This may not be the Millennium Falcon but it’s still a pretty spectacular sight.
Hundreds of Malaysians and aviation geeks got to tick off one of their bucket list when the world’s largest aircraft – the Antonov AN-225 Mriya – touched down at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 8:30am last Saturday (14th May).
Malaysia was lucky to be chosen as the only Asean country to welcome the Ukrainian-designed cargo plane during one of its pit stops. Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd corporate communications general manager Nik Anis Nik Zakaria confirmed that the monster airplane was at KLIA for refuelling.
According to reports, the Antonov AN-225 Mriya – which was built in the 1980s for the Soviet Union shuttle program to carry its Buran space shuttle on its back – was transporting a generator weighing 130 tonnes from Prague, Czech Republic to Perth, Australia. KLIA was the plane’s last refuelling stop only.
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This isn’t the first time the gigantic aircraft had landed in Malaysia though. Malaysia Airports Bhd airsite operations senior executive M. Kathi told reporters that this was the second time Mriya landed in Malaysia after making its debut here 2007.
Thom Patterson from CNN notes that most airplanes are only powered by 2 or 4 jet engines. This monstrous superstar has 6! The length of its wingspan measures up to 290 feet (88 meters), which is longer than 5 53-foot semi-truck trailers. Its maximum takeoff weight is 640 tonnes, which is twice as heavy as the Statue of Liberty.
Check out the short clip of the plane’s arrival:
Till next time, Mriya.
Sources: Astro Awani, CNN, Malay Mail, The Star.
