Subjects: Design

On October 25, 2007 the Airbus A380 officially surpassed the legendary Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet as the world’s largest passenger airliner. At two hundred and thirty-nine feet long, the A380 has a tail as high as an eight story building and a wingspan that stretches nearly the length of a football field. It’s also the world’s first full double-deck passenger aircraft, making it a groundbreaking design in aviation history. Mighty Planes goes behind the scenes to look the A380 in a way that has never been seen before. Documenting the construction and delivery of a new aircraft leading up to the day when Lufthansa ultimately takes ownership. Experts examine every inch of the aircraft conduct an acceptance flight and check all the technical systems. Meanwhile teams at CAE in Montreal design and test the A380 simulator systems and Goodrich teams in Oakville, Ontario and Phoenix, Arizona manufacture and test the A380 landing gear and evacuation slides to ensure that every element of the new plane is ready to go.

The Antonov 124 is the world’s largest serially manufactured cargo plane. Built to move Soviet military vehicles and equipment the 124’s went through a major overhaul at the end of the cold war in order to enter civilian service. Now they’re in constant demand moving everything from locomotives to whales anywhere in the world. Mighty Planes shadows an Antonov 124 and her crew on a mission of epic proportions. One year ago an earthquake destroyed a wind turbine used to power a cellulose plant in Chile. With repairs completed at a factory in Europe the plant is anxious to get the turbine back into service and they’ve put a call into the 124’s crew to get it from Dusseldorf to Santiago. For the Antonov 124 this flight comes in the middle of its typical thirty-day shift. Its crew of twenty make back-toback trips and always fly with tools and spare parts on board. They must be self-sufficient and able to fix ‘snags’ wherever they go.

The C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest aircraft in the world. At 247 feet long and over six stories high, this aircraft is the biggest and most powerful plane in the U.S. Air Force fleet. Dover Air Force Base in Delaware is home to thirty-two of these gigantic weightlifters, and they are constantly working. Mighty Planes will board a C-5M Super Galaxy for a record setting mission into a war zone documenting the entire process from the initial briefing, to crossing the Atlantic and finally the perilous descent into Bagram, Afghanistan. The flight crews need to pilot their giant aircraft through some of the most hostile airspace on the planet and execute a dangerous mid-air refueling.

The Martin Mars water bomber is the world’s biggest seaplane. Originally one of five flying cargo planes it was built in 1945 for the US Navy. In 1958, it was converted into a water bomber and has since flown over 8000 firefighting missions. The four-person aerial crew flies the plane to the closest water source and scoops a full 27,200 litre load in just 35 seconds. Today, The Mars is owned by BC based Coulson Flying Tankers and used across North America to fight raging wildfires. Together with the Sikorsky S76 Firewatch helicopter the Mars water bomber is part of the most effective firefighting regime forest services can call upon when ground crews are powerless to extinguish the flames. Using HD and infrared cameras, along with state-of-the-art laser technology the S76 guides the Mars to a guaranteed bulls-eye with every drop.

Mighty Planes joins the Orbis crew for their most challenging mission to date. A series of setbacks culminates in a compressor stall in flight and an around the clock effort ensues to get the plane back in the air and into Ulaanbaator, Mongolia. For the first time in its history the Orbis DC10 faces the very real prospect of failing to reach its destination. Waiting on the ground are patients who will lose the chance of regaining their vision if this angel of mercy is unable to fly.