FLYING A LARGE consignment from Johannesburg to Kiev in Russia requires the chartering of an exceptional aircraft, and that is what Fast International operator Franco Mariotti did when his company received an order to fly out telecommunications equipment.
Charter companies have their bookings full for flights out of South Africa during the southern summer months, mainly because of the perishable season. But Mariotti hit on the idea of employing what he describes as 'one of the rarest birds in the air'.
For the first time an Antonov AN-22 very heavy long range freighter landed at Johannesburg International Airport. Only 100 of the aircraft were produced by the manufacturers in a period between its unveiling at the Paris Air Show in 1965 to when production ceased in 1974.
The one employed by Fast International is the only one still in commercial use and had to have its undercarriage rebuilt some years ago after being involved in an accident. It has a unique landing gear with three tandem wheels in each of the two fuselage fairings and two nose wheels, which enable it to land on strips in virtually any condition.
Special freight loading equipment include two winches and four roof-mounted gantries and the aircraft has a crew of five or six personnel in the cockpit.
Essentially a larger version of the AN-12, which has seen service in this part of the world, the 250ton, four-engined AN-22, can lift 80 ton payloads for distances up to 5 000km. But with less than 50 tons on board, the aircraft can fly for twice that distance, which was the case with the Johannesburg uplift.
The mass weight of the telecommunications equipment was only 24 tons, but it took up the entire 63.8 cubic metre space aboard the aircraft. The AN-22 is powered by unequal double reverse propellers, seldom seen on aircraft, but which give it the thrust to lift its load.
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