FORGOTEN HEROS Over time, planes have always fascinated amazed and even scared people.

The level of technology that goes into the design, manufacturing and daily operations of an aircraft is one to marvel about. But many people dont know that this has not always been the norm. There are plane designs which are as rugged as grandmothers pots and that can withstand more mistreatment than Sonkos hands as he has a go fighting for his people. Case in point here is the Antonov An-2. This is a plane that defies the normal understanding of what is expected, or rather what people have come to perceive planes to be. The only thing it seems to have in common with other airplanes is, it flies! The An-24 is as slow as a VW beetle, as rugged as the soles of my shoes and when it comes to beauty, lets just say the designers did not considered the fact that one will want to look at it before getting in to fly. Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, the designer of An-2 was tasked with designing an Agricultural and Utility aircraft to replace an earlier used design, Po-2. The An-2 is arguably one of the safest planes to fly. This is by its sort of inability to crash. This is a single-engine biplane, nicknamed Annie. The An-22 has an enclosed cockpit and a cabin that can accommodate up to 12 passengers. Due to some design features, the An-2 is able to operate in remote areas with unsurfaced airstrips. It needs about 170m to take-off and around 215m to land, with variation depending on take-off/ landing weight, outside temperature and surface roughness. It has pneumatic brake system (same as those in heavy road vehicles) to stop on short runways and 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. Its batteries are big and easy to remove, and can make the pilot the envy of any chloride exide agent, but more importantly, there is no need of ground power units to supply power to the aircraft. There is also no need for an external fuel pump to refuel as it has an onboard pump that allows the tanks to be filled from simple fuel drums. The An-2 has a 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 64 km/h, the slats will extend because they are on elastic rubber springs, which in this case, is the magic that makes the plane almost impossible to crash. To make this point, a 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 and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 64 km/h, and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 40 km/h, the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground." Basically, if any prominent personality does not fancy the unfortunate case of falling from the skies, they should invest in an An-24, maybe pass it through MashAuto and seek interior furnishing from the prison industry and end up with a safe mode of transport. The aerodynamics for the An-2 are so good that it can fly backwards, with total pilot control, in this case if it flies into stronger headwinds while at a lower speed, making it almost impossible to stall. I can go on and on about how amazing this simple yet full of surprises machine is but will keep it for another day. The bottom line is, the An-2 is a genius design that had a lot of thought going into it. No wonder it was in production for over 40 years and at some point was in the Guinness book of world records as the plane in production for the longest period. Annie is surely that girl that one always wants to take to the prom.

The Antonov, An-2