The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed in the 1980s by the Antonov
Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.It was designed to airlift the Energia rocket's boosters and the Buran-class
orbiters for the MAKC (Multipurpose Aerospace System) space program,and only one example was ever completed.
After successfully fulfilling its military missions,the aircraft was mothballed for eight years.
It was then refurbished and reintroduced into commercial operation with Antonov Airlines since 3 January 2002,
until 24 February 2022,carrying oversized payloads.
The airlifter holds the absolute world record for an airlifted single-item payload of 189,980 kg (418,830 lb),
and an airlifted total payload of 253,820 kg (559,580 lb).It also transported a payload of 247,000 kg (545,000 lb)
on a commercial flight.
Only one aircraft was completed and it flew commercially.
The loads carried on the back of the aircraft are:
- Buran orbiter,
- MAKC-OS Version with the orbital plane and the external fuel tank (Molniya),
- External Tank,carried liquid oxygen,kerosene, and liquid hydrogen propellants,
- MAKC-T,Russian winged orbital launch vehicle.All cargo version of MAKS.Air-launched would use an expendable
second stage with a payload container,
- British Aerospace HOTOL (Horizontal Take-Off and Landing),unmanned,fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO)
winged spaceplane.
These objects are included in the Exterior Payload selection options in this add-on.
The plane and its systems are reconstructed on the basis of Antonov's documentation.Operation of the aircraft's
systems is also based on Antonov's documentation for this aircraft systems can be started manually--
for hardcore virtual-pilots as reading the manual is required in this mode ;-) ,however,systems can also be turned
on in automatic mode-for people who just want to fly the largest plane in the world- just press SHIFT+1 and turn
on/off selected systems (electrics,engines,etc.),or turn everything on and fly ;-).
The model shows the aircraft in the version from before 2010,therefore it does not have FMS
(there is a standard GPS as a pop-up window - SHIFT + 2).
Note for fans of "flexible wings" - this plane has very stiff and thick wings that do not swinglike a pigeon or B787,
but float at the right speed on the ground during take-off ;-).
The aircraft cockpit can be switched between Russian-default (metric units-meters,km/h) and English-
fully translated (imperial units-feet,knots) with one click in the Configorator (SHIFT+1).
This is the final version of this add-on.
In this package Antonov An-225 Mriya in two painting schemes:
-Russian painting scheme,
-Ukrainian painting scheme,
-Ukrainian 2008 painting scheme,
Advanced simulation of avionics systems.
High quality 4k-textures (contains PBR materials).
High quality 3D cockpit with 4k-textures (no 2D cockpit).
Exterior Model and Virtual Cockpit are very detailed and animated (around 500 thousand vertices).
Ilustrated user manual in pdf format (in ...SimObjectsAirplanesAntonov AN-225 from FFS folder).
High quality soundset.
All gauges are based on real ones.
A beautiful,very well reproduced plane,for people who like classic transport planes without all computerization (no FMS) replacing the skills and common sense of the pilot.
Of course,the plane has an autopilot (quite extensive),with all the functions useful for long flights (automatic flight plan following and automatic approach to landing),there is even the option of automatic 90-degree turns or circling.
The flight model perfectly reflects the impression of piloting a giant plane,especially the difference between a full cargo and a non-cargo plane (for example the heaviness in lifting the nose when taking off).
Configurator for easy commissioning of aircraft and engine systems as well as a cockpit completely translated into English are additional advantages.
In the final version,bugs from the previous edition have been fixed-CG position,textures (even a new painting was added),problems with reaching cruising altitudes (now the plane reaches over 34,000 ft without cargo and over 31,000 ft with full load),and other fixes.
I definitely recommend it to those who like to pilot an airplane and not programming on-board computers...