Records of the Antonov An-225 "Mriya

On March 22, 35 years has passed since the Antonov An-225 'Mriya' set 110 world records in a single flight. On that day in 1989, 'Mriya' took off from the Gostomel aerodrome near Kyiv with a record-breaking cargo. The aircraft was piloted by a crew led by test pilot Oleksandr Galunenko. The event occurred just three months after the first flight of the An-225.

The flight lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, during which world records for speed, altitude, and payload capacity were set. Specifically, with a cargo of over 156 tons, the aircraft reached an altitude of 12,430 meters. However, the absolute record for payload capacity, which then exceeded 171 tons and belonged to the An-124, was left untouched in that flight. Galunenko's crew surpassed it on September 11, 2001, when the An-225 carried 254 tons to an altitude of 10,570 meters.

Overall, the 'Mriya' has set 240 world records, which is unprecedented in aviation history. Among its achievements is the transportation of unique cargoes. For example, on June 16-18, 2004, Anatoliy Moiseyev's crew transported four pipe layers from Prague to Tashkent, with intermediate stops in Gostomel and Ulyanovsk. The total weight, including loading equipment, was 247 tons, making it the largest commercial cargo in aviation history.

On August 11, 2009, Moiseyev's crew made another remarkable achievement. They transported a generator, weighing over 187 tons with a special frame, from Frankfurt, Germany, to Yerevan, Armenia, for a new Armenian power plant. This accomplishment entered the Guinness World Records as the largest mono-load in aviation history.

On June 10, 2010, the longest cargo in the history of air transport was transported. The crew of Viktor Goncharov delivered two wind turbine blades, each over 42 meters long, from Shijiazhuang, China, to Vojens-Skrydstrup Airport in Denmark.