NYT WORLD: Restoring a Giant Plane: Ukrainian Resilience or Folly?
By Andrew E. Kramer
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 27, 2023 at 03:00AM
Ukraine, with far more pressing needs, plans to rebuild the colossal Mriya cargo plane, a symbol of pride that was destroyed last year in a battle for its airfield.
HOSTOMEL, Ukraine — The gigantic twin tail fins, once stretching as high as a six-story building, are gone.
So are the tailplane, flaps, hydraulic systems, fuel pumps and three of six engines of the plane, which was destroyed in fighting in the first days of the war.
Piece by piece, workers are now dismantling the wreckage of the gigantic Mriya cargo plane, the heaviest airplane ever flown, with plans to rebuild a new one with salvaged parts. The restoration of the plane, whose name in Ukrainian means The Dream, has begun.
With the war still raging, the immense job of rebuilding Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of homes, hospitals, schools and bridges are blown up, still seems a distant prospect. Measured against those daunting challenges, the work on the plane is hardly a top priority from a humanitarian point of view. But it is meant in part as an inspiration, according to executives at the aircraft company that owns it, Antonov.
By Andrew E. Kramer
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 27, 2023 at 03:00AM
Ukraine, with far more pressing needs, plans to rebuild the colossal Mriya cargo plane, a symbol of pride that was destroyed last year in a battle for its airfield.
HOSTOMEL, Ukraine — The gigantic twin tail fins, once stretching as high as a six-story building, are gone.
So are the tailplane, flaps, hydraulic systems, fuel pumps and three of six engines of the plane, which was destroyed in fighting in the first days of the war.
Piece by piece, workers are now dismantling the wreckage of the gigantic Mriya cargo plane, the heaviest airplane ever flown, with plans to rebuild a new one with salvaged parts. The restoration of the plane, whose name in Ukrainian means The Dream, has begun.
With the war still raging, the immense job of rebuilding Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of homes, hospitals, schools and bridges are blown up, still seems a distant prospect. Measured against those daunting challenges, the work on the plane is hardly a top priority from a humanitarian point of view. But it is meant in part as an inspiration, according to executives at the aircraft company that owns it, Antonov.
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/world/europe/ukraine-giant-plane-mriya.html
Ukrainians aim to rebuild world's largest cargo plane destroyed in Russia's war.Every day workers are bussed to the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, where they're salvaging parts from the skeleton of the world's largest cargo plane. The Antonov AN-225 Mriya was destroyed in a fierce battle in the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now there are efforts to rebuild the enormous aviation marvel. Crystal Goomansingh has a rare inside look at what remains of the aircraft, and the chaos Ukrainian defenders endured in the battle for Hostomel Airport.
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