Original subtitles

[Narrator] It's one of the biggest cargo planes

in the world: The Antonov 124.

It is capable of flying things that no other airplane can.

[Narrator] The cargo today is a massive wind turbine

headed halfway around the world.

[Man] 02368...

[Narrator] On the way

this flying freight train will encounter dangerous storms...

Just not so good weather around Recife.

It's many thunderstorms.

[Narrator] Treacherous crosswinds...

And nerve-wracking delays.

The scheduled time of departure is in 10 minutes.

That crane's not moveable, so we're stuck.

[Narrator] What counts is to deliver the goods safely

and on time.

Make way for the heavy lifter,

the Antonov 124, the pride of Ukraine.

Captain Dmitrii Antonov, no relation, at the controls.

I love my job, I love this plane.

[Narrator] He and his crew of 18

are three hours out of home base in Kiev...

And minutes from touchdown at Dusseldorf, Germany.

On the ground, a truck convoy clears security.

The trailers are laden with crates the size of tool sheds

containing 95 tons of power-generating equipment.

It's all going into the big belly of the Antonov

for a two-day, 7,500-mile flight to the far side of the world...

Santiago, Chile.

[radio chatter]

This eye-popping monster is the world's go-to plane

for outsized commercial cargo...

...dwarfing onlookers

and making even veteran airport workers gape.

The Antonov 124 towers over its competitors

in the cargo market.

The tail is seven stories high,

and wingtip to wingtip, it's the width of a city block.

Paul Furlonger works out of England

for Ruslan International,

which contracts big jobs for Antonov airlines.

It is capable of flying things

that no other airplane can,

and that automatically makes it unique.

[Narrator] Today it's a giant wind turbine,

torn to pieces during the devastating 2010 earthquake

in Chile.

After 10 weeks of repairs in Germany,

it's as good as new and ready for the trip home.

10 big crates weigh 55 tons,

and one really big crate, the turbine's rotor,

weighs another 40.

Everything about this job is supersized,

including the shipping cost...

1.2 million fat American dollars.

The schedule is tight.

It's three o'clock.

Takeoff time is at 7:00.

Vadym Konovko is the flight manager.

Just 28 years old, he's mister logistics,

supervising every aspect of the job.

Right now he's going over the details of the loading

with Dusseldorf ramp agent Sam Dietrich.

Fueling after the load in.

[Sam] Yeah, okay.

Then we will finish loading...

[Sam] The loading is finished and after then we start fueling.

Yeah, yeah.

[Narrator] With the clock ticking,

the technical crew starts the load in.

They have a built-in overhead crane for the heavy lifting.

[Paul] There is one piece which is 32 tons or thereabouts.

That's too heavy for the aircraft's own cranes.

And that's why we need to use the ramp system.

We will put a platform, moving platform, on these rails

and we will put a cargo on platform.

We will take chains and we will winch the cargo

inside the aircraft.

[Narrator] This beast is built like a ferry boat.

The nose and tail open wide to allow loading and unloading

from both ends.

The immense cargo bay can hold 42 cars stacked on two levels.

Built into the nose is a hydraulic mechanism

that lowers the big plane for loading.

Supervising that critical task is loadmaster Sergii Onopchenko.

Secure placement of the load is crucial.

It's all balanced like a see-saw and chained down.

Even a small shift could throw the plane's center of gravity

out of whack, making it tail-heavy,

disrupting airflow over the wings

and sending it falling out of the sky.

[Narrator] Sergii will follow a computer-generated loading plan

that specifies the exact position of each crate

in the cargo bay...

Starting with the biggest...

the crate containing the giant rotor.

It will go in through the nose.

It's a job of inches.

One slip could cause serious damage to the cargo,

or the plane.

The delicate process takes 60 nerve-wracking minutes

and comes off smoothly.

While the rest of his team tears down the ramp and rails,

Sergii makes sure the huge crate is securely anchored.

Now the 10 remaining crates come aboard through the tail.

They've all been custom-made for the Antonov's cargo bay.

With the cargo on board, the nose is raised...

The big doors are closed...

And the tanks are topped up with 62 tons of jet fuel

for the first leg of the flight.

Right on schedule,

the big wind turbine is ready for its flight to Chile.

Now it's over to Dmitrii and his flight crew.

They'll have a two-day journey

with fuel and rest stops in Spain, the Cape Verde islands...

...and twice more in Recife and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,

before finally touching down in Santiago, Chile.

Every leg of their trip, every stop,

has been scheduled and timed to the minute.

But they're all used to the rigorous hours

and supersized cargoes.

Need a bunch of cars flown somewhere?

Or a locomotive?

Or maybe a yacht?

How about a plane in a plane?

They've all flown on one of the seven Antonovs in the fleet.

Every one of them is on a tight schedule.

Including their costly downtime

in the maintenance hangar back in Kiev.

Today maintenance chief Sergii Piatak

supervises a c-check...

a mandatory inspection

after every 2,000 hours of flight time.

Here it's life or death for the big 124.

If it fails to pass this test,

it could be headed for the scrap heap.

The c-check is no look-under-the-hood,

kick-the-tires walk-around.

It takes three weeks and covers everything...

engines, avionics and airframe.

The more rigorous d-check...

stripping the plane to the rivets...

takes three months.

[Narrator] This plane is in its final week in the hangar.

It still needs a landing gear test,

stress testing of the wing flaps,

and reinstallation of two overhauled engines.

Back in Dusseldorf, Dmitrii does an inspection of his own...

the pre-flight walk-around...

a multi-point check of flaps, latches, lights, doors,

and especially the big tires

to make sure the 124 is good to go.

Should be with no damage.

Just sometimes checking inside

to find probably some stones,

something like this.

[Narrator] Dmitrii has plenty of technical backup.

His crew of 18 includes specialists in engine repair,

avionics and a lot more.

There are nine technicians on aircraft,

and each technician,

he's responsible for his own system.

[Narrator] Inside it looks like a parts store.

The bulkheads crammed with tires, lubricants,

and the nuts and bolts for quick fixes on the fly.

I can't walk across the tarmac and say,

"excuse me, I need a washer or a seal for an Antonov 124".

They'll look at me as if I'm crazy.

And we have spare parts.

In case of some damage, we can fix it, change it.

[Narrator] But today one part is missing...a reserator...

a cooling component for the 124's avionics.

A supplier in Dusseldorf is rushing a spare to the airport.

40 minutes to departure,

Dmitrii verifies the weight of the cargo, fuel load

and current weather conditions.

He's ready for takeoff.

Well, almost.

The reserator still hasn't arrived,

and they don't want to leave without it.

Nobody is there.

Yeah, yeah, I know, he's just right,

he made a wrong turn.

[Narrator] They need to restock when and where they can.

Time is running out.

The scheduled time of departure

is in 10 minutes from now.

And we hope so.

[Narrator] Any delay will have a ripple effect,

throwing the whole carefully timed five legs of the flight

off schedule.

If that happens, it could take days to sort it all out,

costing both Antonov airlines and their customer in Chile

a lot of money.

We are almost ready for flight,

but we are waiting for one spare part, spare part.

It should be very soon here.

[Narrator] It's a reserator, a cooling component.

And the delivery guy is lost.

He couldn't find the gate 36, you know.

That's the problem.

[Narrator] Less than five minutes before departure,

the part arrives.

[Sam] Have a nice trip. See you next time.

Bye-bye.

[Narrator] The big bird rolls right on schedule.

330 tons of airplane, fuel and cargo

is now in Dmitrii's hands.

[Controller] Antonov 2368, departure holding...

[Narrator] To get it all off the ground,

he'll need 9,000 feet of runway.

The runway here is 10,000.

It's going to be close.

[Controller] 2368, hello. Line up runway 05 right.

Give me a call when you're fully ready for departure.

Lining up 05, right,

I'll call you when ready, 2368.

[Narrator] Flight engineer Viktor Mozhaiev

monitors the four massive

Ivchenko-progress d-18 turbofan engines.

They must deliver every ounce

of their combined 200,000 pounds of thrust

or Viktor will call a no-go.

[Dmitrii] Tower, Antonov 2368, fully ready for departure.

[Controller] 2368, it's always good to have you here,

you are cleared for takeoff, goodbye.

[Narrator] Dmitrii redlines the engines, pops the brakes,

and puts everything on the line.

It's no jackrabbit start.

But the giant begins accelerating down the runway.

15 seconds in, they reach 160 miles an hour,

and they're more than halfway down the runway.

It's too late to stop now.

At 9,000 feet into the run

they accelerate past 180 miles an hour.

And then...

Airborne!

Precisely as planned with 1,000 feet of runway to spare.

The first leg... Dusseldorf to Vitoria, Spain.

Flying time, two hours and 30 minutes

at an altitude of 35,000 feet.

Dmitrii Antonov is a former military and test pilot.

Home for Dmitrii is Kiev, but his second home is right here.

1995, I start flying this aircraft,

and total flight time, about 13,000 hours.

[Narrator] Even after all that flight time,

he's still amazed by what the 124 can do.

We can take any cargo.

No other airplane can do it.

[Narrator] With the 124 aloft,

the tech crew who loaded the cargo can get some rest.

But there's no first-class cabin here.

The tech crew deck at the back of the plane is bare bones.

This plane was built to be a workhorse.

It was commissioned by the former Soviet Union in the '80s

to haul the red army's tanks, trucks and big guns.

By the '90s and the end of the cold war,

the 124 was headed for the boneyard.

But its creators in Kiev saw an opportunity.

[Narrator] That not only saved the plane,

it saved the Antonov company.

[Vadym] This aircraft, Antonov 124,

was at correct place at correct time,

because it start to operate, to be operated by our company

for commercial flights and gave us money,

which was very necessary to keep our company alive.

[Narrator] The move from military workhorse

to commercial cargo carrier required several upgrades,

including computerized flight controls,

sophisticated avionics, and a new, more reliable engine.

The original 124s were plagued by engine failures,

and the plane itself only had a 20-year lifespan.

But with upgrades, that has been more than doubled.

The key to extending their life

is a lot of rigorous maintenance.

Two of this 124's Ivchenko-progress engines

are just back from a complete factory overhaul.

Now it's time to re-hang them on the plane.

Sergii's technicians watch closely for any tiny flaw

that could threaten safety or performance in the air.

Dmitrii and this 124 are on schedule,

well out of Germany,

and headed towards their first stop in Vitoria, Spain.

Radio operator Oleksandr Petrovskyi

tracks progress.

Okay, we can see on the map on the computer,

we're now over the France territory.

We passed the Belgium and Germany,

and we are, shortly will be entering the Spain airspace.

[Narrator] Up front Dmitrii is already preparing for arrival.

I think we will start descent in about 10 minutes

and expect landing time in 40 minute.

[Narrator] The 124 makes a smooth landing

just after 9:00 p.m. Local time.

This is just a pit stop.

Everyone stays on board,

except the tech crew which sees to the fueling.

On the flight deck everyone is busy

preparing for the next leg of the trip.

They're airborne again in 90 minutes,

and flying into trouble.

Next stop, the Cape Verde islands in the mid-Atlantic,

the place where hurricanes are born.

The weather report...high winds.

Dmitrii will have to bring the big 124 down

in vicious crosswinds in the middle of the night.

The second leg...

a four-hour flight from Spain to the Cape Verde islands.

Cape Verde will be no pit stop.

Regulations require a 12-hour rest break.

The crew of our company, of Antonov company,

has a duty limit time.

Actually now we fly with double crew

and the maximum duty time is 18 hours.

[Narrator] But getting there safely is going to be tricky.

The Cape Verde weather station reports gusty crosswinds

at the airport.

That means a potential heavy landing

and major stress on the plane's massive landing gear.

That kind of problem has been anticipated in Kiev

where senior technician Vitaliy Khatin

supervises a key component of the c-check,

the undercarriage test.

[Narrator] The main gear, like everything else on the 124,

is immense.

Five sets of dual wheels on each side share the weight.

If a tire blows, the others will pick up the load.

Vitaliy must make sure each set of wheels

extends and retracts correctly every time.

He relays commands to a technician in the cockpit.

[Narrator] Vitaliy checks for full travel of the gear,

hydraulic leaks and anything that might compromise the tires.

When he's satisfied...

[Narrator] He moves on to the nose gear...

And a glitch.

[motor whirs]

[whir]

[Narrator] The problem... a drop in hydraulic pressure.

It's fixed with a few adjustments on the flight deck.

Vitaliy will run the test again and again

to make sure the problem's solved for good.

In the air, there are no second chances.

2:00 a.m., 600 miles off the African coast,

Dmitrii is on final approach to Cape Verde.

The runway runs north and south.

But treacherous and gusty winds are blowing from the west,

buffeting the big plane.

He wants to avoid a missed approach, a go-around,

and a possible disaster.

Dmitrii calls on every one of his 13,000 hours of flight time,

crabbing the nose into the wind

and applying just the right amount of rudder,

to set the 124 down, right on the button.

They're still on schedule and still answering to the clock.

Even though there's a 12-hour rest stop,

it can't begin until Dmitrii dismisses his flight crew.

Every minute he delays doing that,

delays the departure time and threatens the rigid schedule.

Dmitrii's anxious to leave,

but won't until he has done his walk-around.

Finally Dmitrii, satisfied his plane is safe to fly again,

declares the flight crew officially off duty.

But for the tech crew, the work has just begun.

The four-hour flight from Spain has burned 82 tons of jet fuel,

so the tanks will have to be topped up

before taking off again.

But with 95 tons of cargo on board,

there's a limit to how much fuel can be added at each stop.

[Vadym] This aircraft has total takeoff weight.

And according to this total takeoff weight,

according to the cargo, we can calculate that amount of fuel,

maximum amount of fuel we can take on board.

[Narrator] Empty, the 124 can stay in the air for 14 hours

without refueling.

But with this load, the maximum flight time is just five hours.

While the plane is being refueled,

other crew members check the dozens of chains

that hold the cargo in place.

Even if a single piece has shifted,

the 124's carefully plotted center of gravity could change,

causing the plane to fall out of the sky.

[Narrator] Flight manager Vadym checks every detail

for the next leg... Cape Verde to Brazil.

I've got mobile internet, GPS internet,

I can do all my paperworks, take fresh weather forecast,

turbulences, wind charts.

[Narrator] And those weather reports look ominous.

When they get back into the air,

it won't be fair weather flying.

At 4:00 a.m., two hours after landing,

Sergii and the tech crew sign off.

Vadym is the last to leave.

[Vadym] Next, I will go to hotel,

I just checking in on the technical crew,

be sure, making sure they're all fine, they're all okay,

and after that, I will have a sleep.

[Narrator] 12 hours later,

everyone's back at the plane to begin the second half

of their 7,500-mile journey.

[Oleksandr] Destination is Recife,

that's city on the beach, you see Brazil territory.

[Narrator] The weather has worsened.

Vadym's meteorological reports now show powerful disturbances

along the flight path.

There's not so good weather around Recife,

it's many thunderstorms.

[Narrator] And they can be vicious

with turbulence up to 50,000 feet...

15,000 feet higher than

the Antonov's maximum cruising altitude.

Dmitrii won't risk flying through them.

Maybe a little bit deviation from our route.

[Narrator] Day two, early evening.

Dmitrii's 124 takes off from Cape Verde,

heading for the coast of Brazil...

...on a wing and a prayer.

[radio chatter]

The third leg... Cape Verde islands to Brazil.

Flying time, four hours at an altitude of 28,000 feet.

[Narrator] Dmitrii changes course to avoid the storms,

expecting to fall behind schedule.

But he picks up strong tailwinds

and reaches the coast of Brazil three minutes ahead of schedule.

[radio chatter]

The runway at Recife is long enough at 11,000 feet,

but now it's wet and slippery.

Water on the runway reduces friction

and can cause hydroplaning.

The rookie temptation is to stand on the brakes,

causing the plane to fishtail and risking a crash.

But Dmitrii's no rookie.

He lets the 124's aerodynamic friction

slowly rob the giant plane of its speed.

It takes 15% more runway to stop than usual,

but the landing is under control.

Every takeoff and landing puts enormous stress

on the 124's airframe.

In Kiev that's what they're testing right now.

The flaps take the biggest beating.

In the stress lab they're subjected to pressure

and vibration that simulates an actual landing.

And here the rule is, the rougher, the better.

Technician Olga Lytvynenko closely watches

the flaps' performance.

[Narrator] The 124's tail and undercarriage

will get the same treatment.

If the plane fails any one of these tests,

it won't be returned to service.

[Narrator] Shippers around the world keep the 124s busy,

and demand is increasing.

[Narrator] So the 124's reputation is on the line

with every flight and every inspection.

In Recife, Dmitrii's 124 has been topped up

with 42 tons of fuel.

45 minutes after landing, the plane is back in the air.

The fourth leg, Recife to Rio de Janeiro,

flying time, two hours and 45 minutes,

for another fuel stop.

The fifth and final leg...

Rio to Santiago, Chile.

Flying time, four hours and 19 minutes.

This is the hardest, most exhausting part

of the two-day journey.

They've been flying in the dark

since leaving the Cape Verde islands

and won't see daylight again until they are over the Andes.

At the Santiago airport,

flight coordinator Sergio Mella prepares

for the 124's arrival.

[Mella] The aircraft is coming,

flying over the Cordillera, Los Andes,

and coming to Santiago.

[Narrator] The Antonov is 20 minutes from touchdown.

The aircraft is on time, we have to go.

Let's go, then.

[Narrator] But there's a new weather problem... fog.

We got the visibility,

one kilometer, one or two kilometers.

We have to wait for the weather information.

[Narrator] They've already diverted some flights.

If it gets worse, they might close Santiago,

sending Dmitrii to an alternate airport in Argentina.

Right now it's touch-and-go.

Back in the Kiev maintenance hangar,

everything's on schedule.

Sergii Piatak and his crew are close

to completing their exhaustive, three-week c-check

of this 124.

The four turbofan engines have been overhauled.

The last one is being re-installed.

[Narrator] It's the king of torque wrenches,

precisely controlling the force exerted on the bolts,

crucial when you're hanging a 10-ton engine

on an airplane wing.

All that remains is a final inspection.

A clean bill of health from Sergii,

and this baby's ready to fly again.

For Dmitrii, things aren't so certain.

The clear skies 120 miles out of Santiago are deceiving.

On the approach,

the ceiling is down to almost zero because of fog.

For this landing,

Dmitrii will rely on the instrument landing system.

The ILS emits two signals

establishing the plane's exact lateral and vertical direction.

The autopilot picks up those signals

and keeps the plane precisely on its landing path,

the glide slope.

But Dmitrii won't know for sure if the ILS has done its job

until the 124 breaks through the fog.

If he doesn't see a runway below,

he'll have just seconds to hit the throttles

and abort the landing.

The runway appears, right on target.

And the cargo arrives right on time.

Five miles before runway,

we are exactly on glide slope, glide pass with normal speed

and safely landing.

Welcome to Chile!

[Narrator] And welcome to the photo-op.

After 20 hours on board,

the flight crew is eager to get some rest.

But they'll have to wait

while Dmitrii grants the airport's public relations crew

a rare interview.

Finally it's mission accomplished

for the flight crew.

They leave for a hotel,

while the tech crew begins the offload.

Vadym and Sergio work out the logistics.

We need a big forklift

which can carry four and a half tons.

Oh, right.

Four and a half and more. Okay?

Yeah, sure.

[Narrator] It's one o'clock.

The unloading is scheduled to take five hours,

so it should be done well before dark.

But just when they think all is in order...

They must have a visa.

So the hitch is,

the Ukrainians need a visa, apparently.

We've been here before and not had the problem.

So I'm guessing they've changed the rules.

[Narrator] Vadym has to sort this out,

or the tech crew will be stuck on the plane all night.

You can't have a shower,

it's much harder to get a decent meal.

[Narrator] Vadym and Paul consult with the authorities.

This guy is the chief on duty,

told like, like just once

I will allow you to go to the country without a visa,

but all the crew have to go right now.

[Narrator] With the tech crew at immigration,

the offload comes to a standstill.

Nothing moves for half an hour,

then an hour,

then 90 minutes.

After two full hours, they're back

with temporary visas, good for this one time.

3:00 p.m.,

now well behind schedule,

the crew takes less than an hour

to unload the smaller crates from the back of the plane.

Now they move to the nose to tackle the big one,

the 40-ton wind turbine.

We just build rails,

we'll winch it out of the aircraft.

The crane will pick it up, put it on truck.

[Narrator] Vadym estimates the unloading will be completed

in just two hours.

In that moment, the customer is happy.

[Narrator] The tech crew makes short work

of the ramp and rail assembly.

Now, a flatbed truck and two cranes roll into place.

This lift will be trickier than the loading in Dusseldorf.

Crane manager Pablo Schuler has planned the operation carefully.

Each crane will lift one of the end.

Then the load would, will be turned in 90 degrees,

clockwise and then position over the truck.

[Narrator] The two crane operators must move in sync

or the big crate will fall.

It's more complicated because each operator

must, must have a better communication

with each other, you know?

[Narrator] The crate is winched out of the hold.

At the moment, the cargo is still on ramp system.

When it will be a few centimeters off ramp system,

it will be, it will be not our problem.

The show will start right now, when we lift the cargo.

[Narrator] But the show never gets started.

This crane is kaput.

[Paul] Clearly, they've got a major hydraulic leak

with this crane.

They can't move the crane.

They can't shut the boom down.

They can't lift it off the jacks and drive it out of the way.

[Narrator] Technically, this is the customer's problem.

But the 124 and its crew are caught in the middle.

It's our problem because that crane's not moveable.

We can't move the cargo

without the piece gets lifted off our extension ramp.

So we're stuck.

[Narrator] 4:00 p.m., a new crane arrives.

But the unloading plan is out the window.

The broken crane can't move,

so the third crane has to come in at a different angle.

The idea is to move in that direction, the truck,

and then lift the cargo in an anti-clockwise direction.

[Narrator] They'll work with just inches to spare.

[Schuler] Our maximum risk is to have contact

with the nose of the plane, you know.

Because the ropes will be very close to the nose.

[Narrator] Sergii and Vadym don't like it.

We will be very close to the nose,

so that's why loadmaster is here and he will be watching.

[Narrator] Any miscalculation by the crane operators,

or even a gust of wind,

and the 124's nose could be damaged,

grounding the aircraft for weeks.

It seems like these cranes have to go,

have to be moved a little bit further from the aircraft.

[Narrator] This could be a disastrous end

to what was a perfect mission.

If the 124 is damaged,

it could be weeks before it gets off the ground again.

And with just seven of them in operation,

it could be a serious blow to the business.

Sergii isn't happy about the arrangement,

but he's willing to give the lift a try.

[Narrator] Vadym sticks close,

ready to call off the lift at the first sign of trouble.

Worried about the aircraft.

Just worried not to damage aircraft.

That's the main thing.

[Narrator] But these crane operators are real pros.

And the lift goes smoothly.

Very nice. [laughs]

Finally we're finished, with daylight.

Now our flight is finished.

The contract is accomplished, so we're good to go.

It's good now.

[Narrator] The two-day, 7,500-mile job

was tightly scheduled and meticulously planned.

But experience has taught these guys one big lesson.

[Paul] Whatever you plan,

and however many contingencies you try to cover,

you can't cover them all.

And, well, the crane broke, so what are you going to do?

You're going to solve the problem.

[Narrator] After a few hours in the luxury of a Santiago hotel,

Dmitrii and his crew are back, gearing up for the next mission.

The pace is relentless.

In just 10 hours they're due in Albuquerque, New Mexico,

to load the 124 with aerospace parts for delivery to Hanoi.

Then they're off to China, Japan and Pakistan.

[radio chatter]

Well, if you take the hours it's flown

and divide that roughly by the number of hours

it takes to go around the world once,

it's been around the world about 900 times.

If you count the countries I have visited,

I have all, visited all the continents, except Antarctica.

Sometimes when asking

where have you been on this aircraft?

I think it's much better to ask

where is the place where we have never been?

[Narrator] So if you see a four-engined giant

soaring over your town, give it a wave.

It may well be Dmitrii and his crew

doing another big lift in the mighty Antonov 124,

king of cargo planes.