Ruslan loader fits like a dream
03 / 03 / 2015
RUSLAN INTERNATIONAL has flown a deck loader weighing 109 tonnes which is used to support the global logistics requirements for assembling Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The specialist equipment – 33.13 m long, 6.08 m wide and 3.44 m high – is used for loading and unloading B787 parts from one of four Dreamlifters, a modified B747 passenger aircraft employed to support the Dreamliner assembly programme.
The deck loader was one of the largest and heaviest pieces ever carried in the An-124, and fitted the aircraft with only 10 cm clearance.
The wheeled loader was winched onto the An-124 at Riverside Air Force Base, Riverside County, California, and flown to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina – a distance of 3,500 km.
Ruslan is the joint venture company which manages and markets the 17-strong fleet of Antonov An-124 aircraft belonging to its shareholders Antonov Airlines and Volga Dnepr Airlines.
