Out of the blue! World's largest cargo plane Antonov Airlines An-225 Mriya cuts a clear path through fog while landing in Poland
This is the amazing moment the world's largest cargo plane cut a clear path through fog while landing.
Footage from January 9 at Rzeszow Airport in Poland shows the Soviet-designed Antonov Airlines An-225 Mriya cargo plane.
It emerges above and then sweeps through the fog to come into landing as hundreds of aviation enthusiasts watch on, delighted. 
Footage from January 9 at Rzeszow Airport in Poland shows the Soviet-designed Antonov Airlines An-225 Mriya cargo plane
In the footage, the aircraft can be heard approaching in the distance but is not seen until it gets very close to the runway.
It cuts through the fog and sweeps through a path of blue sky as it comes into landing, creating a 'runway' in the air.
The foggy conditions caused some minor damage to the aircraft's landing gear, it was reported later by the Antonov company on January 10.
The plane cuts through the fog and sweeps through a path of blue sky as it comes into landing
The foggy conditions caused some minor damage to the aircraft's landing gear, it was reported later by the Antonov company on January 10
The landing gear deployment sensor bolts were 'cut' on the right landing gear strut.
A later tweet on 11 January confirmed that the issue was fixed and the plane was back in the air.
The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger jet but the An-225 has a huge wingspan of nearly 290 feet wide and six engines and 32 wheels.
The A380 has a wingspan of 260 feet. The An-225 is the heaviest aircraft ever built and can carry up to 640 tonnes.
The An-225 was built and designed in the 1980s to transport rockets for the Soviet space programme, according to the Independent.
It has operated as a cargo plane since 2001 and as it is of large scale its landings and take-offs are popular with aviation enthusiasts.
Ukrainian strongmen pull the huge AN-225 plane in 2021, setting a new world record
Footage and photos of the plane are often shared on aviation blogs.
The plane carried the world's longest piece of air cargo in 2010, two 42.1m test turbine blades from Tianjin, China to Skrydstrup, Denmark, according to stuff.
And in 2011 the plane transported the heaviest single cargo item sent by air freight.
It was a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia which weighed 189 tonnes.
In May 2016 more than 15,000 spectators came to Perth Airport in western Australia to witness Mriya arrive.
In 2018 the aircraft paid a flying visit to the UK to deliver cargo to RAF Brize Norton before flying off to Greece.
The aircraft's operator opened a new base at Stansted Airport, but the jet is a frequent visitor to the UK as well as around the world.
In 2020 the plane was used to carry medical supplies to Poland during the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe.
The An-124-Ruslan, a smaller version of the aircraft, made an appearance in Auckland in 2020 as it was delivering new engines for Air New Zealand's Dreamliner fleet.
In 2021, Ukrainian strongmen athletes attempted a world record for pulling the plane at an airfield in the settlement of Hostomel outside Kyviv, Ukraine.
The eight strongmen beat the previous record, pulling the plane by 4 metres 30cm in 1 minute and 13 seconds.
RAF Brize Norton said of the aircraft in 2016: 'The heaviest aircraft ever built has visited RAF Brize Norton this week.
'The Antonov AN-225 Mriya, which has 32 wheels and wingspan of over 88 metres, was originally designed to transport equipment for the Soviet Space programme including the Buran obiter which was carried on the aircraft’s back.
'Today, this huge aircraft is used to transport outsize or ultra-heavy cargo on behalf of customers including the UK MOD who charter the aircraft to supplement its own fleet of aircraft when circumstances dictate.'
A second AN-225 aircraft lies unfinished in a warehouse outside of Kiev. It
As of 2016, Mriya’s hidden twin was around 70 per cent completed, but the wings remain unattached, thrown to one side, and the nose gear is also left nearby.
All the essential components of its superstructure have been manufactured and Mr Silchenko insists it could be quickly put together with funding of between £190million ($250million) and £270million ($350million).
The aircraft was nearly finished in 2016 when China expressed an interest in completing the design, however they found it too difficult to transport the parts to the country so it never happened.
Ukraine were deciding on whether to complete the aircraft in 2021 and visited Aero India, looking for foreign investors in the project.
It means that there is a possibility the second aircraft could eventually take to the skies.
The plane arrives at Warsaw, Poland in April 2020 after receiving medical supplies from China
No comments: