Thousands of people gathered in Perth to watch the world’s largest plane touch down on Sunday.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya, which has a wing span of 88.4m and can weigh up to 600 tonnes, was delivering a 117-tonne generator to South 32’s Worsley Alumin from Prague.
Aviation WA president David Eyre said the plane is the the longest and heaviest aircraft ever built, and it is the first time the place has ever touched down on Australian soil.
“It’s a big event for all aviation enthusiasts around Australia,” Mr Eyre told ABC.
“It is exciting to see, for a start, you don’t see six-engine aircrafts at all normally… It’s carried all sorts of things, its carried locomotives, it also holds the record for carrying the heaviest cargo ever transported by air.
“Its biggest load was 253 tonnes, which I think was four Russian military tanks, and its also carried the longest load which is a 42 metre long wind turbine blade, so it’s carried some pretty impressive things around.
“It has also been used for humanitarian missions, because it can carry so much in one go, it’s been used in disaster relief situations as well.”
Nearly 25,000 people gathered at the airport for the monster place, causing gridlock on the Tonkin Highway.
Typo. “For the monster place.”