Mirya is gone
April 22, 2022 9:54 AM Subscribe
One more addition to the list of things lost to war in Ukraine: Mirya, the world’s largest cargo aircraft.
The only Antonov An-225 in existence was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport. Originally designed for the Soviet space program, Mirya (“dream” in Ukranian) was a true engineering marvel: at 700 tons maximum takeoff weight, it was the heaviest aircraft ever built, and its 290-foot wingspan made it the largest in operational service--by some measures the largest airplane ever. It could carry payloads like two wind turbine blades, four main battle tanks, or a 208-ton generator for a gas power plant, the heaviest single cargo item ever sent by air freight. The iconic plane will be mourned by all of Ukraine, especially its first pilot.
The only Antonov An-225 in existence was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport. Originally designed for the Soviet space program, Mirya (“dream” in Ukranian) was a true engineering marvel: at 700 tons maximum takeoff weight, it was the heaviest aircraft ever built, and its 290-foot wingspan made it the largest in operational service--by some measures the largest airplane ever. It could carry payloads like two wind turbine blades, four main battle tanks, or a 208-ton generator for a gas power plant, the heaviest single cargo item ever sent by air freight. The iconic plane will be mourned by all of Ukraine, especially its first pilot.
Illia Ponomarenko of the Kyiv Independent recently interviewed Mirya's pilot when he returned to Hostomel to look things over.
Chief pilot of destroyed An-225: ‘We must complete the second Mriya’:
Like so many pilots across the world, Dmytro Antonov, the crew commander of the Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft, has his own little pre-flight rituals.
The world’s biggest and strongest cargo airplane, the master of many flight records, Mriya required special reverence.
It had its own spirit and temper.
Every time he came to the airfield to take Mriya on a new flight, Dmytro Antonov would rest his hand upon the airframe and gently say hello.
“A careful attitude towards an airplane is essential if you want it to be respectful in return,” he says.
“It’s like a living organism, like a big city — something is happening to it all the time. Something dies, something is born.”
Dmytro Antonov observed his old ritual when he got back to the Hostomel Airfield outside Kyiv in early April. But all he could do this time was pay his last respects to a heap of scorched and twisted metal.
The Mriya was dead, lying among the debris of destroyed Russian armored vehicles and trucks.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:34 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Chief pilot of destroyed An-225: ‘We must complete the second Mriya’:
Like so many pilots across the world, Dmytro Antonov, the crew commander of the Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft, has his own little pre-flight rituals.
The world’s biggest and strongest cargo airplane, the master of many flight records, Mriya required special reverence.
It had its own spirit and temper.
Every time he came to the airfield to take Mriya on a new flight, Dmytro Antonov would rest his hand upon the airframe and gently say hello.
“A careful attitude towards an airplane is essential if you want it to be respectful in return,” he says.
“It’s like a living organism, like a big city — something is happening to it all the time. Something dies, something is born.”
Dmytro Antonov observed his old ritual when he got back to the Hostomel Airfield outside Kyiv in early April. But all he could do this time was pay his last respects to a heap of scorched and twisted metal.
The Mriya was dead, lying among the debris of destroyed Russian armored vehicles and trucks.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:34 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I saw it several times during its stay while parked -- no hanger there was big enough to house it -- at Boeing Field in Seattle albeit never in flight, alas.
posted by y2karl at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2022
posted by y2karl at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2022
Oh! And! Antonov's Youtube channel is, well, chock-full of An-225 cockpit videos.
Here's his cockpit approach video from when he flew it into YYZ in the early depths of the pandemic (and here's the corresponding planespotter video of takeoff from YYZ on that same trip).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Here's his cockpit approach video from when he flew it into YYZ in the early depths of the pandemic (and here's the corresponding planespotter video of takeoff from YYZ on that same trip).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is this actually useful or was it built in the tradition of tsar bomb or tsar bell?
posted by geoff. at 11:46 AM on April 22, 2022
posted by geoff. at 11:46 AM on April 22, 2022
Is this actually useful or was it built in the tradition of tsar bomb or tsar bell?
It was originally built to transport and test the Buran, the USSR's answer to the US SST (Space Shuttle).
The wikipedia page has a picture of Buran on the 225.
posted by loquacious at 11:52 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
It was originally built to transport and test the Buran, the USSR's answer to the US SST (Space Shuttle).
The wikipedia page has a picture of Buran on the 225.
posted by loquacious at 11:52 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also I never had this in any of my bingo cards.
There's something really unsettling and disturbing about the destruction of Mirya by Russia, like watching a major industrial power idly and ignorantly eating one of it's own.
I have similar odd feelings about the occupation of the Red Forest and Chernobyl. Like how could you forget and bury your own legacy so soon?
Granted both of these things are Ukrainian and not Russian, but Ukraine was part of the USSR at the time.
posted by loquacious at 11:56 AM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
There's something really unsettling and disturbing about the destruction of Mirya by Russia, like watching a major industrial power idly and ignorantly eating one of it's own.
I have similar odd feelings about the occupation of the Red Forest and Chernobyl. Like how could you forget and bury your own legacy so soon?
Granted both of these things are Ukrainian and not Russian, but Ukraine was part of the USSR at the time.
posted by loquacious at 11:56 AM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
The Mriya was apparently very in demand for rapid deliveries of specialised supplies after disasters, as well as transporting big machinery. It airlifted Chinese PPE to Poland, for example, during the shortages in April 2020.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:57 AM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:57 AM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
TFA mentions that the plane was being used frequently for hauling COVID supplies and was also often in demand for ferrying cargo into disaster relief zones.
In, like, the fifth sentence.
posted by bl1nk at 12:06 PM on April 22, 2022 [9 favorites]
In, like, the fifth sentence.
posted by bl1nk at 12:06 PM on April 22, 2022 [9 favorites]
Obviously on the small end of tragedies inflicted by Russia in this war, but I do wish I’d seen the plane. There’s a Russian An-124 I pass every day on my commute, caught delivering Covid tests when the war broke out and grounded at Toronto Pearson airport since.
It’s an absolute unit of an airplane, I guess now the worlds largest, but still dwarfed by Mriya.
posted by rodlymight at 12:20 PM on April 22, 2022
It’s an absolute unit of an airplane, I guess now the worlds largest, but still dwarfed by Mriya.
posted by rodlymight at 12:20 PM on April 22, 2022
In, like, the fifth sentence.
It is definitely a valid question and I'm not the first to ask it. Being used for relief efforts and being as useful or more useful than the equivalent of numerous commerial A320s or 737s is different.
I think it is cool, and definitely a loss for the national pride, but the fact that a second airframe was started and stopped makes me wonder if this was really economic and practical for all but a few use cases.
posted by geoff. at 1:08 PM on April 22, 2022
It is definitely a valid question and I'm not the first to ask it. Being used for relief efforts and being as useful or more useful than the equivalent of numerous commerial A320s or 737s is different.
I think it is cool, and definitely a loss for the national pride, but the fact that a second airframe was started and stopped makes me wonder if this was really economic and practical for all but a few use cases.
posted by geoff. at 1:08 PM on April 22, 2022
From what I gather, it's the sort of thing that there's demand for maybe one in the world, idle 99.9999% of the time, but rushed into service in emergencies when very heavy lifting is required and cost is no object. Given its vast fuel consumption, if the cargo could possibly be transported by other means, flying it by Mirya would be profligately wasteful, so its uses tend to be extremely time-sensitive transport of heavy equipment, such as pumps for the Fukushima disaster.
The Mirya was also an old design, so perhaps Mirya 2.0 could be improved on.
posted by acb at 1:15 PM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
The Mirya was also an old design, so perhaps Mirya 2.0 could be improved on.
posted by acb at 1:15 PM on April 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
I saw it fly in 1990ish - it flew down to NZ for an airshow - they flew very low over the crowd, just the sheer size of it.
posted by unearthed at 2:06 PM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by unearthed at 2:06 PM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Mriya came to Montreal early in the pandemic with a huge shipment of PPE. It was incredibly welcome here. I am sad to hear it will not fly again.
posted by zadcat at 2:55 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by zadcat at 2:55 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Lots of individual tragedies in this war, but this one certainly sits high as a symbol of the complete pointlessness of this conflict.
My dad loved big things (Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam) as a testament to human ingenuity. This is certainly a testament to man's destructive ability (not to minimize the mass murder in Bucha or elsewhere).
Certainly there are some other heavy lift planes out there that can carry 99% of what needs to fly, but it is a loss to humanity to have destroyed the biggest plane, well beyond the 1% of trips where it was really needed.
Prior to the war, Chernobyl was actually on my bucket lists of places I'd like to see. It is still on my list and maybe the ruins of the Mirya.
posted by CostcoCultist at 3:01 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
My dad loved big things (Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam) as a testament to human ingenuity. This is certainly a testament to man's destructive ability (not to minimize the mass murder in Bucha or elsewhere).
Certainly there are some other heavy lift planes out there that can carry 99% of what needs to fly, but it is a loss to humanity to have destroyed the biggest plane, well beyond the 1% of trips where it was really needed.
Prior to the war, Chernobyl was actually on my bucket lists of places I'd like to see. It is still on my list and maybe the ruins of the Mirya.
posted by CostcoCultist at 3:01 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Mirya was also an old design, so perhaps Mirya 2.0 could be improved on.
If building a second one was apparently uneconomical, developing and testing a new version is going to be a hard sell.
posted by zamboni at 3:23 PM on April 22, 2022
If building a second one was apparently uneconomical, developing and testing a new version is going to be a hard sell.
posted by zamboni at 3:23 PM on April 22, 2022
Mriya came to Montreal early in the pandemic with a huge shipment of PPE. It was incredibly welcome here.
Since YouTube is suggesting all things An-225 to me today, here it is landing, unloading, and taking off at YMX in May 2020.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:41 PM on April 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
Since YouTube is suggesting all things An-225 to me today, here it is landing, unloading, and taking off at YMX in May 2020.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:41 PM on April 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
I saw the Mriya at Amsterdam's Schipol airport a few years back. Though I saw it from a fair distance, its scale even against the big jets was kind of astonishing.
posted by tclark at 3:45 PM on April 22, 2022
posted by tclark at 3:45 PM on April 22, 2022
Is this actually useful or was it built in the tradition of tsar bomb or tsar bell?
So, don't quote me on this, it was never disclosed to me directly but I'm pretty sure my company and many others in the same industry would have used the Mirya multiple times.
We regularly use large pieces of equipment - the automated multi-stage stamping press in the factory I worked in was about the size of a (small) 8 story building laid on its side. With a web of Just in Time Production - say an assembler plant relying on about 150 Tier 1 suppliers who then rely 250 Tier 2 suppliers - chances are, there would have been several times in the past 20-30 years where some poor executive has to make a decision, well we need some equipment moved from China to Europe as soon as possible because some disaster has occurred, otherwise 20,000 workers stop work with half pay. Either we put the equipment on a boat which takes 2-3 months to arrive, or we ring Ukraine and ask if we can use the Mirya. How much are we willing to pay? Money is no object, of course.
Do we actually NEED to have heavy lift ability to move pieces of equipment that weighs 100 tonnes around the world within a day? The wiki page says it sometimes carries generators for emergencies. I guess if you have a hammer, suddenly using it on a nail seems more convenient. I'm not sure if the demand is great enough that another one will be built.
posted by xdvesper at 5:30 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
So, don't quote me on this, it was never disclosed to me directly but I'm pretty sure my company and many others in the same industry would have used the Mirya multiple times.
We regularly use large pieces of equipment - the automated multi-stage stamping press in the factory I worked in was about the size of a (small) 8 story building laid on its side. With a web of Just in Time Production - say an assembler plant relying on about 150 Tier 1 suppliers who then rely 250 Tier 2 suppliers - chances are, there would have been several times in the past 20-30 years where some poor executive has to make a decision, well we need some equipment moved from China to Europe as soon as possible because some disaster has occurred, otherwise 20,000 workers stop work with half pay. Either we put the equipment on a boat which takes 2-3 months to arrive, or we ring Ukraine and ask if we can use the Mirya. How much are we willing to pay? Money is no object, of course.
Do we actually NEED to have heavy lift ability to move pieces of equipment that weighs 100 tonnes around the world within a day? The wiki page says it sometimes carries generators for emergencies. I guess if you have a hammer, suddenly using it on a nail seems more convenient. I'm not sure if the demand is great enough that another one will be built.
posted by xdvesper at 5:30 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Do we actually NEED to have heavy lift ability to move pieces of equipment that weighs 100 tonnes around the world within a day?
When disaster strikes, you respond with the resources that exist at that very moment. The USSR invested in Mriya, so afterwards it existed and was there to respond to disasters. Now that it's gone, I don't think the expense of completing the second airframe can justify the cost involved, unfortunately.
posted by ocschwar at 6:17 PM on April 22, 2022
This feels like a conversation that one has about state run services like public transit or space exploration. Is everything that NASA does monetizable? Is it possible that you can run an urban transit system that pays for itself? Maybe? Maybe not?
At a certain point, the service might have a utility that goes beyond a direct consumer's ability to pay for it, but because that utility exists, that would be an argument for the government to invest in it.
I'm personally a bit indifferent on whether a plane in the Mriya family flies again. But I think it's possible to appreciate the value that a plane like that has contributed to our world, while also acknowledging that it would only be possible because a nation state wanted something to flaunt, and that's ok.
posted by bl1nk at 6:45 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
At a certain point, the service might have a utility that goes beyond a direct consumer's ability to pay for it, but because that utility exists, that would be an argument for the government to invest in it.
I'm personally a bit indifferent on whether a plane in the Mriya family flies again. But I think it's possible to appreciate the value that a plane like that has contributed to our world, while also acknowledging that it would only be possible because a nation state wanted something to flaunt, and that's ok.
posted by bl1nk at 6:45 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
FWIW, "in fact it's more economic to use 2 Russlan (An-124) than the Mriya." I was earlier, however, specifically referring to the Russian tradition of building large examples to demonstrate manufacturing and industrial abilities: tsar bomb, tsar bell, tsar cannon. None of which were meant to be usable. The Mriya seems to be a bit in between, as it was built for seemingly the sole purpose of the Buran and associated rocket components.
Further, from Antonov's CEO directly, “(Mriya) was designed specifically for transporting Burans, not humanitarian cargo. Basically, for space. This was something the Soviet Union could afford.”
So from I gather it was used to fly high profile humanitarian missions at probably a loss and a few other one-offs but was not designed or even put in use for private freight. I think it is cool and all but it almost seems like it wasn't economically or practically feasible for all but the most high profile missions.
I don't know think comparing this to NASA or public transport is correct. It was really a single use, one-off design that became a symbol of pride.
posted by geoff. at 11:41 PM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Further, from Antonov's CEO directly, “(Mriya) was designed specifically for transporting Burans, not humanitarian cargo. Basically, for space. This was something the Soviet Union could afford.”
So from I gather it was used to fly high profile humanitarian missions at probably a loss and a few other one-offs but was not designed or even put in use for private freight. I think it is cool and all but it almost seems like it wasn't economically or practically feasible for all but the most high profile missions.
I don't know think comparing this to NASA or public transport is correct. It was really a single use, one-off design that became a symbol of pride.
posted by geoff. at 11:41 PM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
My dad, who died about a year and a half ago, was a pilot ; he was also, in his prime, 6 foot 6 in height. He was so tall that, despite coming top of his class in training for the RAF, and likewise at the Empire Test Pilot’s school, he couldn’t take up a coveted post flying fast jets because there was no way of fitting him into ejection seats safely. So, he ended up flying helicopters throughout his career, RAF, Army Air Corps and finally civilian work servicing the North Sea oil fields.
He was an extraordinarily quiet and controlled man ; he never said much, but when he did it was worth listening to. This nature, combined with the fact that he actually wasn’t my biological father (he met my mum, who was bringing me up on her own, when I was 3 ; married her within a few months and formally adopted me just after) led to us having a very level, reasoned relationship emotionally ; he provided a calm bedrock of stability throughout my childhood and served as a foil to both me and my mum when we butted heads during my late teenage years and early adulthood.
Still, there’s a definite way (that I’ve inevitably been reflecting on recently) in which I feel like I never really knew him. I get the impression, from talking to his younger brother that, other than with mum, he was just one of those people who never really expressed either end of the emotional spectrum.
But… to the point of this thread… this makes the memory of the ways in which we did connect that much more precious. One of them was fuelled by his work ; having a dad who would always take you to airshows was cool ; having a dad who actually flew in some of them and would spend all day walking around the static display with you finding the obscure aircraft you’d read about in books was even more so.
This being the late 80s in the UK the highlight of any airshow worth its salt was a flyby of The Vulcan (not an Avro Vulcan … The Vulcan). I remember having a serious discussion with dad at Boscombe Down, having just seen a (much anticipated) B-52 flying display for the first time, in which we agreed that although the BUFF was an undeniably impressive display of raw power, The Vulcan (patriotically) won with its combination of graceful lines and sheer sonic physicality.
Neither of those airborne monsters, however, prepared us for when we saw (The) An-225 at Farnborough in 1990. It took a lot in the aircraft domain, but even dad was visibly in awe. Its flypast wasn’t as loud as those I’ve described above, and there was no fancy manoeuvering, but it was just so, so improbably huge that it seemed to hang in the air, almost as if it was superimposed on the sky.
Yet even more impressive than that flypast, and the memory that really sticks with me, is walking round Mirya together the day before when it was on static display. It was so big that the crowd barriers were set up to let you walk underneath the wings perfectly safely. The details that come back to me are the enormous landing gear sets, and the unbelievable curve of the wings drooping in a visible arc from root to tip under their own weight.
I have a photo of dad stood under one of those wingtips, 6 foot 6 of him nowhere close to it, with the biggest grin on his face.
In summary… a really weird mix of positive and negative, past and present memories and emotions brought up by this post.
RIP Mirya. RIP Dad.
posted by protorp at 12:41 AM on April 23, 2022 [33 favorites]
He was an extraordinarily quiet and controlled man ; he never said much, but when he did it was worth listening to. This nature, combined with the fact that he actually wasn’t my biological father (he met my mum, who was bringing me up on her own, when I was 3 ; married her within a few months and formally adopted me just after) led to us having a very level, reasoned relationship emotionally ; he provided a calm bedrock of stability throughout my childhood and served as a foil to both me and my mum when we butted heads during my late teenage years and early adulthood.
Still, there’s a definite way (that I’ve inevitably been reflecting on recently) in which I feel like I never really knew him. I get the impression, from talking to his younger brother that, other than with mum, he was just one of those people who never really expressed either end of the emotional spectrum.
But… to the point of this thread… this makes the memory of the ways in which we did connect that much more precious. One of them was fuelled by his work ; having a dad who would always take you to airshows was cool ; having a dad who actually flew in some of them and would spend all day walking around the static display with you finding the obscure aircraft you’d read about in books was even more so.
This being the late 80s in the UK the highlight of any airshow worth its salt was a flyby of The Vulcan (not an Avro Vulcan … The Vulcan). I remember having a serious discussion with dad at Boscombe Down, having just seen a (much anticipated) B-52 flying display for the first time, in which we agreed that although the BUFF was an undeniably impressive display of raw power, The Vulcan (patriotically) won with its combination of graceful lines and sheer sonic physicality.
Neither of those airborne monsters, however, prepared us for when we saw (The) An-225 at Farnborough in 1990. It took a lot in the aircraft domain, but even dad was visibly in awe. Its flypast wasn’t as loud as those I’ve described above, and there was no fancy manoeuvering, but it was just so, so improbably huge that it seemed to hang in the air, almost as if it was superimposed on the sky.
Yet even more impressive than that flypast, and the memory that really sticks with me, is walking round Mirya together the day before when it was on static display. It was so big that the crowd barriers were set up to let you walk underneath the wings perfectly safely. The details that come back to me are the enormous landing gear sets, and the unbelievable curve of the wings drooping in a visible arc from root to tip under their own weight.
I have a photo of dad stood under one of those wingtips, 6 foot 6 of him nowhere close to it, with the biggest grin on his face.
In summary… a really weird mix of positive and negative, past and present memories and emotions brought up by this post.
RIP Mirya. RIP Dad.
posted by protorp at 12:41 AM on April 23, 2022 [33 favorites]
If rebuilding the Mirya is not economically justifiable, perhaps it is justifiable in terms of heritage; after all, is it not an aerospace engineering equivalent of Notre Dame Cathedral?
posted by acb at 2:12 AM on April 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by acb at 2:12 AM on April 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
Do they also have anthropomorphic Bayraktars, replete with fez?
posted by acb at 9:16 AM on April 23, 2022
posted by acb at 9:16 AM on April 23, 2022
There's a Polandball cartoon in memory of the An-225. The text under the pictures is part of the lyrics from the lovely Polish folk song Żal za Ukrainą (Longing for Ukraine) which I have listened to probably 100 times since I read the cartoon.
posted by Harald74 at 3:31 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Harald74 at 3:31 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
« Older The rage, the swing, the beauty and the confusion | Some were paralyzed into silence by the request... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by phack at 10:09 AM on April 22, 2022 [5 favorites]