hurricanemk1c 195 Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 A nice, quite leg for a change - just transporting 80 tonnes of bulky cargo to the Christmas Islands. This leg carried a Minimum MTOW restriction. This naturally limited the choice of aircraft quite a bit, considering the high MTOW. Having been contacted to transport 80 tonnes of railway equipment (what else?) to the Christmas Islands, the choice narrowed even more. Only one company was willing to work with me Yep - Volga Dneper and one of the An-124's that is in the fleet. By the time I arrive, most of the loading is complete However, the door is still open by the time that I reach the cockpit via the loading ramp and the ladders Eventually the door starts to close as we rise up A nice little tail camera to assist in taxiing I'm a touch bigger than the other residents at Pago Pago - we did our best not to blow them over! Lined up and raring to go. My Croation co-pilot calls out "Može!" or "Go!" in English With plenty of room to spare, we rotate off the runway into the Pacific skies Clawing our way up to our initial cruise height of 25,000ft, to be increased to 30,000ft once some fuel has been burnt Soon, however, the sun is setting Rapidly night falls After three hours of gentle cruising above the Pacific, we finally start to head back to earth again The airport is somewhere down there..... Airport in sight - but the tower controller reports a faulty ILS - a nice dark manual landing so! A bit high but avoiding some trees An early touchdown gives plenty of room to slow down Taxi cam view as we slowly edge around the airport And finally parked up, allowing the relief crew to start unloading Jess - over to you! Aircraft used - Thomas Ruth An-124 (Updated) Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 What a whopper (as the actress said to the Bishop) A truly humongous beast to be flying around the islands. Well done indeed! Is that 80 tons of railway equipment or, given it is a Russian aircraft and there are no railways on American Samoa, 80 tons of "railway equipment" ? Can I look forward to a Kremlin announcement that pro-Russian separatists (with no markings on their uniforms) have claimed the Island for Mother Russia? Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 I agree with JG, something smells fishy in the islands this trip..."quiet" indeed, too quiet, possibly to allow shenanigans in our midst. It would indeed be a shame if Mutley's ATWC good cache gets smeared by a Russian plot, damn that Putinfeld But good job island hopping in that beast. Putting that tonnage down on a postage stamp in the dark would not be my first choice for fun (Although we did similar in a C5A a few sections back...yeah, for sure, not fun.) 1 Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted September 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 This really was railway equipment - had the chance during the 4 hour flight to have a peek! Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Of course it was railway equipment! Real cargoes do exist, and if you have a cargo-shifting aircraft such as the Antonov *someone* will want to use it. This place has too many conspiracy theorists.... Nice flight, Chuck, and excellent choice of aircraft. I especially like the fact that the kneeling capability to make front loading easier was modelled — and it looks great in the air. (I'd gently suggest avoiding early landings in that thing, though, or your gear will cut a serious swathe through approach lights and perimeter fences). Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747 Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 ..... This place has too many conspiracy theorists.... ...... Conspiracy theorist - Moi? Surely not! It's just they all are persecuting me... Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me! Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Ah, the inimitable wisdom of Mr. Williams. <grin> And, of course, it isn't paranoia if the *really are* out to get you. B. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 So that was 80 tonnes of tracks to laid down I assume then Kieran... that's going to be one massive railway on such a small Island ;)' Still, as others have said, that was a massive feat getting that big hauler down there.. well done! Link to post Share on other sites
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