmodrome. In addition, the An-225 was originally designed so that in the future it could carry the completed Buran spacecraft. Also, the An-225 could carry bulky cargo for the needs of the national economy, for example, equipment for the mining, oil and gas industries.

In addition to participating in the Soviet space program, the aircraft was to be used to transport oversized cargo over long distances. This work An-225 "Mriya" will perform today.

General Functions and the tasks of the machine can be described as follows:

• transportation of general-purpose cargo (oversized, heavy) with a total weight of up to 250 tons;
• intracontinental non-stop transportation of goods weighing 180−200 tons;
• intercontinental transportation of goods weighing up to 150 tons;
• transportation of heavy oversized cargo on an external sling with a total weight of up to 200 tons;
• use of aircraft for air launch of spacecraft.

Other, even more ambitious tasks were set before the unique aircraft, and they were also associated with space. The An-225 "Mriya" aircraft was supposed to become a kind of flying cosmodrome, a platform from which spaceships and rockets would be launched into orbit. "Mriya", as conceived by the designers, was to become the first step for the launch of reusable spacecraft of the "Buran" type. Therefore, initially the designers were faced with the task of making an aircraft with a carrying capacity of at least 250 tons.

The Soviet shuttle was supposed to start from the "back" of the aircraft. This method of launching vehicles into near-Earth orbit has many serious advantages. Firstly, there is no need to build very expensive ground-based launch complexes, and secondly, launching a rocket or ship from an aircraft saves fuel significantly and allows increasing the payload of a spacecraft. In some cases, this may allow you to completely abandon the first stage of the rocket.

Various air launch options are being developed at the present time. The United States is especially active in this direction; there are also Russian developments.

Alas, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "air launch" project, with the participation of the An-225, was practically buried. This aircraft was an active participant in the Energia-Buran program. An-225 carried out fourteen flights with Buran on the top of the fuselage, hundreds of tons of various cargoes were transported under this program.

After 1991, funding for the Energia-Buran program ceased, and the An-225 was left without work. Only in 2000 did the modernization of the machine begin for commercial use. The An-225 Mriya aircraft has unique technical specifications, huge carrying capacity and can carry bulky cargo on its fuselage - all this makes the aircraft very popular for commercial transportation.

Since that time, the An-225 has performed many flights and transported hundreds of tons of various cargoes. Some transport operations can be safely called unique and unparalleled in the history of aviation. The plane took part in humanitarian operations several times. After the devastating tsunami, he delivered power generators to Samoa, transported construction equipment to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, and helped clean up the aftermath of an earthquake in Japan.

In 2009, the An-225 aircraft was upgraded and its service life was extended.

The An-225 "Mriya" aircraft is made according to the classical scheme, with high-raised wings of small sweep. The cabin is located in front of the aircraft, the cargo hatch is also located in the nose of the machine. The aircraft is made according to the two-keel scheme. Such a decision is associated with the need to transport goods on the fuselage of the aircraft. The glider of the An-225 aircraft has very high aerodynamic properties, the value of the aerodynamic quality of this machine is 19, which is an excellent indicator not only for transport, but also for passenger aircraft. This, in turn, greatly improved the performance of the aircraft and reduced fuel consumption.

Almost the entire internal space of the fuselage is occupied by the cargo compartment. Compared to the An-124, it has grown by 10% (by seven meters). At the same time, the wingspan increased by only 20%, two more engines were added, and the aircraft's carrying capacity increased by one and a half times. During the construction of the An-225, drawings, components and assemblies of the An-124 were actively used, thanks to which the aircraft was able to be created in such a short time. Here are the main differences between the An-225 and the An-124 Ruslan:

• new center section;
• increased fuselage length;
• single-keel tail unit was replaced with a two-keel one;
• lack of a tail cargo hatch;
• the number of main landing gear racks has been increased from five to seven;
• system of fastening and pressurization of external loads;
• two additional D-18T engines were installed.

Unlike Ruslan, Mriya has only one cargo hatch, which is located in the nose of the aircraft. Like its predecessor, "Mriya" can change the clearance and angle of the fuselage, which is extremely convenient for loading and unloading. The chassis has three supports: a front two-column and two main ones, each of which consists of seven pillars. At the same time, all racks are independent of each other and are produced separately.

To take off without a load, the aircraft needs a runway 2400 meters long, with a load - 3500 meters.

An-225 has six D-18T engines suspended under the wings, as well as two auxiliary power units located inside the fuselage.

The cargo compartment is sealed and equipped with all the necessary equipment for loading operations. Inside the fuselage, the An-225 can carry up to sixteen standard aviation containers (each weighing ten tons), fifty cars or any cargo weighing up to two hundred tons (turbines, extra large trucks, generators). On top of the fuselage, special fastenings are provided for the transportation of bulky cargo.D

Specifications An-225 "Mriya"

Dimensions

• Wingspan, m 88.4
• Length, m 84.0
• Height, m ​​18.2

Weight, kg

• Empty 250000
• Maximum takeoff 600000
• Fuel mass 300000
• Engine 6*TRDD D-18T
• Specific fuel consumption, kg/kgf h 0.57-0.63
• Cruising speed, km/h 850
• Practical range, km 15600
• Range, km 4500
• Practical ceiling, m 11000

Crew of six people

An-225 is a Soviet transport jet aircraft of extra-large payload developed by OKB im. O.K. Antonov, is the largest aircraft in the world.