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First Simultaneous Take-Off Of Six An-124-100 Aircraft

Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft [© Russian Federation MoD: Konstantin Yemchenko]

For the first time in the history of Russia, six An-124-100 Ruslan [NATO name: Condor] military transport aircraft took off simultaneously.

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Press Release, 15 January 2021: [auto-translated] Today in the Bryansk region the first joint training flights of the crews of the Seshchinsky and Tver aviation regiments were carried out with the participation of six An-124-100 Ruslan strategic military transport aircraft.

Six massive Antonov 124 transport aircraft line up for take-off [©Russian Federation MoD: Vadim Savitsky]

The flights were carried out at an altitude of over four thousand metres (13,000 feet), the total length of the route was over 600 kilometres, the average aircraft speed was 500 km/hr. The purpose of the training flights was to improve the skills of young crews of the An-124-100 Ruslan military transport aircraft in the simultaneous transfer of personnel of military units with standard weapons and military equipment over long distances.

During the flights, the crews of the An-124-100 Ruslan military transport aircraft practised take-off, landing, and en-route flights. The flights took place in difficult weather conditions in the form of precipitation, low clouds and strong gusts of wind. The flights were carried out under the leadership of the commander of the military transport aviation of the Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Benediktov, with the involvement of the leadership of the military transport aviation command and the 12th military transport aviation division.

For reference: The An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft can lift more than 120 tons of cargo into the air and fly over a distance of over seven thousand kilometres, including simultaneously take on board up to eight units of armoured vehicles or up to 500 personnel.

Source: Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation MoD

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