Antonov An-22

The Antonov An-22 Antei (Antheus) is a 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 4 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 cubic m).

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.

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-22 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. A proposed civil airliner version to seat 724 passengers on upper and lower decks was not built.

Specifications

Length : 189.96 ft (57.90 m)
Wingspan : 211.28 ft (64.40 m)
Height : 41.11 ft (12.53 m)
Max Takeoff Weight : 250 metric tons, as heavy as an Airbus A340-300
Powerplant : 4 Kuznetsov NK-12MA turboprops
Max Level Speed at altitude: 400 knots
Range typical: 2,700 nautical mile with max payload

See Also:List of civil aircraft