PHOTOS, VIDEO: World’s largest plane lands in Hungary twice: what did it bring?
The people of Pápa, Western Hungary, were puzzled when the largest plane in the world, the An-124-100 Ruslan, landed on the runway of the nearby airport, not only once, but twice. According to some, the plane did not arrive empty.
The world’s largest military transport aircraft, the Antonov-124-100 Ruslan landing in Pápa, Hungary. PrtSc: Facebook/Bíborka Baky
In the early hours of Sunday morning, 21 April, a Flightradar user spotted a rarely-seen military aircraft giant arriving in Hungary. On the public radar, an Antonov-124-100 Ruslan aircraft appeared. It did not just fly over Hungarian airspace: it even landed, twice, Világgazdaság reports.
About Pápa airport
The 47th Base Airfield of the Hungarian Defence Forces is located in Pápa, one of the three Hungarian-operated military airfields in Hungary (besides Szolnok and Kecskemét). Papa is the only active military air base in Western Hungary.
The arrival of the aircraft was perhaps best captured by the LHPA Spotter Team:
The largest plane: Antonov-124-100 Ruslan aircraft
According to Világgazdaság, the giant aircraft of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines is quite active. A few days ago, it was flying from Poland to England, but it also flew the Tel Aviv-Leipzig route. It does not fly to Hungary very often, however, it is not unprecedented for it to make a stopover. In September 2018, for example, it brought four refurbished Mi-24 combat helicopters to Szolnok.
Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian cargo airline. It provides a specialised service, transporting oversized cargo from A to B on the international market.
It is not known exactly what the aircraft brought to Pápa, but it may well have something to do with NATO’s SALIS programme. This is a joint strategic air transport arrangement in which a total of nine member countries participate to jointly lease An-124-100 aircraft to support national, NATO and EU operations and missions. The nine countries are Hungary, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Watch the world’s largest plane begin its landing in Pápa, Hungary below:
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1 Comment
The first plane brought Peter’s ego, the second one Victor’s