World's largest aircraft (Impressive)

[Wayne M]

Worlds largest aircraft

[1ciderdog]

Impressive is an understatement! WOW!!

[al2ride]

Seen one up close and watched it take off while I was at Gianaclis AFB in Egypt. Amazing.

[frankdamp]

I think there was only one of these airplanes built. It visited the Boeing facility in Everett some years ago. The smaller 4-engined versions are regular visitors to Everett, flown by Heavylift Cargo Airlines. They bring in fully-assembled engines for the 747 and 777.

[al2ride]

Originally Posted by frankdamp

I think there was only one of these airplanes built. It visited the Boeing facility in Everett some years ago. The smaller 4-engined versions are regular visitors to Everett, flown by Heavylift Cargo Airlines. They bring in fully-assembled engines for the 747 and 777.

Maybe it was the 124 that I saw in Egypt...but I could swear it had six jets.

[sadrand]

There are several videos of an An225 taking off or landing on YT.

Here

is one. I like this one because it has a view of a "follow me" vehicle in front so you can get a good perspective of the size.

[Steve N Sal]

Now that's big. Really impressive.

[wincrasher]

I thought the Spruce Goose was the biggest airplane ever built?

[al2ride]

Maybe because it was a prototype?

The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"; registration NX37602) is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. The aircraft made its only flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum and concerns about weight, its critics nicknamed it the "Spruce Goose", despite it being made almost entirely of birch rather than spruce.[1] The Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.[2] It survives in good condition at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, USA.

[wincrasher]

That would be a fun trip to go see it.

It's interesting to know what they mean when someone says "biggest". Does that mean wingspan, payload, length, weight, etc?

[davendeb]

Those look like trail express tires on it. Go figure. Lol.

[Pigman1]

Definitely a big bird, bigger than anything we have, but as has been said, there's only one of them. We have a whole fleet of C-5's and have had since the 1970's. I flew the second C-5 made and when retiring in 1984 had over 1000 hours in them. Like most big airplanes, when you're flying one, you simply fly your fanny where you want to go and the airplane follows just fine. My heaviest mission was 769,000lb takeoff weight and then non-stop un-refueled from the airfield just outside London to Amarillo, Tx, against the winds. Big birds are fun to fly. The C-5 looks to be much more comfortable than this bird for the crew.

[Cat320]

I've crawled all over a number of Russian/Soviet aircraft. Although this looks a bit better in quality, I would not have taken the others around the traffic pattern, much less anywhere else...they were junk.

[scenic route]

Originally Posted by Cat320

I would not have taken the others around the traffic pattern, much less anywhere else...they were junk.

This thing(AN-124) used to come into OIA on occasion.



The first thing the ground crew did was to douse the main landing gear brakes with copious amounts of water. Just seeing the obvious heavy material those trucks were made of, and all that 'monkey motion' it took to get that mass up into the wheel wells...was a little scary but at the same time, pretty impressive.

Everywhere you looked, mechanisms and fittings were all massive compared to Boeing or Douglas and one wonders where all that CCC could come from. They say that with enough power, you can fly a barn door. I think, if offered, I'd have to pass on that ride as well.