The Antonov AN-225 may have been destroyed by Russia

I certainly hope this is not true but there are stories circulating that the world's largest aircraft, the Antonov 225, might have become a casualty of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ANTONOV An 225 (MRIYA) UR-82060 (MSN 19530503763

The behemoth of cargo carriers, the only Antonov AN-225 ever built is usually based at Hostomel Airport, an international cargo facility also known as Antonov Airport, located on the north-western outskirts of Kyiv. The airport has been targeted by Russian military and some reports say it is under their control, others that the aircraft was destroyed in the fighting, and still others reporting that the airbase has been recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

‘As fighting continues between Ukrainian and Russian Military Forces, it seems that the life of the Antonov An-225 Mirya aircraft has come to a sad end when its hangar was hit at Gostomel/Hostomel Airport. The Antonov Company confirmed on February 25th that the aircraft was parked at Gostomel Airport and was still intact on Friday.

‘While this day will be marked in history for the loss of this aircraft iconic aircraft, we cannot forget the pain, sadness and loss of life due to this conflict.’

According to the media, the airport has been targeted by Russian military and some reports say it is under their control, others that the aircraft was destroyed in the fighting, and still others reporting that the airbase has been recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

Gostomel/Hostomel is known as Antonov Airport as it was built by the aircraft manufacturer and is used as a test site.

Remembering United Airlines Flight 811

UNTITED B0EING 747-422 N194UA (MSN 26892)

United Airlines Flight 811 was a regularly scheduled airline flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, with stop overs at Honolulu and Auckland. On the 24th February 1989, the Boeing 747-122 serving the flight experienced a cargo-door failure in flight shortly after leaving Honolulu. The resulting explosive decompression blew out several rows of seats, resulting in the deaths of nine passengers. The aircraft returned to Honolulu and landed with no further incident.

Flight 811, with 337 passengers and 18 crew members on board, took off from Honolulu (HNL/PHNL), Hawaii at 01:33 local time, bound for Sydney, Australia (SYD/YSSY), with an intermediate stop at Auckland, New Zealand (AKL/NZAA). The initial climb passed through an area of thunderstorms, so the captain elected to keep the seat belt sign on. As the aircraft was climbing, between 22,000 and 23,000 feet, an explosive decompression was experienced. An emergency was declared at approximately 02:20 HST. The captain initiated a 180-degree left turn to avoid a thunderstorm and proceeded toward Honolulu. The forward lower lobe cargo door had opened in flight, taking with it a large portion of the forward right side of the cabin fuselage. The starboard side Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A engines (no.3 and 4) were damaged and had to be shut down. Parts of the leading and trailing edge flaps where also damaged resulting in the crew electing to use only 10-degrees trailing edge flaps for landing (a non-normal configuration). This resulted in the aircraft having to land at a higher speed than it would under normal conditions. The aircraft was cleared to land on Honolulu's runway 8L. At 02:34 HST, Honolulu tower was notified by the flight crew that the airplane was stopped and an emergency evacuation had commenced on the runway. 

The aircraft had been flying for 17 minutes,  as it was passing from 22,000 to 23,000 feet (6,700 to 7,000 m), when the flight crew heard a loud "thump", which shook it. About a second and a half later, the forward cargo door blew off. It swung out with such force that it passed its normal stop and slammed into the side of the fuselage, bursting it open. Pressure differentials and aerodynamic forces caused the cabin floor to cave in, and 10 seats (G and H of rows 8 through 12) were ejected from the cabin. All eight passengers seated in these locations were killed, as was the passenger in seat 9F. Seats 8G and 12G were unoccupied. A gaping hole was left in the aircraft, through which a flight attendant, Mae Sapolu in the business-class cabin, was almost blown out. Senior flight attendant Laura Brentlinger hung on to the steps leading to the upper deck, and was dangling from them when the decompression occurred. Passengers and crew members saw her clinging to a seat leg and were able to pull her back inside the cabin, although she was severely injured.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-122 (registration number N4713U MSN 19875).

It was delivered to United Airlines on the 3rd November 1970. At the time of the accident, the Boeing had accumulated 58,814 total flight hours, 15,028 flight 'pressurization' cycles, and had not been involved in any previous accident.

Darwin now has longest and shortest international flights

Darwin (DRW/YPDN), in Australia's Northern Territory, is staking a minor claim to fame, with the NT capital now hosting both the longest and shortest flights on the international Qantas network.

The shortest international flight is a quick 50-minute hop to Dili ((DIL/WPDL), the capital of East Timor. 

Qantas this week committed to up to five flights per week on its new Embraer E190 jets.

QANTAS LINK EMBRAER E190 VH-ULD (MSN 19000152)
(ex US Airways / American Airlines)

Sporting both business class and economy cabins, the Darwin-based E-Jets will also connect the Top End with Alice Springs, Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns and Townsville.

And the longest flight? This is, of course, the 17-hour trek to London (LHR/EGLL), which runs twice daily – one from Sydney (SYD/YSSY)  and one from Melbourne (MEL/YMML) – on board a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

QANTAS BOEING 787-9 VH-ZNL (MSN 66076)

Qantas chose Darwin as a temporary replacement for the respective Singapore and Perth stopovers of its Sydney-London and Melbourne-London Kangaroo Routes: the former due to Singapore’s ongoing transit restrictions, and the later due to Western Australia’s decision to keep its borders shut for an indefinite period .

“To streamline transit arrangements for passengers, Qantas will also continue to operate the Sydney to London flight via Darwin instead of through Singapore until June 2022,” the airline says.

This week also saw the return of Qantas' second-longest flight – the 15-hour journey from Sydney to Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW/KDFW) – which was the airline’s longest route when it launched in 2011, until the Perth-London service stole the crown in 2018.

But even longer flights lay ahead, with Qantas soon expected to give the go-ahead to its ambitious Project Sunrise plan for non-stop services from Sydney and Melbourne to the likes of New York, London and Paris to launch in 2024-2025.

Passengers will need to strap themselves in for a marathon of up to 20 hours, although these globe-striding Airbus A350-1000 jets will make the ride a lot more comfortable thanks to what Qantas CEO Alan Joyce described to Executive Traveller as all-new “super first class” suites and business class seats.

“Given the nature of the routes there is definitely a market for first class,” he said, adding “it will be the best product we’ve ever put on an aircraft.”

There will also be a fresh take on premium economy and a wider economy seat with a few extra inches of legroom, along with designated stretching areas in a cabin ‘designed for ultra-long haul’ flying.

“That’s all part of the proposition, this aircraft is going to be designed for 19-20 hour flights,” Joyce said.

Story sourced from here but with additions.

Darwin now has Qantas’ longest and shortest international flights - Executive Traveller

Two unusual visitors call into Brisbane.

7.30 p.m. Friday night a Silkway West Boeing 747-800 arrived in Brisbane from Chicago via Honolulu bringing in more RAT tests. So yesterday, knowing there was a Flight Service A330 coming in around 3pm, I headed out to the airport again. Luck would have it when I got to the airport the Silk Way West, which was due to go out at 9.00 a.m., was being pushed back. 

SILKWAY WEST BOEING 747-83QF VQ-BBH (MSN 62708)

7L147 OFF TO HONG KONG (HKG)

FRIENDLY WAVE FROM THE CABIN

FLIGHT SERVICE A330-203 9H-BFS (MSN 472)
DB1128 ARRIVING FROM HONG KONG (HKG)

Just after the arrival of the Flight Service A330, the daily Singapore A350 flight departed. 

SINGAPORE AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHS (MSN 447)
SQ236 OFF TO SINGAPORE

United States Air Force calls into Brisbane

Thanks to the heads up from a good friend of mine, I headed out to Brisbane airport to catch an unusual arrival. A USAF Gulfstream C-37A was coming in. The aircraft, with the callsign "SPAR 28", departed Canberra (CBR/YSCB) from runway 25 at 00.06 UTC (11.06 a.m. Canberra time) climbed to flight level 310 and touched down on 01R in Brisbane at 01. 25 UTC (11.25 a.m. Brisbane time).

USAF GULFSTREAM C-37A 10-0028 (MSN 620)

Along with the C-37 we also had a Bombardier Global Express BD-700 arrive from Essendon Victoria (MEB/YMEN).

LINFOX GLOBAL BOMBARDIER GLOBAL EXPRESS VH-LEP (MSN 9007)

Below are some other aircraft that came and went while I was there. 

BRISBANE CITY

AIR NEW ZEALAND BOEING 787-9 ZK-NZN (MSN 38182)
NZ1141 ARRIVING FROM AUCKLAND (AKL)

JETSTAR AIRBUS A321-231 VH-VWU (MSN 3948)
JQ565 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL)

MALAYSIA AIRBUS A330-323 9M-MTA (MSN 1209)
MH135 ARRIVING FROM KUALA LUMPUR (KUL)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE's

QANTAS BOEING 737-838 VH-XZH (MSN 39372)
QF 989 ARRIVING FROM MACKAY (MKY)

ALLIANCE FOKKER 100 VH-UQG (MSN 11520)
VA1102 OFF TO NEWCASTLE (NTL)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE's

PEL-AIR SAAB 340A VH-KDB (MSN 240A-008)
PFY9829 ARRIVING FROM MACKAY (MKY)

REX SAAB 340B VH-ZLF (MSN 340B-374)
ZL5717 ARRIVING FROM ROMA (RMA)

QANTAS LINK DASH 8 Q400 VH-LQM (MSN 4450)
QLK385D OFF TO ALBURY (ABX)

ALLIANCE FOKKER F70 VH-QQR (MSN 11564)
LATER WENT TO MORANBAH (MOV) AS QQ2834

QANTAS LINK BOEING 717-231 VH-NXK (MSN 55092)
QF1770 ARRIVING FROM CANBERRA

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8SA VH-IWX (MSN 44232)
VA702 OFF TO HOBART (HBA)

SOLOMONS AIRBUS A320-232 H4-SIB (MSN 2445)
IE701 OFF TO HONIARA (HIR)

FIJI AIRWAYS BOEING 737 MAX 8 DQ-FAD (MSN 64308)
FJ921 ARRIVING FROM NADI (NAN)

SINGAPORE AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHN (MSN 385)
SQ256 OFF TO SINGAPORE (SIN)

SINGAPORE AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHG (MSN 309)
SQ255 ARRIVING FROM SINGAPORE (SIN)

QANTAS AIRBUS A330-202 VH-EBN (1094)
QF15 OFF TO LOS ANGELES (LAX)

REX BOEING 737-8FE VH-RQP (MSN 37822)
ZL337 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD)