AN-124 vs. Birds of unknown species.

Uncontained disk #2 failure is the most likely culprit. The debris penetrated the hull damaging electric cabling, they had no reversers, no brakes etc... + they were probably above max landing weight.
 
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. Birds of unknown species.

To take down an Antonov it must have been a big bird!
Ay-oh!!!

128F311D-7A93-4E3F-90BE-9D4FC38291F3.jpeg
 
To quote you all from earlier regarding some ancient relics still flying:

4jsiov.jpg


In all seriousness I'm glad to read no one was (badly) hurt. I've seen now 4 of these, toured two, and uh.

That's uhhhhh. That's eh beeeeeg burd.
 
To quote you all from earlier regarding some ancient relics still flying:

View attachment 56317

In all seriousness I'm glad to read no one was (badly) hurt. I've seen now 4 of these, toured two, and uh.

That's uhhhhh. That's eh beeeeeg burd.

So back in 2012 Antonov’s would transport 20’ shipping containers where the Air Force fleet available to TRANSCOM (C5/17) would not.

That became critical when during a mobilization of an aviation Brigade from Europe to Afghanistan most of the heavy equipment was being shipped via 20’ containers with boats originally bound for Karachi (Pakistan) that would then be ground routed into Afghanistan via trucks probably losing 1/3 of the stuff in the process to the organized theft process that was pretty much an assumed at that point.

Some stuff happened, international incidents occurred, and suddenly no ground traffic was allowed through Pakistan. How ever will this brigade’s equipment get to Afghanistan. Enter the AN-124s. Ships get diverted to locations in the Middle East. Containers go from ship to airport, and they literally airlift an entire aviation Brigades worth of equipment on top of the already high cost of “must go” airlift stuff we shipped via Grey tail Air Force transport. It was the single most expensive deployment of equipment and troops to Afghanistan in the history of the conflict... however, it cost less than the spit ball estimate of cost from expected loss due to our stuff getting stolen.

Anyway that’s a fun little piece of trivia about this magic Soviet built fleet of aviation assets we regularly use to make the job happen outside the norm (124s, Illuyshins, etc).


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So back in 2012 Antonov’s would transport 20’ shipping containers where the Air Force fleet available to TRANSCOM (C5/17) would not.

That became critical when during a mobilization of an aviation Brigade from Europe to Afghanistan most of the heavy equipment was being shipped via 20’ containers with boats originally bound for Karachi (Pakistan) that would then be ground routed into Afghanistan via trucks probably losing 1/3 of the stuff in the process to the organized theft process that was pretty much an assumed at that point.

Some stuff happened, international incidents occurred, and suddenly no ground traffic was allowed through Pakistan. How ever will this brigade’s equipment get to Afghanistan. Enter the AN-124s. Ships get diverted to locations in the Middle East. Containers go from ship to airport, and they literally airlift an entire aviation Brigades worth of equipment on top of the already high cost of “must go” airlift stuff we shipped via Grey tail Air Force transport. It was the single most expensive deployment of equipment and troops to Afghanistan in the history of the conflict... however, it cost less than the spit ball estimate of cost from expected loss due to our stuff getting stolen.

Anyway that’s a fun little piece of trivia about this magic Soviet built fleet of aviation assets we regularly use to make the job happen outside the norm (124s, Illuyshins, etc).


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Wait.... would not?

Like they can just be like "nah, dog we're good...?"
 
Wait.... would not?

Like they can just be like "nah, dog we're good...?"

The way and means of the Air Force allocation of pallet space on. C-17 classifies cargo by type.

Essentially you have palletized cargo but it has to fit in palletized space. And then you have Super Cargo (big trucks, helicopters, etc). Connex’s weren’t “allowed” as they degrade the ability of granting full flexibility to the load planning. Easier to make sure the plane is full and within W&B with smaller containers. So the only other option would have been to stop movement of the equipment, find an equivalent in 463L pallets and ISU90s to move it (its own impossible task), and then cross load and repack/inspect/etc all that cargo with no personnel forward to do it.

The 124s in the other hand...”Da comrade, you bring big Cargo, we bring bigger plane.”


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Anyway that’s a fun little piece of trivia about this magic Soviet built fleet of aviation assets we regularly use to make the job happen outside the norm (124s, Illuyshins, etc).
My favorite story is from my buddy who was working Baghdad tower and when the IL-76 was cleared for takeoff the cockpit window opened and they dumped out a bunch of empty vodka bottles onto the runway.
 
My favorite story is from my buddy who was working Baghdad tower and when the IL-76 was cleared for takeoff the cockpit window opened and they dumped out a bunch of empty vodka bottles onto the runway.

Welcome travelers with great big hug and salutation. You travel today on back bone of Soviet air transport fleet IL-76. IL-76 is unique airplane... only plane run on coal!

For tonight’s inflight entertainment we have tetanus shot followed by soggy brown bag lunch and vodka. Please after finish meal and vodka keep bottle for make pee in.

I encourage to avoid direct contact with Misha the 3rd officer and the plane dog. This is same person. Misha has fleas and also short temper particularly when performing fuel consumption check.

If at any time you feel unsafe during flight we encourage you take short nap. It will all be over soon.


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The way and means of the Air Force allocation of pallet space on. C-17 classifies cargo by type.

Essentially you have palletized cargo but it has to fit in palletized space. And then you have Super Cargo (big trucks, helicopters, etc). Connex’s weren’t “allowed” as they degrade the ability of granting full flexibility to the load planning. Easier to make sure the plane is full and within W&B with smaller containers. So the only other option would have been to stop movement of the equipment, find an equivalent in 463L pallets and ISU90s to move it (its own impossible task), and then cross load and repack/inspect/etc all that cargo with no personnel forward to do it.

The 124s in the other hand...”Da comrade, you bring big Cargo, we bring bigger plane.”


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The more I hang around the more I wonder just what exactly the military is doing with my tax dollars.

Hiring Russians is, I guess, the answer.
 
The more I hang around the more I wonder just what exactly the military is doing with my tax dollars.

Hiring Russians is, I guess, the answer.

Like I said...

Original plan was ground transport through Pakistan who had pretty much mastered the art of stealing our stuff between Port and the Border with Afghanistan. Flying stuff into country was actually cheaper than if they had stole of few of our containers based off the value of the equipment within them.


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