World's biggest airplane makes rare flight across 3 continents
The world's largest plane is journeying to Australia for the first time ever.
The An-225 Mriya aircraft, built by the Ukrainian aeronautics company Antonov Airlines, landed at Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague on Tuesday, where it was loaded and prepared for the rare journey.
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The plane will travel over 9,680 miles over the course of four days, transporting a 130-ton generator from the Czech Republic to Perth, Australia. The giant plane usually only makes one or two deliveries per year, according to CNN.
On Thursday, the plane flew the first leg of its journey, from Prague to Turkmenistan.
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From there, the plane will make stops in Hyderabad, India and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before arriving in Perth on Sunday.
About 50,000 aviation geeks are expected to meet the plane when it makes its final landing in Australia. Mriya will stay in Perth for three days and then head back to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian plane was originally developed in the 1980s for carrying the Soviet space shuttle on its back. One of Mriya's features is a massive door on its nose, which allows cargo to be loaded from the front.
To put the plane's size in perspective: A Boeing 737-800 has a maximum takeoff weight of 87.1 tons, while the largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has a maximum takeoff weight of 600 tons.
Mriya's maximum takeoff weight is 705 tons.
(Of course, Mriya has a much smaller range. It can only fly 2,160 miles while the A380 is capable of 8,200 miles.)
To carry all that weight, the plane has 32 wheels. It's propelled by six engines and has a gargantuan wingspan of 290 feet.
The An-225 carries the record for heaviest payload: In 2004, the plane carried a 247-ton piece of oil pipeline machinery from Prague to Uzbekistan.
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Cailey studied journalism at SUNY Purchase and french cinema & literature at Paris IV Sorbonne. She is a cynical optimist and Talking Heads karaoke enthusiast. Drop her a line @misscaileyanne
