3.2 Heavy Wide-body Transport Aircraft

Exercise 3.2.1 Read and translate the text.

AN-124-100 Ruslan Heavy Wide-body Transport Aircraft

The AN-124-100 commerce aircraft is developed on the basis of AN-124 “Ruslan” heavy military transport aircraft which is the biggest heavylifter in the world. It is intended for transportation heavy and oversized cargoes, various special technique. There is a double-deck fuselage layout. There are the cockpit, the relief crew compartment and the cargo attendants’ cabin at the upper deck. The lower deck is a pressurized cargo compartment.

Design and dimensions of the forward and rear cargo doors closed with ramps ensure quick and easy loading/unloading operations.

The airborne cargo handling system allows perform the loading/unloading without the aid of the ground equipment.

The multi-wheel landing gear of a high rough-field capacity, availability of two APU and mechanization of loading provide the independent aircraft operation from the poorly equipped airfields.

Simplicity, reliability and safety of the aircraft operation are ensured by the redundancy and computerization of its systems.

The modification of the AN-124-100M-150 aircraft has been developed by ANTONOV ASTC. It includes the main components of the AN-124-100 program development:

• payload increased from 120 t to 150 t;

• take-off weight increased from 392 t to 402 t;

• flight range increased, including the cargo of 120 t: from 4650 km to 5400 km;

• aircraft assigned service life is up to 24000 flight hours; the works on its extension up to 40000 flight hours are being performed;

• airborne equipment providing loading/unloading operations of single piece of cargo up to 40 t weight;

• fuselage structure has been forced to provide airlift of single piece of cargo up to 150 t weight;

• Navigation System and radar have been updated;

• digital antiskid braking system has been installed;

• crew was reduced: from 6 to 4 members, and the comfort level of the crew rest cabin was improved;

• military oxygen equipment had been exchanged with the civil one.

The large volume of work is waiting for Ruslan in the world market of air transportations of the oversized and super heavy cargoes.

AN-225 ‘Mriya’ Super Heavy Wide-body Transport Aircraft

The AN-225 aircraft is designed to transport oversized, large-span cargoes placed both inside the fuselage or mounted externally above the fuselage to any place on the globe.

The aircraft’s maximum cargo capacity is 250 t. Flight range with 200 t of payload inside the fuselage is 4000 km while the range of flight with external stores depends on the cargo weight and dimension and the resulting aerodynamic effects. The cargo compartment dimensions are: 43,3 m long, 6.4 m wide and 4.4 m high. The aircraft is capable of transporting helicopters, universal air and sea containers, automobiles, trucks and also all other types of self-propelled and non-self-propelled vehicles inside the cargo compartment.

Nowadays the aircraft is operated by Antonov’s own commercial airline known as Antonov Airlines. Investigations are also under way to use the AN-225 as the first launch stage of systems for the commercial launches of space payloads.

AN-70 Medium Wide-Body STOL Transport Aircraft

The AN-70 is intended to transport a wide range of general and outsize cargoes of 35-47 t weight over distances up to 3,000-5,100 km when operating from surfaced runways of 1,700 m length. With a longer range of 6,600 km then 20 t of cargo can be carried. In the STOL mode when operating from 700 m runways the AN-70 is capable of transporting 20-30 t of cargo over a distance of up to 3,000 km.

The digital integrated avionics system provides comfortable working conditions for the crew as well as ensuring all-weather operations around the clock, all the year round and at all latitudes.

The aircraft systems and components as well as the on board cranes with lifting capacity of 12 t permit self-sufficient operations from unprepared airfields for up to 30 days away from base.

AN-140 and AN-140-100 New Generation Regional Aircraft

The An-140 new regional aircraft is intended for passenger and mixed cargo/passenger transportation. An-140 is the substitute for the An-24 aircraft that has been operated already for about forty years.

The An-140 aircraft has a high wing arrangement, standard tail configuration and two wing-mounted TB3-117VMA-SBM1 turboprop engines. The AИ9-3Б auxiliary power unit installed at the rear part of the fuselage provides the independent aircraft operation from the unpaved airfields.

AN-38 – Light Multi-Purpose Aircraft

The AN-38 is a regional aircraft for passengers, mail and cargo transportation on the local air routes.

The AN-38-100 aircraft is intended to airlift 27 passengers at a maximum speed of 405 km/h over a distance of 900 km. Its maximum cargo capacity is 2,500 kg. The aircraft is suited for operation over a wide range of temperatures: from -50˚C up to +45˚C using rather small airfields, including unpaved and those covered with ice and snow. The passenger seats and luggage racks can be folded up and fastened to the cabin walls in stowed position. A rear cargo hatch and on board cargo handling gear allow quick in-service conversion from passenger to cargo use.

The An-148 Is the Regional Passenger