Yes, I believe plans to complete a second airframe are still in progress. Great news!!

Actually, if I remember correctly in my infinite wisdom of the Antonov Super Heavy line, the An-325, was simply a concept, designed to carry HOTOL. It was said to have 8 engines, 4 of them carried B-52 style. Anyway, get much bigger than the 225, and you are looking at unflyable.

There is no reason why an aircraft cannot be larger than the -225 and still be able to fly. If you fulfill 1 of 2 of the following conditions, anything will fly.
a) provide enough vertical thrust to counteract the effect of gravity.
b) provide a large and strong enough wing with sufficient airflow to produce enough lift to counteract the force of gravity.
Granted, we reach a point where fulfilling the above is impractical.

The only reason an aircraft larger than the an-225 would be improbable is that it would be so limited as to where it can and cannot land, that it would be almost impossible to find any practical application for an aircraft of its size.

Eh, larger plane in terms of WINGSPAN. Also it only flew 4 ft above the sea. 

Also, I reserve the right to sue the thread poster for using my name. See you in court on Monday. 

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Actually he used An 225. You are An-225

I thought it made 6 feet.

Trojan Rabbit, the second point you made is the most far-fetched thing I have ever heard. The market DOES want jumbos - the bigger (A380) the more people it can carry in one flight, and the faster the money rolls in. They don't want a crappy little Dreamliner taking only a few hundred people across nations at one time - more flights would then have to be made, meaning they will LOSE money (more flights = pilots with higher paychecks).

Also, the Antonov An-325, would not be a jumbo. It would be a CARGO carrier, and the market would love that, as it means they can carry more cargo in one flight.

In the end...your logic simply does not work.

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Well, It's not conventional   It would need a  big runway!


Either way, we'll see how the Boeing pelican does...

Well trojan rabbit, you fail to take into account the size of most runways nowadays. We (YSSY) have quite a small runway (34L, by todays standards) and it has been extended so the Orbiter may land on it. Most major airports have quite large runways now.

Anyway, the Boeing Pelican, is, so far, just a test plane to test the efficiency of a WIG.

The An-225 is supposed to be in MEM some time in the coming days.  It was originally scheduled for the 10th, but it didn't happen.  So I guess she is airborne once again.

You're all wrong. The Hercules flew for one mile at an altitude of 70 feet. The Man himself was in the left seat. It is still the biggest aeroplane that ever flew...

Wait, what hercules?  Your not talking about the C-130, are you?

Rootbeer, it is the biggest in terms of WINGSPAN. Not in overall size. It is NOT the biggest plane ever flown - the biggest would technically be the Graf Zeppelin.

Technically, it is an aircraft, which is what this board is about.

bok269 wrote on Jun 18^th, 2007 at 11:46pm:



Oh... Apparently I didn't watch 'The Aviator' well enough.  I new it was big, but I didn't realise it was the biggest.  Sorry

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Actually the opposite is holding true.  Airlines want to offer higher frequency vs. capacity per flight.  Paying more pilots is little incentive against it.  This is the reason that the 747 hasn't been used in US domestic Ops in a long time.  Even in Japan, where the 747 has been popular for a long time on domestic flights, NH has decided that htey want to fly higher frequency domestic flights with the 777, 767, and soon the 787, than with the 744D.  The carriers only see demand for jumbos where they can offer multiple flights on a particular route per day, and fill 500 seats at the same time.  This is exactly why there are 600+ orders for the Dreamliner and only about 200 for the A380.

Also, smaller planes offer greater flexibility.  Where a Jumbo can only operate into certain airports and can only be economical with many seats filled, midsize planes like the 787 offer lower break even points, and the ability to serve on a variety of routes.