Microsoft Flight Simulator: World’s Largest Airplane comes into play

Do you remember the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest aircraft in the world so far? Well, the original may have been destroyed in the Ukraine war, but it’s brought back to life in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The An tonov An-225 Mriya is nothing more and nothing less than a legendary aircraft. With a length of 84 meters and a weight of 190 tons, it was the largest aircraft to ever have roamed the sky. Built in 1988 to carry Soviet space shuttles from the Buran program, the plane ended up in hangar for a few years before returning to commercial service in 2002, carrying record-breaking cargo.

The most extensive operation was the transport of twelve waste heat boilers, each weighing 150 tons, from Iquique Airport on the Pacific coast via the Andes to Chimoré Airport within four weeks. Mriya also holds some records for the heaviest or bulkiest air cargo, including 247 tons of pipeline equipment from Prague to Tashkent, a 187-ton generator for a gas-fired power plant from Frankfurt to Armenia, or a good 1,000 cubic meters of cargo volume of medical equipment from Tianjin to Warsaw.

Unfortunately, the engineering marvel was destroyed in last year’s Russian attack on Hostomel Air Base in Ukraine. But now the machine is apparently at least digitally restored. Antonov has announced that they are working with the professional modders at IniBuilds and Microsoft to bring the plane into Microsoft Flight Simulator, so you’ll soon be able to swing yourself into the cockpit of the colossus.

It is hoped that the Mriya will be available for download on February 27th, the one year anniversary of its destruction. According to IniBuilds, it will cost $20 with “all proceeds going to Antonov/Ukraine”. Not exactly cheap, but true Flight Simulator fans will hardly be able to wait to steer the titan of the air through the virtual sky.