Some REALLY Heavy Iron....

[AeroplaneDriver]

Took these pics last week...when I got to work the Antonov 225 was sitting on the Cargo Ramp across from the USAirways Training Center in Charlotte...when I left that afternoon I heard it starting up to I went and took a few pics at the cargo ramp, then headed across the field to watch it takeoff...pretty impressive!

[kitnut617]

Fantastic photos AD, I had read it had been re-commissioned but this is the first time I've seen some very up-to-date photos of it.  Any ideas why it was in town ?

[AeroplaneDriver]

It was here back in June too, though I didnt see it fly on that visit...apparently in June it was bringing a generator coil (or turbine, depending on whose version of the story you hear) in from a powerplant in Thailand for repair at the Seimens plant here in Charlotte.  Last weeks visit was to pick the part back up to take back to Thailand.

[The Rat]

Does it do about a 7 minute full power run-up on the button like the 124?

[Captain Canada]

...pretty impressive!

Sounds like one of those understatements ! I bet the pilot of that little Dasher enjoyed the show.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Rat-4 min in position to stabilize the engines is what they asked Tower for....having been on Final before behind a 124 doing it's 'powerup' I can only assume from the amount of black smoke that this is so the 100 or so slaves can shovel enough coal to get the boiler pressure to an acceptable level for takeoff!

[GeorgeC]

Takes 4 minutes for the team of 12 body-building flight engineers to shove the throttles forward.  This is apparently closer to the truth than you might expect!

[sotoolslinger]

WOW