Antonov future

[Foo Fighter]

Quite surprised they did not fly the 225 out at the beginning.

 

[Archibald]

Quite surprised they did not fly the 225 out at the beginning.

Maybe they were taken by surprise. Note that Putin first recognized Dombass and Crimea, and the next day started its attack. And then the next day - boom, helicopters and special forces attacked Hostomel airport to try a decapitation strike on nearby Kiev.
All this in a mere 3 - 4 days.
Maybe the An-225 was in maintenance, it had last flown on February 5, and it must have been an expensive maintenance hog, being so big and so unique.

And then it died.

Frack.

Note that there was the second, unfinished An-225 standing in storage at the Antonov plant. I remember three years ago, rumours said the Chinese planned to fund it and finish it.

I suppose that one must have gone up in smoke too.

I wonder about the fate of the "ordinary" An-124s used by the same company (never remind the name correctly - Antonov airlines ?)

 

[alberchico]

Quite surprised they did not fly the 225 out at the beginning.

This image explains why. The aircraft was undergoing maintenance that involved at least one engine change so it was not airworthy. Whether or not other engines were being worked or what other repairs were being carried out is unclear. Granted if they had known what was going to happen they would have rushed to patch the plane up and get it flying again, but as pointed out in the previous post, the scale of the attack caught everybody off guard. Also the moment that missiles started raining down on Kiev flying this aircraft out became too risky. Parking it in a hanger and hoping for the best became the only reasonable option.

Edit: I believe that at least 3 An-124 transports managed to escape in time and are safely abroad. There might be more aircraft that were saved but details are sketchy at this point.

Spotters.Aero - Фото самолета (ID:133636) Antonov Design Bureau Antonov An-124-100M Ruslan UR-82007

Плейнспоттинг / Авиационное фото

spotters.net.ua

 

[TR1]

Putin just replaced Proxmire as the biggest enemy aerospace ever had.

AN-225 was a shining example of what Russians and Ukrainians could do when working together.

I wish China had bought everything lock stock and barrel now.

DAMN

IT

No It wasn't. An-225 was a symbol of what the USSR could do, while something like An-70 is a symbol of what Russia + Ukraine accomplihsed together since (not much).

 

[alberchico]

Wings Above the Planet: The History of Antonov Airlines: Sovenko, Andrii: 9780954889630: Amazon.com: Books

Wings Above the Planet: The History of Antonov Airlines [Sovenko, Andrii] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Wings Above the Planet: The History of Antonov Airlines

www.amazon.com

Antonov's Heavy Transports: From the An-22 to An-225, 1965 to the Present: Gordon, Yefim, Komissarov, Dmitriy: 9780764360718: Amazon.com: Books

Antonov's Heavy Transports: From the An-22 to An-225, 1965 to the Present [Gordon, Yefim, Komissarov, Dmitriy] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Antonov's Heavy Transports: From the An-22 to An-225, 1965 to the Present

www.amazon.com

Guardians of Ukraine: The Ukraine Air Force Since 1992: Taghvaee, Babak: 9781902109619: Amazon.com: Books

Guardians of Ukraine: The Ukraine Air Force Since 1992 [Taghvaee, Babak] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Guardians of Ukraine: The Ukraine Air Force Since 1992

www.amazon.com

If anyone is looking for a good read that covers the history of Antonov and the Ukrainian Air Force these 3 books are an excellent source of information. I own all 3 and I highly recommend them.

 

[alberchico]

Ukraine's Giant An-225 Cargo Jet Might Be Destroyed But A New 'Dream' Could Rise

The aircraft's owners haven't yet confirmed its condition, but there is another airframe that could possibly replace it.

www.thedrive.com

With all the problems Ukraine will have rebuilding, this project will have a very low priority.

Edit: This trip report is old but provides some interesting images of the Antonov factory that includes the unfinished prototype. A shame the country will never go back to the way it's shown here.

Trip Report: Ukraine Grand Aviation Tour - SamChui.com

Ukraine Grand Aviation Tour Trip Report. A 4 days tour across Ukraine to visit several museum, airfields and flying on soviet era airplanes such as An-24, Yak-40 and An-140

samchui.com

 

[RobertWL]

RIP Big Friend.

 

[aonestudio]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1499641672552312839

View: https://twitter.com/HHraptordriver/status/1499641672552312839

 

[alberchico]

Is there any news on how the Antonov facilities have fared ? For, example the factory where the An-178 was to have been produced, is it still standing ? Even if Antonov Airlines managed to evacuate their fleet of An-124's, if all the infrastructure needed to maintain them is wiped out, they are in big trouble. Where else are they going to go to get their aircraft overhauled, Russia ?

In late December they just rolled out the definite production model of their An-178 transport. The article below has a lot of pictures of some of the infrastructure Antonov had in Kiev. If that gets destroyed they won't be able to service the remaining aircraft that have survived the war.

An-178-100P aircraft presented in Kyiv

The first military transport aircraft An-178-100P has been presented at the Antonov state enterprise in Kyiv. â Ukrinform.

www.ukrinform.net

 

[publiusr]

China got the plans to the AN-225?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Antonov and other Ukrainian firms have been losing skilled workers to Russia for almost a decade already.

The Russian aviation industry must, I'm sure, be slightly worried about their workforces reliability in the future.

Why?
Edit: Actually, nevermind.

Conceptually related:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcwBZFN2Bf4

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Topic locked.