The Antonov-2 Airplane

[JohnRich 4]

One of the specialty aircraft availale at the Skyfest boogie last weekend, held at Skydive Spaceland, was the Antonov-2.

Since I've never even seen one before, much less jumped out of one, this was on my to-do list.

This is the way Wikipedia describes it:

"The Antonov An-2 is an extremely durable, light, single-engine biplane which first flew in 1947. It is used as a light transport, capable of carrying 12 passengers, and for parachute drops and agricultural work. Its extraordinary slow-flight and STOL capabilities make it supremely suited for short, unimproved fields. It is also the world's largest single engine biplane."

It was a bit pricey, at $46, and the jump altitude was only 5,500 feet. But I said "what the heck", this is a rare opportunity to jump something new and unusual, and I didn't want to pass it up.

The plane would fly with a minimum of seven jumpers, and a maximum of nine. There wasn't a lot of interest, and it took about three hours for enough people to sign up to make it fly.

Photo 1: The AN-2.
- Notice the Russian "CCCP" tail number.
- Under the cockpit window is "AH-2" - I haven't been able to figure out what that means - anyone know?
- The wings are old-fashioned fabric!
- The pilot says this plane is based in Granbury or Granville (something like that), Texas, near Fort Worth. This was only the 2nd time he's flown jumpers - mostly he takes it to airshows.

Photo 2: The jump door. Small, with no outside handholds. It looks like there is a removable insert to turn it into a cargo door. Cool Russian writing on the side.

[indyz 1]

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- Under the cockpit window is "AH-2" - I haven't been able to figure out what that means - anyone know?

N sounds are written as H-like characters in the Cyrillic alphabet.

http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/cyrillic.html

[slotperfect 7]

I have several jumps out of an AN-2. It was a very interesting aircraft to add to my list, although it was slower than death climbing to 12,500 FT and cold in the winter time.

Arrive Safely

John

[JohnRich 4]

More info:

The An-2 is the largest single-engine biplane ever produced. It was produced in great numbers; over 5,000 had been built by 1960 in the USSR. Since 1960, most An-2s have been built in Poland, with over 13,000 made there before full production ended in 1991.

The An-2 was designed as a utility aircraft for use in government-owned forestry and agriculture. However, the basic airframe is highly adaptable and numerous variants have been developed. These include hopper-equipped versions for crop-dusting, scientific versions for atmospheric sampling, water-bombers for fighting forest-fires, flying ambulances, float-equipped seaplane versions, lightly armed combat versions for dropping para-troops, and of course the most common An-2T version, which is the 12-seater passenger aircraft. All versions (other than the An-3) are powered by a 1000-horsepower 9-cylinder Shvetsov ASh-62 radial engine.

Photo 1: The engine

It was hard to believe that this engine had 1,000 horsepower. You would think the takeoff acceleration would be quick, like an Otter, with its twin 500-horsepower engines. But not this beast - it was slow and lumbering, and at the same time, noisy and shakey. However, it doesn't take much airspeed to get off the ground with those huge wings, and its airborne in only a couple of hundred yards.

Photo 2: The interior.

This plane had 8 seats in it, and a ninth jumper would sit in the co-pilot seat. Real airplane seats - something that skydivers aren't used to having.

[piisfish 135]

congrats John. Glad you enjoyed the plane. It's a damn cool machine to jump every once in a while.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[jakee 1,265]

After the An-72 broke down at Cochsted there was an An-2 brought in to keep us amused until the Skyvans arrived. We went from 15k in 5 minutes to 8k half an hour!

The thing that amused me was the constant squeaking, whistling and banging from what I assume were the hydraulics while we were taxiing out. It stopped once we were in the air. I think this was a good thing.

Exit with a wingsuit was amusing too, massive swirling propblast as you get out of the door, then a very noticeable drop as you leave the propblast and suddenly have no airspeed to work with!

Edit: Antonov in cyrrilic is AHTOHOB.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[JohnRich 4]

More info:

The An-2 has design features which make it suitable for operation in remote areas with unsurfaced airstrips:

* It has a pneumatic brake system allowing it to stop on short runways.
* It has an air line fitted to the compressor, so the pressure in the tires and shock absorbers can be adjusted without the need for special equipment.
* The batteries are large and easy to remove, meaning that the aircraft does not need a ground power unit to supply power.
* There is no need for an external fuel pump to refuel the aircraft, as it has an onboard pump that allows the tanks to be filled from simple fuel drums.
* It has the minimum of complex systems. The crucial wing leading edge slats that give the aircraft its slow flight ability are fully automatic, being held closed by the airflow over the wings. Once the airspeed drops below 40 mph the slats will extend because they are on elastic rubber springs.
* Take-off run: 170 m, landing run: 215 m (these may vary depending on weight).

How about that - slats operated by rubber bands!

Photo 1: The cockpit. See if you can spot something in there that wouldn't be original equipment.

Photo 2: Instrument labels (image a bit fuzzy). Most of the instruments were placarded with little plastic tags showing their function in English. However, some of them still showed in Russian, with the English translation written on the dash by hand.

[AMax 0]

Hmmmm .... what's in that cooler ?

[JohnRich 4]

Thanks for those of you chiming in with the Russian language explanations.

Another quote:

An interesting note from the pilot's handbook reads: "If the engine quits in instrument conditions or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft (it won't stall) and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 40 mph, and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 25 mph, the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."

How 'bout that for an emergency landing procedure?

Photo 1: Russian hammer-and-sickle flag on tail.

Photo 2: The unusual cockpit window - it bulges outward to allow the pilot to look downward and to the rear. Note the crude trim work with the sheet metal.

Photo 3: The pilot "walks the prop" before startup, rotating the blade to get some oil up into the cylinders. That's something you don't see much anymore.

[Krip 2]

Hi John

Thanks for the pics and observations.

We've already done the goony bird and twin beech and wouldn't pay any price to jump them again.

But I would pay the $46 (once) to jump out of AN2. Rate of climb take a book to read

[piisfish 135]

This was an Aeroflot plane (the russian national airline).

If you want to jump one for 10$, go to any ex commie country

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[wmw999 2,162]

Thanks a lot for posting those pictures, John. The camera I brought turned out to be nonfunctional, so now I have a record of everything but backing away from the airplane after exiting, with popsjumper looking at me from the door

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[JohnRich 4]

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Hmmmm .... what's in that cooler ?

Good question - I shoulda peeked to find out.

More info:

The An-2 has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbooks. Pilots of the An-2 say the aircraft can be flown in full control at 30 mph. This slow stall speed makes it possible for the aircraft to fly backwards (in higher winds).

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European communist states, most airlines in these areas have been withdrawing their An-2s from service (some of these aircraft now being over 40 years old). These aircraft are still put to use by private operators. Their stability, capacity and slow-flying ability makes them very popular parachute aircraft.

Whilst their high noise levels, increasing maintenance costs, high fuel consumption and unsophisticated nature (the pre-flight checks alone take between 30 and 40 minutes) makes them obsolete in Europe, the huge number of aircraft available means that prices are low (from as little as $30,000 for a serviceable example). This makes them ideal for the developing world, where their ability to carry large loads into short airstrips makes them assets to airlines on a budget. Many ex-Aeroflot An-2s are now employed as regional airliners in Africa, Central and South America, Cuba and the Indian subcontinent.

Regarding that low airspeed: I asked the pilot what jump run speed would be, and he said; 60 mph airspeed, 45 mph ground speed.

Since I seemed to be the senior jumper on board, that prompted me to give a short briefing. I said; 1) to expect to hit some slow air and not have as much control as usual out the door, and; 2) to increase the usual 5-second exit intervals to 10 seconds to ensure horizontal separation. And with that, we were off.

Sure enough, there was a noticeable "dead" air spot just below the prop blast.

Photo 1: Me standing on the door step, to give you an idea of the scale.

Photo 2: Russian writing on the door. Loosely translated, I think this says; "If you open this door without the pilot's permission, you will sent to the Siberian gulag!"

[piisfish 135]

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Photo 2: Russian writing on the door. Loosely translated, I think this says; "If you open this door without the pilot's permission, you will sent to the Siberian gulag!"

My russian skills translate that into : What for would you jump from a perfectly good An-2

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[JohnRich 4]

One last item, and then I'm done.

This photo is of an autograph on the wall just inside the door of the plane.

Some of you may recall the history behind the name Victor Belinko (sometimes spelled "Belenko"). He was a Russian Mig-25 fighter pilot that defected in 1976 and flew his Mig to Japan and turned himself over to the Americans. Most of what we knew about Russian Migs in the following decades came from that incident.

I immediately grasped the signifigance of that name, because at that time I was a young Marine computer geek at Iwakuni, Japan, and I was tasked with searching our computer personnel records for anyone on base who spoke Russian, in order to help communicate with Belinko. Yeah, that was my big contribution to winning the Cold War...

[d123 1]

Awesome presentation! I love the emergency procedures!

Lock, Dock and Two Smoking Barrelrolls!

[waltappel 1]

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Hmmmm .... what's in that cooler ?

Good question - I shoulda peeked to find out.

I sat just behind the cooler when I rode up in the AN-2. There was a bottle of soda in there, I think. There wasn't anything "toxic".

Walt

[demoss99 0]

My friends and I got to jump it as well. We had a good time. The exit separation was extended to 10-15 seconds between groups due to the slow air/ground speed.

It was definitely an experience and we were glad we did it.

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

[SansSuit 1]

And just for the record, this particular AN2 has been jumped nekked.

Didja happen to notice the radio hookup? At Rantoul they had a modern radio hooked up with alligator clips to an automobile jumper pack for power. Something about different voltages. Guess that's where the "Experimental" label comes from.

Did you all have to join a "club" to jump it?

-Jeff.

Peace,
-Dawson.
http://www.SansSuit.com
The Society for the Advancement of Naked Skydiving

[Linas120 0]

Yeah, jumping AN-2 in US is probably same exotic, as driving something like 1970 Corvette Stingray in the roads of Eastern Europe. As I am actually driving one, I can say, it possible to get used to exotics rather quickly

By the way, the Russian phrase on the door has nothing to do with Siberia or jumping out of perfectly good airplane. It says: "press the handle down and push to open the door"

[NWPoul 1]

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Photo 2: Russian writing on the door. Loosely translated, I think this says; "If you open this door without the pilot's permission, you will sent to the Siberian gulag!"

My russian skills translate that into : What for would you jump from a perfectly good An-2

It's says (wrote with poor grammar)~ "Turn handle down to the stop, push the door outward"

...In many-many DZ's here in Russia, AN-2 is the only jumpship that they have:)

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[shropshire 0]

Sweet a/c.

That GPS unit looks so out of place.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[drudchen 0]

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It's says (wright with poor grammar)~ "Turn handle down to the stop, push the door outward"

Yes. But i'm wondering: why is the sign written with such bad grammar and spelling? This is definitely not something that would be written by anyone who knows russian. Are they trying to make the plane look more authenentic or something? If you're putting a sign in big red letters on the door, at least make sure you know what to write

Pictures look great, I wish i had a chance to jump one of those too!

[NWPoul 1]

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But i'm wondering: why is the sign written with such bad grammar and spelling? This is definitely not something that would be written by anyone who knows russian. Are they trying to make the plane look more authenentic or something? If you're putting a sign in big red letters on the door, at least make sure you know what to write

Yep:) it was always funny to see in foreign Movies, those Russians labels/sign/notices on Bad Russians Guys machinery

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Pictures look great, I wish i had a chance to jump one of those too!

So wellcome to the Russia, there are plenty of them:)
Or you

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[astor 0]

Here you can see an interesting plate above the exit door of An-2 (the text says: God with you...)