Antonov An-22
The Antonov An-22 Antei (Antheus) is a large transport aircraft powered by
4 turboprop engines.
Introduction
Until the advent of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the An-22 Antei (Antheus) was the
world's largest aircraft and the design remains the world's largest
turboprop-powered airplane. The An-22 is basically an enlarged version of the
earlier Antonov An-12 except that it is fitted with twin vertical tails.
Design features
Being designed as a strategic airlifter, it must takeoff from austere, unpaved,
and short airstrips. This is achieved by eight contra-rotating propellers that
generate a significant slipstream over the wings which, combined with large
double-slotted flaps along the wing trailing edge, shortens the runaway length
requirements. The landing gears are ruggedized for rough airstrips and the tire
pressures can be adjusted in flight for optimum landing performance.
The An-22 follows traditional cargo transport design with a high-mounted wing
allowing a cavernous cargo space of 108 ft (33 m) in length and a usable volume
of 22,500 cubic ft (639 m³).
The aircraft achieves excellent performance thanks to its four powerful turboprop
engines, each employing contra-rotating propellers similar to the Tupolev Tu-114.
The An-22 has set a number of payload and payload-to-height world records.
As of 2004, there had been 8 accidents with a total of 83 fatalities.
Variant
Only one variant is built, the standard An-22. Forward fuselage is pressurized
and provides space for 5 to 8 crew and up to 28 passengers, but the cargo space
is unpressurized allowing the rear cargo doors to be opened during flight for
paratroops and equipment drop.
The An-22s were in service for the Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot. Approximately 45
remained in service by the mid-1990s, mostly with the Russian Air Force, but
these are slowly being replaced by the bigger turbofan-powered Antonov An-124.
Currently one An-22 is in use for civilian cargo duties by Antonov airlines.
A proposed civil airliner version to seat 724 passengers on upper and lower
decks was not built.
This article is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Antonov An-22".
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