Olympic Flame Soars Ulyanovsk Sky on AN-124

AN-124-100 Ruslan aircraft lifted Russia’s 2014 Winter Olympic Torch high into the sky above the city of Ulyanovsk on the first day after Christmas.

As part of the official torch relay program, the Olympic flame was encased in a secured lantern and placed in the aircraft. While onboard, it was accompanied by an entourage of flame guardians together with a cortege of Volkswagen Amarok trucks driven into the spacious hold of the world’s largest serial airlifter.

The Antonov 124 Ruslan giant has been rightfully deemed a symbol of Ulyanovsk, where it first went into serial production back in 1986. An immense project of constructing from scratch a new factory, known today as Aviastar-SP, was started in 1976 specifically for this purpose. A whole city district of aviators informally named ‘New Town’ with population over 140,000 grew next to the production line.

Remarkably, AN-124-100 carried the Olympic flame almost on the day of its maiden flight — Ruslan celebrated its 31^st anniversary on 24 December. Having a 36.5 m long and 4.4 m high cargo hold, it is the best and practically the only choice to carry up to 36 m long and 150-ton heavy one-piece cargo items by air around the globe. The aircraft set 21 world records, including payload capacity (over 170 tons to 10,750 m altitude) and range on a circle route (over 20,000 km).