Delhi Metro's first rake to be airlifted was carried on a Ukraine-made aircraft

The first rail car of the brand-new metro fleet for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that was airlifted was ferried by the Ukrainian aircraft maker Antonov’s AN-124 RUSLAN aircraft. This aircraft also ferried Bombardier’s first-ever MOVIA fleet for the Delhi metro from Germany to Delhi on February 26, 2009.  

This Metro rail car was first received by the DMRC MD E Sreedharan and other directors. This was first of the eight Metro coaches -- two trains -- which were to be airlifted to Delhi by April same year.

According to the planemaker, AN-124 is the world’s largest production transport airplane and is the last airplane developed under the guidance of General Designer Oleg K Antonov.
 
The Antonov AN-124 RUSLAN aircraft is 69.10 m long, 21.08 m high and a wing span of 73.30 m. The Ukrainian aircraft has a wing area of 2,628 m. The airplane has a cruise speed of 800-850 km/hour, an operational range of 15,700 km and an operational ceiling of 11,600m.

The first flight of the AN-124 took off on December 24, 1982. Its crew members were Volodymyr Terskiy (captain); Oleksandr Galunenko (co-pilot); Oleksandr Popddubniy (navigator); Mykhaylo Tupchienko (radio operator); Volofymyr Vorotnikov and Oleksandr Shulenshchenko (flight engineers); Mykhaylo Kharchenko (leading test engineer); and Vyacheslav Mikhailov (test engineer).
 
AN-124 is not the only Antonov-made aircraft that made its landing in India. World’s largest cargo aircraft – Antonov AN-225 Mriya (Dream) made its first landing in India on May 23, 2016 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad from Perth in Australia.
 
But what makes AN-225 aircraft so unique is that the world’s largest aircraft was developed in the Cold war era to airlift the Buran spacecraft for the Soviet space program.
 
The Antonov AN-225 has a spacious cargo compartment with a length of 43.32 m, width of 6.4 m and height of 4.4 m. The Ukrainian cargo aircraft has twice the wing area of a Boeing 747. On the AN-225, there are 20 steerable wheels, 4 in the nose gear and 16 at the rear of the 28-wheel main gear.
 
The cargo aircraft has a cruise speed of 800 km/hour, an operational range of 15,400 km and an operational ceiling of 9,000 m.

The first Antonov AN-225 flight flew on December 20, 1988. Its crew members included Oleksandr Galunenko (captain); Sergii Gorbik (co-pilot); Sergii Nechayev (navigator); Oleksandr Shulenshchenko (senior flight engineer); Volodymyr Gusar (flight engineer); Vyachaeslav Belusov (radio operator); and Mykhaylo Kharchenko (leading test flight engineer).
 
The AN-225 has held the title of the biggest commercially utilised cargo airplane in the world for around 30 years. Only one AN-225 is operational globally and the AN-225 also participated in COVID-19 relief efforts. The AN-225 conducted flights to deliver medical supplies from China to other parts of the world.

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