When you fly 737s pretty much everywhere within the continental United States, you tend to forget just how big large aircraft can truly be. And this comes from someone who at one point had a quick employment with Boeing and got to take tours of the Everett Factory, where Boeing’s 747, 767, 777 and 787 series of aircraft are manufactured. The Dreamliner might be a step up, but compare it to the other three and it looks like an in-between. The 747 is still one of the most dramatic and striking shapes to take to the skies, but the Ukraine does have one ace…literally, one…up it’s sleeve, and it’s called Mriya. 

The Antonov AN-225 was supposed to be like the Boeing 747 in one aspect: shuttle carrier. Back when Antonov Airlines and the Ukraine itself was still the USSR, the AN-225 was built as the carrier craft for the Soviet Buran spacecraft program. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the funding dried up and the one completed AN-225 went into mothballs for eight years, until it was pulled out, refurbished, and put to work as a cargo workhorse. And work it does…the Mriya has carried up to 189 tons of cargo in it’s hold, nevermind the over half a million pounds of fuel on board at max capacity. The MTOW (maximum take-off weight) is over 1.4 million pounds on this six-engined beast. You might have your favorite big bird, but this one deserves respect…it is a one of a kind with an irreplaceable role in aviation.