AN225 Damaged at Ras Al Khaimah
 

I heard an unconfirmed report that the sole AN225 was damaged
at Ras Al Khaimah. It apparently suffered a hyrdraulic failure whilst
opening the nose that caused two nose gear doors to be torn away
from the fuselage causing the floor to suffer severe damage and
sharpnel damage to the wings. Anybody else heard of this??
I would imagine replacement parts would be very difficult to find.

There is a second one about 60-70% complete at Gostomel, which recently (allegedly) has begun a slow slow speed completion scheme.
AN-225 number 2 in September 2004
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0699985/L/
Has anyone a more recent picture of her?
I just hope the old girl isn't too badly hurt. Would be a real shame to loose her:{
From your description it sounds too bad to get her home.
Be lucky
David

I hope "VP8" can dispel these rumours! Well, I hope these are just rumours... :{

Below was taken from
http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/dac-chat/56446-225-mriya-news.html :

"Those of you who know of and care about Antonov's An-225 Mriya will be sad to hear this news.
I have it on good authority that the aircraft has been seriously damaged on the ground at Ras Al Khaimah airport (OMRK/RKT) in the United Arab Emirates sometime last week. I can find no news on the web of the incident after much Googling.
I have seen pictures of the damage caused by some sort of hydraulic rupture around the lower nose area which resulted in the dual nosegears being literally torn from their mountings. This caused massive structural deformation to the floor in that area. The nose cargo door was being opened which compounded the problem because the fuselage had lost the structural rigidity to better withstand the force. Flying shrapnel caused further damage to the airframe including the wings
The ramp at RAK (not the largest) is pretty well blocked bringing what little other traffic there is to a halt. I haven't been able to check NOTAMs for the airport, but I'm sure operations there are badly affected.
Apparently the dilemma is whether or not to repair this nearly unique aircraft. Having been bult in such small numbers (only two exist and I'm not certain if the second one is flying yet) spares are not exactly easily available.
There's an urgency, from the airport authorities, to remove it from the ramp. There's the distance of RKT from the Ukraine and the Antonov factory. The airframe is now structurally compromised, so cannot be flown. There's no hangarage at the airport and we have the imminent heat of the Arabian summer with temperatures up to 50C/120F, dust storms etc. Not the ideal conditions to conduct lengthy repairs, even if they're possible, out in the open.
I've asked to be emailed some pictures. I'll post them here, if I can, when I get them.
If anyone can find any news to verify any of this, that would be nice. "

If
http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/3357666 is to be believed the poster above is a 747 pilot himself, not someone trying to pull tricks...

"VP8", can you put our minds at rest? :ok:

Pic of the airport from satelite, how often do Google update their pics?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...04302&t=h&om=1

The Airliners.net forum post I mentioned earlier has now completely been deleted?

Couldn´t find it either, despite that I posted in it?
Strange...:confused:

Considering the approximate date this is supposed to have happened, I've already seen it suggested elsewhere, that it was just an April Fool.....

Let's hope so!

Aircraft was damaged in RKT a couple of weeks ago as undercarriage was being knelt....................but he is OK now back in GML after repairs done in the field:ok:

Veeps

Thanks for the info Veeps!

Thanks Veeps,
Hope its not too serious. Any news on Number2, now we have your attention?
Big:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D to the ADB away team.
Well done:ok:
Be lucky
David

From snippets and rumours I've seen elsewhere, it was nearly complete, then stored, cannibalised and partly dismantled. I suppose it will be very much a matter of whether there is a market for a second aircraft, or irrepairable damage to Number 1.

Pics from the accident, http://www.flightsim.no/ubbthreads/u...e=1#Post328564

"Accident" or just an "incident"? Oh well... She's back in Gostomel now...

alexmcfire,
Thanks, that puts it a bit more in perspective.
Good occasion to practice my Norwegian at the same time :)
But it looks as if it was repairable.

As long as aircraft operator and TC holder/design bureau are basically the same company no damage could be unrepairable :ok:

LOL.
But they still would do their sums.... if it would have been cheaper to write off the airframe and complete the 2nd one, I'm sure they would have done that.

Obviously not the case here.

Perhaps the loss of income whilst UR-82060 is being fixed will focus the minds of ADB management on the requirement to complete No.2?
If we are really lucky she might get a repaint into these stunning (IMHO) colours.
http://www.aviasvit.com.ua/photo/aviasv445.jpg
I did hope these colours might have been used on Ruslan UR-82008 when she was upgraded to AN-124-150M standard, but it was not to be.
Be lucky
David

Russian-Aviation.net temporarily off-line
 

Hello all,

Some of you will have probably found out http://www.russian-aviation.net/ is currently not available. Behind the scenes action is already being taken to get the website back up again.

The Messageboard at http://www.russian-aviation.net/ is back online again!

When we flew to Nigerai and back last October, there was concern about the 'Kneeling Gear'. After much nonsense to get us out, the thought that we may be stuck there was the last thing we needed. Because she wasn't designed to fly from anywhere other than Gostemal, she has to take her towbar with her, which means she has to kneel, fully laden following the push back to load the towbar. This puts one hell of a strain on the screw gear that winds the front wheels up and down. Makes a fantastic noise as the auxhillary jet powers it though.
Glad she got safely home. It was truly an honour to fly on her!
Cerdo