A Really Big Airplane

It's not that often we see large cargo planes like the Russian built Antonov 124 land at the airport. So when you need to ship a really big flight simulator you need to get a really big airplane. There's a company in Tampa that builds large flight simulators used by airlines and military trainers.

Yesterday afternoon the Antonov arrived to pick up one of those simulators and fly it halfway around the world to Okinawa, Japan. This aircraft is so large it took a special operational plan just to taxi to a parking spot. It closed one of our taxiways to park. It took 8 hours to load 83 large and small wooden crates that will be assembled into the simulator.

The trip to Japan will take 30 hours and require 2 fueling stops, 1 stop in Alaska and another stop across the Pacific. It will take 10 hours just to reach Alaska. The weight of the aircraft keeps the speed down to a relatively slow 400mph.

Enjoy some pictures of the aircraft. If you look close at one of the pictures you'll see me standing on the ramp next to it.