Aviation
Commercial /
Europe
How powerful
Antonov An-225 Mriya blows people away and
destroys fence around RAF Brize Norton air base but no one is hurt
An-225 Mriya
Lord of the Wings© from Toronto, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
6/28/2021
The Antonov An-225 Mriya freighter, the only one built of this model, ended up breaking at the perimeter fence during takeoff last Thursday, June 24th.
The aircraft was coming from Karachi, Pakistan, on a mission to support the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, and was equipped with a payload of three RAF Puma helicopters. After leaving the cargo while the Mriya prepared for takeoff, its six turbofan engines ended up knocking down a nearby fence. At the time of the incident, there were photographers and cameramen near the fence, recording the aircraft's takeoff, but no one was injured.
Other similar incidents occurred in 2001, with a B-1B Lancer, and in 2019 with a Su-27 Flanker of the Ukrainian Air Force.
The An-225 Mriya was designed during the Cold War to transport the Buran, a Soviet space shuttle, and parts of the Energiya, an aircraft carrier rocket. Its first flight took place on December 21, 1988 and, even today, the aircraft is used to transport exclusive cargo to 800 destinations around the globe. The aircraft also carries loads that cannot be transported in any other way. The An-225, along with the -124, are frequently chartered by NATO to transport helicopters. It is the heaviest aircraft in the world, with a takeoff weight of approximately 640 tons and a maximum payload of 250 tons. His name, “Mriya”, means “dream” in the Ukrainian language.
Check the link below for a video that recorded the moment of the incident.
An-225 Mriya
Andy Mabbett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hyperlinks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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