Antonov 124 and 225
 

I admire both these behemoths but of course the An225 is the czar among kings.

Does anyone know how to find information about where one of these beasts might be headed? I have tried the Antonov web site but there is little information in English and my Russian is more than a little rusty, ahem....

If someone DOES know but do not want to share why and how, could that someone at least please give me a hint of if and when this beautiful creature is going to visit Sweden next time? Hell, I'll even drive to OSL/ENGM to see it!

And please, if you have taken some pictures or maybe a video of these works of art and engineering, I'd like to see them just for the fun of it! I hope it would be OK to have an Antonov fan thread here in Spotters Corner, yes?

This may catch any An-124s flying to or from North America:
Aircraft Type ? Antonov An-124 Ruslan (quad-jet) (A124) Aircraft ? FlightAware

The An-225's activities appear to be monitored at least to a degree here:
https://www.facebook.com/an225

Here is one right now. Place the reg. UR-82060 in the search box. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UR82060

Wednesday 2nd July 2014 !

Given an hour's briefing, Mr. Farley could probably fly the AN-225 :ok:

Whether he could make it hover might take longer!

Hell, did not notice the date, may be the reg has changed. What I did notice is that 225 on that flight was a dog, had to step climb several times. Probably over loaded as hell.

I am very glad to see Mr Farley's contribution! This makes me feel like less of an Antonov spotter fan - when even such a well known person is eager to have a flight deck photo taken!

TWT, thank you for your information even though it's a little weird and a lot confusing.

Mr Farley, if I dare... how was the flight deck on the behemoth? It looks kind of spacey up front but this is a four crew airplane, like most of those old Soviet built ones, no? yes?

Mr.Snuggles,the Facebook page linked earlier tells you where it is and where it's going next.As for 'weird and confusing' ? The Flightaware track log and graph posted above by grounded27 was for a flight in July last year,so not relevant.

Warton's Paul Hopkins with me in the Pariis cockpit shot sadly died after a nasty illness last year. As to the size of the cockpit it is much wider than the cockpit shot shows. In fact during Farnborough 1992 I sat on a shelf to the left of the left hand seat during its validation flight for both the good and bad weather routines. Memory is not what it was but I seem to recall the full crew for some types of trips might have been as many as six.

The cockpit shot was just a bit of Dunsfold /Warton one upmanship on my part. I knew the Russians from earlier shows and asked them if I could show the cockpit to Paul later in the day. Having fixed everything as Paul and I wandered round the static park later and he ooooohd and aaaaahd about the 225 I asked him if he would like to see round it. He of course responded by saying they would never wear that. I said follow me and we walked in and of course people just nodded and nobody stopped us - so his face was a picture. They even took the pic.

AN 124 due at DSA early next week

During the 90's I worked for a company that had a joint venture operating a number of the 124 variety. I decided it would be a great idea to take our ops crewbus on a booze cruise in one, while the aircraft did a trial loading of a satellite container in France. We flew from a secret airbase in Oxfordshire to Beauvais and then back to Stansted. The jumpseat was a kitchen chair positioned between the pilots seats.

JF - you're correct, the basic flight crew were two pilots, two flight engineers, a navigator and a radio operator.....

Double Hydco

Thanks, that gives me confidence to tackle next week and perhaps the one after that. (nobody under 80 will understand that)

JF

TWT, I am sorry, I misunderstood you.

Donnyman84, DSA, that is somewhere in the UK I believe. A little long for me to go, but very helpful for UK Antonov fans.

JF, I am oooh-ing and aaah-ing just reading that story. Huge Antonov fan over here. I am just so very sad that Ukraine and Russia are fighting because then the other 225 may never see daylight. But gosh how I would like to just pat that masterpiece on the chin.

I looked up the Antonov 225 facebook page and it seems Ostrava was very lucky a few weeks ago. Apparently the beast was refuelling there a lot. Says nothing about Sweden though, but as I include the 124 in my quest for answers, maybe Pprune may help me at least get a glimpse of one of these big white marvels?

Thanks for the photos and comments, JF!

AN 124 due DSA tues 21st am

Donnyman84

Pictures?

None myself but a few here
21st April 2015 - FinningleyGallery | SmugMug