Despite Failures Ukraine Plans To Test Super Jumbo Aircraft Mria Airborne

It is expected that on Monday the modernized aircraft An-225 Mria will take off for flight tests from a runway of the Kiev aviation scientific and technical complex (ANTK) named after Antonov. According to the press service, it has been planned that this June, after completion of the tests and obtaining of an international certificate, aircraft An-225 Mria will be displayed at the air show in Le Bourget in France. However, this will not be an easy job. Recently, Ukrainian aircraft of Antonov type have been dogged by failures. Last winter the biggest aircraft of Antonov series crashed near Omsk. The aircraft's engines manufactured in Zaporozhye aviation plant failed. Engines are Achilles' heel of Antonov aircraft. The modern An-225 Mria aircraft is capable of taking aboard up to 250 tons of cargo. The world's biggest transportation liner An-225 Mria was designed in 1988 for use as an airborne launching pad for launches of the orbital cargo spaceship Buran. In May 1989 An-225 delivered Buran from the near Moscow Zhukovsky town to Baikonur spaceport. However, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union An-225 has not been used in Ukraine where the plant is based. In general, during the years of An-225 aircraft's operation more than 100 world records have been set. However, further program of construction and modernization of this unique liner was terminated due to the break-up of the Soviet Union. - O - (VAS-lio) 07/05/01 09:52