AN-225 destroyed?!

[RCgothic]

We've been discussing this in this thread:

Where I think there are clearer images, but I hadn't seen this satellite view before.

[steve9728]

Can you please move it to the AN-225 thread? @Gargamel

[steve9728]

Well I post it at CNSA's thread:

 

On 3/1/2022 at 10:24 AM, steve9728 said:

Haisi-1 (海丝-1) SAR satellite take a photo from Hostomel Airport and... well, AN-225 situation is extremely unplesant

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jypomLf0MlaXr_dXLuJNhQ

The yellow text from top to bottom is: 

• The curved metal canopy should show darker shadows in the non-directly illuminated areas, but currently there are uneven bright areas, suggesting a rough reflective area, which is a sign of damage to the canopy.
• Metal appearing on the surface of a concrete runway.
• The southern hangar was offset on the SAR image due to its height, but the scattering was more uniform suggesting no damage.

"On February 28, the Global Times reporter learned from the Chinese commercial satellite company Tianyi Research Institute that the company's SAR satellite "Haisi-1" successfully acquired the SAR satellite image of Kiev Antonov Hostomel Airport in Ukraine at 12:47 p.m. local time on February 28.
The company's researchers analysed the vaulted canopy at Hostomel Airport, where the An-225 was parked after its final flight, and concluded that the surface of the supposedly "smooth" canopy showed multiple scattering enhancement areas, suggesting serious damage to the canopy. "The curved metal canopy should show darker shadows in the non-directly illuminated areas, but now there are uneven bright areas, suggesting rough reflective areas, a sign of serious damage to the canopy." The researcher said. In addition, the images show large reflective areas on the concrete pavement of the canopy, which the researchers said could be large metal parts scattered after the attack on the canopy, corroborating with previous images circulating online of the canopy on fire, meaning the parked An-225 is in extremely bad shape."

I know that this post will be highly controversial and it is my intention to have and only have is to share this objective fact in itself.

PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS OR ARGUE ANYTHING ABOUT WAR OR POLITICS AT BELOW. I TAKE IT REALLY SERIOUSLY.

[steve9728]

On 3/1/2022 at 2:20 PM, monophonic said:

The real selling point of the Mriya was never the mass of the cargo, but dimensions.

Yes indeed:

 

And this was happend at my hometown Guangzhou.

11 hours ago, monophonic said:

Of course China just might decide they want to one up the Mriya and build an even larger cargo plane just to show they can.

Although as a Chinese I would love to see a rebuild of the AN-225 happen, but objectively I don't think it will, at least not in the next 10 years. Yes, AVIC did send people to the Antonov and Zaporozhye engine plants and tried to get in touch with the local workers about how the D-18T engine would be built. But the results of such attempts don't seem too promising: we haven't seen any breakthroughs in high thrust, high culvert ratio turbofan engine technology from AVIC yet.

My friend in Tianjin expressed his regret that he did not go to the airport to take photos of the An-225 on its last flight, which was when it came to Tianjin airport to transporting the epidemic prevention supplies.

Spoiler

After more searching it was found that the picture shows AN-124 delivering Guangzhou metro trains from Germany in 2002, so replace with this one: AN-225 delivering light rail trains from Shijiazhuang to Turkey in 2013：

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by steve9728

[StrandedonEarth]

55 minutes ago, steve9728 said:

high culvert ratio turbofan

I know translating is hard, and words can have similar but different meanings. 
 

I think the term you’re looking for is “high bypass ratio”

A bypass is a way around something, and can take many forms (highway bypass around a city, bypass surgery around a blocked artery, bypassing air around a turbojet core, etc). I think of a culvert as a large pipe that allows a creek or trail to cross under a road, “bypassing” the road surface. 
 

Just trying to help!!  

And yeah, that’s a big loss to aviation. I hope it gets rebuilt or replaced sooner or later. I love those big, beautiful birds!

[steve9728]

2 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

I know translating is hard, and words can have similar but different meanings. 
 

I think the term you’re looking for is “high bypass ratio”

A bypass is a way around something, and can take many forms (highway bypass around a city, bypass surgery around a blocked artery, bypassing air around a turbojet core, etc). I think of a culvert as a large pipe that allows a creek or trail to cross under a road, “bypassing” the road surface. 
 

Just trying to help!!  

And yeah, that’s a big loss to aviation. I hope it gets rebuilt or replaced sooner or later. I love those big, beautiful birds!

Appriciated!

But imagine it, if the rebuild really can happen, the biggest birds with the latest flight control system instead of "Russia Clock Shop".  DAMN!

[Vanamonde]

9 hours ago, steve9728 said:

Can you please move it to the AN-225 thread? @Gargamel

I'm not Gargamel but I did it for you anyway.

[DDE]

I think this is the first time I've seen ground-level footage

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/26871

[sgt_flyer]

A new very short video of the airport, with mriya's hangar in the background

Not a lot to be seen, but the aircraft seems to have been really badly damaged    (More than likely complete loss) only the nose is recognizable...

edit : same video as @DDE's link

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by sgt_flyer

[steve9728]

Honestly, I feel much worse now than I found my ex was cheating on me.

Edited March 3, 2022 by steve9728

[Lisias]

2 hours ago, sgt_flyer said:

A new very short video of the airport, with mriya's hangar in the background

Not a lot to be seen, but the aircraft seems to have been really badly damaged    (More than likely complete loss) only the nose is recognizable...

If the nose is relatively intact, and the tail appears to be too, as this picture suggests:

source: https://aeroin.net/imagem-por-novo-angulo-mostra-cauda-do-antonov-an-225-no-hangar-atingido-na-ucrania/

Then the missile hit her approximately on her shoulders. Apparently no secondary explosion due the fuel in the tanks igniting, but I think the cockpit was burnt or blown up in pieces in the process. I think I recognised two of the engines still in their places (at least one for sure), so at least the wings (or part of them) appears to have survived.

However, the position in which the engines are pointing suggests the wings were violently detached from the main hull by the explosion. 

I hope some chunks of the fuselage were spared, the tail on the picture above suggests the rear fuselage my be intact, perhaps the main landing gears may still be there.

But still the damages appear to be substantial… 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Lisias
...

[Beccab]

3 minutes ago, Lisias said:

perhaps the main landing gears may still be there.

Eh, it's definitely leaning to the left. Something big broke there for sure

[steve9728]

It is important to consider that aircraft aluminum is not heat-resistant

Stupid question: can AN-124's nose 'porting' to AN-225?

[RCgothic]

I don't think that looks salvageable TBH.

[Lisias]

2 hours ago, Beccab said:

Eh, it's definitely leaning to the left. Something big broke there for sure

The left wing is leaning to the left. The right wing is apparently leaning to the right, and twisted. I think the missile hit her on her shoulders and broke the wing box. The front fuselage is not visible due smoke and shadows, and I'm pretty sure the nose is detached from the hull.

Since the tail's stabilisers appears to be fine and not leaned at all (on the picture I posted), I think it's reasonable to conclude that or all main landing gears are OK, or all of them collapsed.

— — POST EDIT — — 

Additionally, this is a screenshot from a moving picture made on a mobile, the framing is way far from perfect, the guy appears to be walking - so if you look to the ground carefully, you will note that the whole image is learning to the rigth, what makes the hangar and her remains look to be leaning to the left.

 

2 hours ago, steve9728 said:

It is important to consider that aircraft aluminum is not heat-resistant

Yep. But the wings are attached to the fuselage by the wing box, and this one is pretty solid.

Since the engines are not on the ground, the wings should still be superficially attached to the main hull somehow. What means that the fire may not had spread towards the tail and wings.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Lisias
POST EDIT

[steve9728]

I use my ipad and turn the pic a little angle. I try to make the wheels of the truck parallel to the picture grid.

[Arugela]

3 hours ago, Lisias said:

If the nose is relatively intact, and the tail appears to be too, as this picture suggests:

source: https://aeroin.net/imagem-por-novo-angulo-mostra-cauda-do-antonov-an-225-no-hangar-atingido-na-ucrania/

Then the missile hit her approximately on her shoulders. Apparently no secondary explosion due the fuel in the tanks igniting, but I think the cockpit was burnt or blown up in pieces in the process. I think I recognised two of the engines still in their places (at least one for sure), so at least the wings (or part of them) appears to have survived.

However, the position in which the engines are pointing suggests the wings were violently detached from the main hull by the explosion. 

I hope some chunks of the fuselage were spared, the tail on the picture above suggests the rear fuselage my be intact, perhaps the main landing gears may still be there.

But still the damages appear to be substantial… 

 

Is it possible the wings were detached and the body of the plane is in the other hanger?

[RCgothic]

7 minutes ago, Arugela said:

Is it possible the wings were detached and the body of the plane is in the other hanger?

No. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, steve9728 said:

Oh wow....

[DDE]

5 hours ago, Lisias said:

If the nose is relatively intact, and the tail appears to be too, as this picture suggests:

source: https://aeroin.net/imagem-por-novo-angulo-mostra-cauda-do-antonov-an-225-no-hangar-atingido-na-ucrania/

Then the missile hit her approximately on her shoulders.

I can't entirely agree. It looks like something blew up on the apron in front and somewhat to the starboard of the aircraft. Note the radiating damage and the shredded roof.

And then, somehow, this left the nose in a recognizable form but sheared off both wings... And the "headless" fuselage (that front gear is definitely gone) hasn't appreciably toppled, it seems... the physics seem really weird.

[Lisias]

11 hours ago, DDE said:

I can't entirely agree. It looks like something blew up on the apron in front and somewhat to the starboard of the aircraft. Note the radiating damage and the shredded roof.

Well, this image:

Suggests the hit happened inside the hangar. It appears to the be Mriya's hangar, by checking the landmarks.

Granted, the root of the explosion appears to be the tail, what we had evidences from other pictures is intact.  But the smoke on the roof appears to be more or less in the right place.

I'm guessing the missile's trajectory was more or less what's depicted below:

(I don't think I managed to draw the trajectory accurately)

 

11 hours ago, DDE said:

And then, somehow, this left the nose in a recognizable form but sheared off both wings... And the "headless" fuselage (that front gear is definitely gone) hasn't appreciably toppled, it seems... the physics seem really weird.

I think the nose was blown away from the fuselage by the explosion, as a cork popped from the bottle.

I don't think you can see the fuselage from this photo. It appears to me that there's no fuselage at all from the nose to  the wingbox. The wings appears to be detached from the main fuselage, besides not being flat on the ground (I think they are superficially attached to whatever is remaining from the hull):

The engine necelle appears to be tilted, suggesting the wingtip is resting on the ground.

If I'm interpreting the image correctly, the wing box appears to had been destroyed. But this is where the wings are connected to the main fuselage, these are the strongest parts on the entire aircraft, being the reason I think the missile hit her more or less on this part of the craft - what also explains the nosecone being popped up from the fuselage instead of being consumed by the flames.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Lisias
...

[sgt_flyer]

[snip]

for mriya itself,

forward fuselage and cockpit seems completely destroyed (maybe the floor fared better but...),

wingbox seems damaged (right wing is twisted it's root severely damaged, and seems barely hanging to the wingbox),

aft fuselage / tail seems relatively intact. Not really easy to see the damage to the main landing gear.

on the left wing, two engines seems to have been removed during the planned maintenance, the remaining engine seems to not have suffered external damage 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Snark
Redacted by moderator

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, sgt_flyer said:

wingbox seems damaged (left wing is twisted it's root severely damaged, and seems barely hanging to the wingbox),

aft fuselage / tail seems relatively intact. Not really easy to see the damage to the main landing gear.

on the right wing, two engines seems to have been removed during the planned maintenance, the remaining engine seems to not have suffered external damage 

Humm… I was wrong on the (her) left wing (right one from who is seeing her from the front). This wing appears to be intact, so that "tilt" I thought I had saw on the nacelle was a misperception.

The wingbox appears to have hold pretty well, otherwise the surviving wing wold not be there in its place.

So the missile should had hit her slightly ahead of the wingbox, apparently more to her right - severing the respective wing's attachment to the wingbox.

Perhaps enough parts had survived to speed up the building of the other fuselage.

[Codraroll]

Trying not to break any forum rules, but let's just pretend there is a long-winded and colourfully worded rant below, saying how I don't really appreciate what's currently going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for imagining.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Codraroll

[DDE]

4 hours ago, sgt_flyer said:

aft fuselage / tail seems relatively intact.

Shockingly, the tail is still completely upright. You can see the tips in the original 720p video on YouTube.

[snip]

Also, note how the hangar opposite the Mriya is also caved in by a blast offset from the centerline.

4 hours ago, Lisias said:

Suggests the hit happened inside the hangar. It appears to the be Mriya's hangar, by checking the landmarks.

Granted, the root of the explosion appears to be the tail, what we had evidences from other pictures is intact.  But the smoke on the roof appears to be more or less in the right place.

Of a fire. Which does not necessarily indicate where the initial explosion was.

4 hours ago, Lisias said:

I'm guessing the missile's trajectory was more or less what's depicted below:

 

[snip]

Edited March 4, 2022 by Snark
Redacted by moderator