Hey . . . I heard that there was a couple of AN-124s sittin over at the remote cargo stand over by 18L/36R did anyone see these Russian birds? Kinda odd, but cool for MEM . . .

I saw one flying over and about fell out of my pool chair. Impressive looking with six engines.

They'd come into BFI a few times. Pretty neat.

6 engines . . .that would make it an AN-225, nice . . .

Anyone able to get any pix of that thing?

I took one with my camera phone, not very good quality / bad angle. It left Thursday night, heading for Kuwaitt with a "power plant." Checked Flightaware.com early Friday morning, and sure enough, she was heading out across the pond after a stop in Gander.

Here ya go..........ATC said it would be back next week also...........

One of those big mothers pulled in right behind us while we were delivering supplies to the troops in Kuwait. Since we were a military charter, and it was the military guys unloading all the jets, we had a few hours to sit there and enjoy the moment. After bringing a bunch or our excess food to the guys manning the M60 gun emplacements, I took a stroll over to the Russian jet and climbed the ladder to the flight deck (I'd not recommend the climb if you're afraid of heights, as it was a loooong way to the top, on a normal rung ladder), to say Hi, to the crew. It's a gigantic aircraft, but very out of date. It even had two small rubber bladed fans mounted on the glareshield, like the one in my fathers' 1947 Buick. Behind the two pilot seats, was a fairly large steel table that was welded to the floor, used, I guess by their navigator. And the smell of tobacco was unbelievable. It also had a crane on an I-beam that ran the full length of the fuselage. I invited them to come tour our MD-11 and they thoroughly enjoyed it. We all ate the remainder of our food and then, after about a 3 hour wait, the military guys showed up to unload the jet, and the Russian guys left for their own cockpit. It was a fun day. Long, but fun, as after we were unloaded, we flew over to Dubai for a few days off.

Freds got about 20 of them on back order as A380 alternatives. The new fuel nazis will have us shut down engines 2, 4, and 5 if we are westbound and 1, 3, and 6 if on an eastbound flight.

I had the pleasure of seeing one land and take off in Bangor, Maine several years ago. Someone said that there was only one in service. A quick Google search revealed this from Wikipedia:


The An-225 first flew on December 21, 1988. Two aircraft were ordered, but only one An-225 (tail number UR-82060[3]) is currently in service. It is commercially available for carrying ultra-heavy and oversize freight, up to 250,000 kg (550,000 lb) internally[2] or 200,000 kg (440,000 lb) on the upper fuselage. Cargo on the upper fuselage can be 70 m long.[4] A second An-225 was partially built during the late 1980s for use by the Soviet space program. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the cancellation of the Buran space program, the lone operational An-225 was placed in storage. The six Lotarev engines were removed for use on An-124s, and the second An-225 airframe (nearing completion and awaiting engines) was also mothballed.

.....By 2000, it had become apparent that the demand for the An-225 had exceeded the airline's booking capacity, and in September 2006 the decision was made to complete the second An-225. Assembly should be completed by 2008.