The arrival of an Antonov AN 124 aircraft at Piarco International Airport on May 4 created some unusual excitement.
The AN 124 arrived from Orlando, Florida, with a cargo of pipes for the oil and gas industry. Operated by Ukraine-based Antonov Airlines, this was not the first time the aircraft had landed in TT.
The AN 124 is the world's second heaviest gross weight cargo aeroplane manufactured behind the destroyed one-off Antonov AN-225, and at present is the heaviest operating cargo aircraft in the world.
During the late 1960s, the Military Transport Aviation Command arm of the Soviet Union (USSR) Air Forces had a shortfall in strategic heavy airlift capacity.
Its largest aircraft was the Antonov AN-22 turboprop, which was primarily used for tactical roles. A declassified 1975 CIA analysis concluded that the USSR "did not match the US in ability to provide long-range heavy lift support."
Soviet officials decided to build an aircraft with a substantial increase in payload capacity to airlift significantly more cargo in a single trip.
In 1971, design work on the project began at the Antonov Design Bureau. The design developed, designated Antonov AN 124, broadly resembled the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, a US military strategic transport aircraft. The design used carbon-fibre composites in its construction, comprising around five per cent of the aircraft's total weight. Aluminium alloys made up the primary material in its construction, with limited use of steel and titanium alloys.
The AN 124 has a double fuselage to allow for a rear cargo door on the lower fuselage that can open in flight without affecting structural integrity, and a conventional empennage, similar in design to that of the Boeing 747. Many of the flight control surfaces, such as the slats, flaps, spoilers and a fly-by-wire control system, closely resemble those of the C-5.
A major drawback with the AN 124 design is that, unlike the C-5, it lacks a fully pressurised cargo compartment and airborne refuelling capability.
In 1973, the construction of the necessary facilities to produce the new AN 124 began. Two separate final assembly plants were established to produce the airlifter: the company Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk, Russia and the Antonov Serial Production Plant in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Furthermore, the programme used components, systems and other elements drawn from over 100 factories across the Eastern world.
In 1979, the assembly of the first Antonov AN 124 began.
On December 24, 1982, the AN 124 flew its maiden flight. Three years later, the AN 124 made its first appearance in the Western world with demonstration flights at the 1985 Paris Air Show.
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The AN 124 is capable of carrying up to 150 tons of cargo internally in a standard military configuration. It can also carry 88 passengers in an upper deck behind the wing centre section. The forward area of this upper deck houses the cockpit and the crew-accommodation area.
Owing to the limited pressurisatio
