The largest passenger and cargo aircraft in the world. Rating of the fastest planes in the world. What is the largest passenger aircraft in the world

There was a time when man only dreamed of flying in the sky; people did not imagine that they could soar in the sky like a bird. But with the advent of airplanes, flying among the clouds became a reality. Scientists and designers around the world did a colossal amount of work before the world saw the first samples of flying “machines.” So, among them there are leaders, models that are superior to their competitors in transporting people or equipment. Let's talk about what are the largest planes in the world flying nowadays.

It’s hard to believe that these multi-ton machines fly at such great speed.
Now the largest aircraft in the world is passenger transportation called Airbus A380-800. It appeared in 2005, displacing the Boeing 747, which had been in the lead for 36 long years. The length of the Airbus A380-800 is 73 meters, the wingspan is almost 80 meters, the height of the giant is 24 meters, and the weight of the machine is 280 tons. The maximum number of passengers carried on an Airbus A380-800 can reach 853 people on a charter flight!

Before Airbus was released, about 12 billion euros and 10 years of painstaking work by designers were spent on its development. Without refueling, this aircraft can fly a distance of 15,400 kilometers. The Airbus A380-800 is a very fuel-efficient aircraft among airliners of its class. To ensure low fuel consumption, the shape of the wing and body must be made very precisely. To achieve such precision, the world's most precise milling machines from Japan are used, which were developed specifically for the production of this aircraft. Fuel consumption per 100 km for 3 passengers is only three liters.

It should be noted that the Airbus has more capacity compared to the Boeing 747, while its production costs 15% less. The first airline to operate the largest passenger aircraft in the world was Singapore Airlines. The airline served the Singapore-Sydney flight with this aircraft.
Below you can see in the photo Airbus salon A380-800 economy class.

Record holder for flights without refueling

The Boeing 777-300ER, developed in 1990 and made its first test flight in 1994, can fly over distances of over twenty thousand kilometers without refueling. This is the world's first airliner, during the design of which not a single drawing was drawn on paper. Virtual computer assembly was used for the first time, which made it possible to avoid typical joining errors at the design stage. With the old technology using drawings, these errors were identified at the stage of pilot production, and full-scale modeling, which was very expensive for aviation. The software used was CATIA, one of the first 3D modeling programs.

The airliner has the most powerful GE90-115B turbofan engines known to date; this model has an increased maximum take-off weight and has additional fuel tanks. The introduction of this modification made it possible to reduce fuel consumption by 1.4%, which was especially important at the height of the fuel crisis.
It also holds the record for the largest twin-engine jetliner to carry passengers, which it can accommodate 305-550 people.

The airplane with the largest wingspan

The aircraft with the largest wingspan, the Hughes H-4, was built from wood in 1947 for military use. The plane is built entirely from birch plywood. Structural elements were cut out and bent according to templates. The aircraft's capacity is 750 people, not including equipment. The wooden giant is now on display in a museum in Oregon, its parameters are:

Aircraft height - 24 meters;
The length of the aircraft is over 66 meters;
The wingspan is 98 meters.

The largest cargo plane

The largest cargo aircraft in the world has remained the An-225 Mriya for many years. This huge machine was designed in Ukraine back in 1988, and is still used in military transport cargo transportation. The first flight of the Mriya took place on December 21, 1988.

Characteristics of this aircraft the following:

the length of this giant is 73 meters;
height is just over 24 meters (the height of an eight-story building);
weight is 250 thousand kilograms;
the total carrying capacity is 600 thousand kg.

The largest cargo plane in the world

The plane has six engines. On this moment Only one copy of the An-225 has been built in the world; it is at the disposal of Antonov Airlines. It was originally planned that the An-225 would help deliver rocket parts to the cosmodrome, because At that time, the Buran space program was actively developing. Now they are building another similar aircraft, but its construction has not yet been completed.

On board the An-225, up to 88 people can easily be accommodated to accompany the cargo. The cockpit can accommodate 6 people. As they say, which aircraft is the largest in the world in size will not be as cool in performance. In Mriya, absolutely all control systems are repeated (duplicated) four times.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of production of some elements, after 25 years it is impossible to produce another such aircraft. But even one copy allows you to constantly earn money from transporting goods that previously could only be delivered by land or sea. In addition to commercial transportation, the aircraft is used in cargo delivery for emergency situations, disasters, earthquakes, etc.

The largest mass-produced cargo aircraft

Military transport aircraft C-5 Galaxy

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was considered the largest transport and cargo aircraft until 1982. it is now operated by the US Army and can accommodate up to 270 soldiers. The aircraft was put into service back in 1968. Over the years, it has proven its effectiveness and excellent performance properties. A lot of improvements were made to the design, the most important change being the development of a completely new wing, because the old design showed rapid wear and tear.

The aircraft will continue to be produced; a complete transition to digital modern technologies of control systems and all avionics is planned. The aircraft without refueling can fly over five thousand kilometers and rise to a height of 10 km, the maximum speed developed by the machine is 920 km.

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Ever since people learned to design flying vehicles, they began to be used to transport heavy and bulky cargo. Over the history of aeronautics, many transport aircraft have been created that impress with their enormous size.

1. Antonov An-225 “Mriya”.

The An-225 is currently the largest aircraft in the world; it has an extremely large payload and can lift about 250 tons into the air. The An-225 was originally designed and built to transport components of the Energia launch vehicle and the Buran reusable spacecraft.

2. Boeing 747 Dreamlifter.

This transport aircraft is a modified Boeing version 747, it was built and used exclusively for transporting parts Boeing aircraft 787. A special feature of Dreamlifter is its unusual appearance.

3. Aero Spacelines Super Guppy.

The Super Guppy cargo plane was produced in five copies and today only one of them is in use. It is owned by NASA and is used to deliver large cargo and spacecraft parts.

4. Antonov An-124 “Ruslan”.

The An-124 is a heavy military transport aircraft for long-distance transport, the largest in the world of all serial commercial aircraft. cargo planes. It was developed primarily for air transportation launchers of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as for transporting heavy military equipment. The carrying capacity of the An-124 is 120 tons. .

5. Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.

American military transport aircraft, second in terms of payload capacity after the An-124. The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is capable of carrying six helicopters or two large tanks in its cargo bay. The total weight that the aircraft can transport is more than 118 tons.

6. Airbus A300-600ST Beluga.

Jet cargo aircraft for transporting large cargo, which was developed on the basis of Airbus series A300. The main purpose of creating the A300-600ST is to replace transport aircraft Super Guppy. Beluga owes its name to its body shape, which resembles a beluga whale. The Beluga's carrying capacity is 47 tons.

7. Antonov An-22 “Antey”.

Soviet-made heavy transport aircraft, the largest turboprop aircraft in the world. Currently, the aircraft is used by the Russian Air Force and the Ukrainian cargo airline Antonov Airlines. The carrying capacity of the An-22 is 60 tons.

8. Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.

The C-17 Globemaster III is one of the most common military transport aircraft of the US Air Force and is still in use today. The aircraft is designed to transport military equipment and troops, as well as perform tactical missions. The C-17's carrying capacity is more than 76 tons.

9. Airbus A400M Atlas.

The A400M Atlas was designed and built as an international project for the air forces of France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and several other countries. It is a four-engine turboprop aircraft with a payload capacity of up to 37 tons.

Nowadays there are about a thousand in the world different models airplanes. They differ not only in their optional purpose, but also in size. In addition to light single-engine aircraft that are designed for one pilot, there are also real world record-breaking giants. So check out the list below.

An 225 is the largest cargo aircraft in the world. It is capable of handling such a heavy load that no other aircraft in the world can handle it.

Parameters of the giant aircraft, whose name translates as “dream”:

length – 84;
height – 18;
wingspan - 88.5;
maximum take-off weight – 640 t;
flight range with a 200-ton load – 4,000 km;
cruising speed – 850 km/h;
empty vehicle weight – 250 tons.

This is a rarity, built by G. Hughes according to the principle “the queen gave birth to either a son or a daughter that night.” This is a large combat boat-plane. And also an airplane museum - today anyone can get acquainted with the aircraft, designed back in the forties.

The 136-ton giant was created to transport more than 700 soldiers - this is a very large military aircraft. The designers limited themselves to just one machine - at that time the production of such a giant was extremely expensive.

Device parameters:

length – 66.5;
height – 24;
wingspan - 97.5;
wing area – more than 1000 m2.

This is the largest airliner on the planet. It could be put in first place based on a set of characteristics. But, since we took length as a basis, the A380 occupies fourth place.

Aircraft parameters:

length – 73 m;
passenger capacity – 853;
wingspan – 80;
height – 24.

A characteristic feature of a large, but not very high-speed aircraft is the ability to make a non-stop flight of 15,000 km. The double-deck apparatus is also quite economical. Fuel consumption per hundred kilometers and one passenger is only 1 liter.

The designers spent more than 10 years and $12,000,000,000 developing the model. Before the appearance of the A380, the Boeing 747 was in the lead in terms of overall dimensions. And the French aircraft was developed precisely as an alternative to the leader. Looking ahead, let's say that Boeing is the leader in our rating according to the stated criterion. But it is significantly inferior to the A380 in terms of cost, efficiency and spaciousness. French liners turned out to be almost twice as spacious, 15% cheaper and less voracious.

4. An-124 “Ruslan”

An-124 "Ruslan"

This apparatus became the predecessor of the current leader. Operated mainly in Russia and Ukraine. At one time, the heavy Ruslan was the largest aircraft. The vehicle's primary task was to transport ICBM launchers.

But this is not only almost the largest military aircraft in the world. There are also civilian versions, which are operated mainly by Russian industry. They are designed for transporting large-sized cargo on all geographical latitudes. One Ruslan costs $300,000,000.

An-124 parameters:

length – 69;
height – 21;
wingspan – 73;
load capacity – 120 t.

The Americans did not develop this machine for military needs yesterday either - the project was launched in 1968. Until 1982, Lockheed was the largest transport flying equipment in the world. In one approach, the aircraft is able to transport 6 Apaches (helicopters), 6 armored personnel carriers, a couple of tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles. Or a whole bunch of trucks.

The once largest transport aircraft has the following parameters:

length – 75.5;
height – 20;
wingspan – 68;
maximum speed – 920 km/h.

Model from the family of three sevens. The device has been in operation since 1995. It is the largest twin-engine passenger aircraft. It is equipped with the most powerful and largest gas turbine engines from GE.

Boeing parameters:

length - 74;
wingspan - 64.8;
height - 18.7.

Designed for 365 passengers. You can admire these airliners endlessly - photographs and videos demonstrate the impeccability of the lines.

As you can see, the French love large sizes and know a lot about them. The most large planes in the world - the top 10 - cannot do without the third representative of the family.

Aircraft parameters:

length – 75;
height – 17;
wingspan - 63.5;
passenger capacity (maximum) – 475;
maximum speed – 900 km/h.

Before the leader appeared, this device was the longest on the planet. Over the years of production, the company has produced more than 370 machines. The car was discontinued in 2011. During the operational years, 5 aircraft were lost, but not a single person was injured.

This is probably the most famous aircraft. Most of you have seen him in at least a few Hollywood films. Many have flown on this handsome giant. This is the longest passenger aircraft.

Boeing parameters:

length - 76;
wingspan - 68.5;
height – 19;
passenger capacity – 580;
top speed – 988 km/h.

Boeing-747-8 is a modification of the 747 model. The dimensions and spaciousness of the cabin have been increased. Here the designers used more advanced technologies. Improved aerodynamics. In addition to the passenger version, there is also a cargo version. He was also included in this rating.

This is a wide-body aircraft developed by one of the largest aircraft manufacturing companies in the world - the French company Airbus. The giant's first flight took place in 1992. The project was developed for 20 years. And it’s not for nothing that it took so long - the car turned out to be successful, from the point of view of the ratio of flight characteristics.

But not everything is so smooth. Getting to the top is good, but the model has rather sad loss statistics. Over the course of a couple of decades, 8 devices crashed. Some of the planes were destroyed by terrorists, which makes the statistics less troubling when viewed from an engineering perspective.

A330 parameters:

length – 63.7 m;
passenger capacity – 440;
wingspan - 60.3.

10. Boeing 777 —200 ER

In all fairness, this aircraft model occupies tenth place in the rating. If we compare it with the base model of the Boeing 777, then in this modification of the design the useful take-off weight was increased.

Boeing 777-200ER parameters:

Wing span - 60.93 m;
Aircraft length – 63.73 m;
Aircraft height - 18.52 m;
Wing area - 427.80 sq. m;
Weight of the empty equipped aircraft - 135870 kg;
Weight, maximum take-off – 262470 kg;
Maximum speed - 965 km/h Cruising speed - 905 km/h;
Practical range - 8910 km;
Engine type - 2 Pratt Whitney PW4073A turbofan engines;
Thrust - 2 x 33600 kgf.
Practical ceiling - 13100 m,
Crew – 2 people,

Payload - 305-328 passengers in a three-class cabin, 375-400 passengers in a two-class cabin or 440 passengers in an economy class.

A hundred years ago, no one would have thought that huge colossus weighing tens of tons would be able to rise into the air and carry gigantic loads. Now this is a reality, but still, every time we see these giants, we are surprised how the design idea made their flight possible.

An-225 "Mriya"

In 1985, the Soviet Union was looking for solutions to create transport system for its reusable spacecraft Burana. There was an urgent need for an aerial vehicle capable of transporting multi-ton spacecraft parts to the place of its assembly and launch. As a result, a project for a cargo aircraft was proposed, called the An-225.

The creation of this giant became possible thanks to the hard work and cooperation of design bureaus throughout the USSR. In Voronezh, Kyiv, Moscow, Tashkent and dozens of other cities, thousands of scientists and engineers implemented the most daring project in the history of aeronautics. It took a huge country three years to turn the idea of the An-225 into reality: the first flight of the An-225 Mriya aircraft, assembled at the Kiev Mechanical Plant, took place on December 21, 1988.

“Mriya” is translated from Ukrainian as “dream”. And thanks to the efforts of thousands of people, this dream became a reality.

The parameters of the An-225 are amazing: its wingspan is 88.4 meters, its length is 84 meters, and it can carry a cargo weighing 250 tons!

The An-225 Mriya was built in a single copy and is currently in working order, regularly performing flights.

Stratolaunch Model 351

On May 31, 2017, the Stratolaunch Model 351 aircraft with a record wingspan of 117.3 meters was presented to the general public, which is only slightly inferior in maximum take-off weight to the An-225: 590 tons versus 640 tons. The vehicle has a double-fuselage design and is equipped with six jet engines.

The creation of the giant aircraft Stratolaunch Model 351 is also associated with space launches. It is assumed that from this air vehicle During the flight, rockets intended for launch into low-Earth orbit will be launched.

So far, the Stratolaunch Model 351 has never flown and is being tested on the surface. Just the other day, to test the operation of the landing gear and braking system, the plane made a test run on the runway, during which it accelerated to 74 km/h. It is planned that the machine will make its first flight in 2019.

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