Antonov 124 engines
Afternoon,
Recently I was taxying behind an An 124 when before entering the runway the pilot mentioned to ATC that he would need four minutes on the runway for 'engine stabalization'. Neither me or my colleague had ever heard of this request before. Sure enough a long delay ensured to allow for this amount of time on the runway.
Why is such a very long run up time necessary. I guess it is due to the type of engine fitted as surely if they were fitted with RR or GE then they could just spool up and go. Judging by the tailplane there must have been at least 50% thrust, possibly more during this run up. Why couldn't Ivchenko (who I believe designed the engine), build one that could spool up to maximum power in one go?
Maybe Antonov could have fitted RR or GE in the first place. But possibly that isn't a very Russian thing to do!