Guwahati: The world’s largest plane, the Antonov 225 or simply AN225 which was destroyed in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war was said to be an engineering marvel.
The plane has multiple records during its operations and had been named Mriya which in Ukrainian meant “dream”. It cost between $250 million and $300 million dollars to build the massive cargo plane. It was built in the late 1980s.
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Here are 10 facts about the world’s largest plane:
- Only one Antonov AN-225 was ever built to completion.
- A second construction of the AN-225 was started in the 1980s as well but in 2009, the plans were abandoned
- After the plane was destroyed, the parent company of Antonov, UkrOboronProm said it would cost over $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) and could take over five years to restore it
- The giant can fly at a maximum speed of 850 km/h and can cruise at 800 km/h
- It has a range of 15,400 km with maximum fuel while with 200 tonnes payload it has the range of 4,000 km
- The service ceiling of the Mriya is 11,000 m or 36,000 ft
- Since Mriya was the only one ever made, it could only be chartered and not bought
- Ukroboronprom said that now their mission is to ensure that the restoration expenses are covered by Russia
- The plane was initially built as part of the Soviet aeronautical programme and took its first flight in 1988
- Mriya has set 124 world and 214 national speed, altitude and weight-to-altitude records
Initially, it was not clear if the plane was destroyed or not as there were multiple reports about the plane from various angles.
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However, the company and the Ukrainian authorities announced that the giant of the skies, the AN225 was destroyed in the Russian Invasion on February 24.